paying your coach to social dance?

[elisedance]

How common is this?  My current coach is a member of a large social club and his students often pay him to dance with them there in the evening.  The rate is pretty close to a lesson but the emphasis is on dancing not on learning (though there is a lot of learning going on, its putting the lesson to the test).

[Alice]

Seems like one of the best ways to learn! 

[elisedance]

Seems like one of the best ways to learn! 

Also seems rather close to 'paid consorts' doesn't it?  Least I thought so before my coach gave me a free evening last night to try it out.  And then I learned that you are quite right. 

Sometimes my brain is my worst enemy

[Alice]

well when you think of it as a different lesson delivery, it becomes much less "red-light district"   And it sounds like you had fun, which makes it seem well worth it!

[elisedance]

well when you think of it as a different lesson delivery, it becomes much less "red-light district"   And it sounds like you had fun, which makes it seem well worth it!

Yup, the only one not on board is my prude-self!  Funny, I thought I didn't even have a P-S!  The neat thing about this lesson form is that the focus is on keeping dancing and not fixing errors.  Actually, maybe I should give up the OTHER lessons first  

[Alice]

there ya go!

[Some guy]

Have to go with Alice on this one: social dancing is definitely a different delivery of dance training.  There are some teachers here who do that, even some pros here do it for free (they're all Italian, funnily enough), and I think it really helps both the teacher and the student.  That's my personal opinion.    

In my experience, the teacher learns more of what the student needs in order to just dance, and the student learns whether what they have been learning is helping.  There are some folks from the college ballroom clubs I volunteer at that I dance with at the socials, and they tell me, "ok, I think I need more quickstep/cha cha/etc.".  Some times I dance with them and realize that I need to stress on some aspect more than another, take it down a notch, up the ante, etc.  In a lesson, it can be done too, but a social is as close as you can get to a competition, and we all know that under that "do or die" situation all errors are brought into sharp focus and provides a very clear image of where the student is.  It also provides an invaluable image as to what the student's perception of each dance is.  Some times just knowing what the perception is and changing that perception makes all the difference and improvement.   

[elisedance]

If we only had unlimited funds!

[Dora-Satya Veda]

There are many places both in the US and Asia where they do this. It does give the teacher an insight to what the student is able to do on the go and what needs some more work.

DSV

[samina]

i certainly did it more than once, and found value in it. it's a way of just *dancing*, of getting into the flow of it, naturally. and certainly the instructor can learn more about your strengths & limitations this way and, if they are good, understand better how they might help in lessons...

[samina]

one affordable option works nicely:

have more than one student/dancer engage the pro for his/her services for that event. the pro can then break up the evening in whichever way makes sense (1/2 hour a-piece strung through the event, or first half/last half).

the pro is paid for the full event, but the dancers each pay less for his/her services during the event.

[elisedance]

one affordable option works nicely:

have more than one student/dancer engage the pro for his/her services for that event. the pro can then break up the evening in whichever way makes sense (1/2 hour a-piece strung through the event, or first half/last half).

the pro is paid for the full event, but the dancers each pay less for his/her services during the event.

And then there's the pro that charges all the students for the evening and splits his time anyway.

[Alice]

one affordable option works nicely:

have more than one student/dancer engage the pro for his/her services for that event. the pro can then break up the evening in whichever way makes sense (1/2 hour a-piece strung through the event, or first half/last half).

the pro is paid for the full event, but the dancers each pay less for his/her services during the event.

And then there's the pro that charges all the students for the evening and splits his time anyway.

I sincerely hope that kind of stunt would only work once.

[elisedance]

one affordable option works nicely:

have more than one student/dancer engage the pro for his/her services for that event. the pro can then break up the evening in whichever way makes sense (1/2 hour a-piece strung through the event, or first half/last half).

the pro is paid for the full event, but the dancers each pay less for his/her services during the event.

And then there's the pro that charges all the students for the evening and splits his time anyway.

I sincerely hope that kind of stunt would only work once.

Ah, but to that add the 'gift of the gab' and he can do it over and over...

[and did I see a white rabbit disappear into your profile photo??]

[Alice]

Ah, but to that add the 'gift of the gab' and he can do it over and over...

[and did I see a white rabbit disappear into your profile photo??]

only if you looked really quickly