by Matt Barber Author, Columnist, and Dance Professional
Do I really need private lessons? Can’t I learn just as much from group classes? If You want to learn how to dance as opposed to simply moving around the floor, You need private lessons. Period. Group classes are great at teaching ballroom students how to execute a given dance step, but private lessons are great at teaching how that dance step should both look and feel. Ultimately, learning how to dance ballroom is a very aesthetic business; even if You don’t care about how a dance step looks or feels, I can guarantee the majority of Your social dance partners not only care, but care a lot!
The sad truth is that there is a real difference in the dancing abilities among those who take just group classes, those who take just private lessons, and those who do both. Taking both private lessons and group classes is ideal, taking just private lessons is okay to an extent, but taking just group classes is, well, a couple steps below ideal. If You really want to stand behind taking just group classes, just know that everyone else can immediately tell You’re taking just group classes. If group classes are all You can do financially, then, yes, stick to group classes, we all understand; but if You’re just holding out to hold out, then it’s time to come in from the cold. Take a private lesson or fifty; You and Your partners will be glad You did!
About the Writer:
Matt Barber, author of Beginning Ballroom: Why’s, Do’s, Don’ts, and Shoes, first encountered ballroom dancing as choreographed routines onstage for musicals and began ballroom lessons in high school. At eighteen, Matt started training to be an instructor with National Dance Clubs as a side job in college; he went on to teach in the independent world, for Arthur Murray International, and for Fred Astaire Dance Studios. At the same time, Matt graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan and acquired an SB from Fordham University, his MS, and his business management and leadership training from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
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