Related comments: The good: · We've always had outstanding instructors, experienced and dedicated students of the game themselves (two of them now own their own studios). This was luck of the draw and incredibly good fortune, YMMV (and probably will…) · Group classes are held every night of the week (as I've branched out, I've discovered that some studios only run a couple groups a week, and cancel/shorten if too few students). · Party!!!!!!! I love practice party. My studio has multiple locations, so we are able to party 3-4 nights a week. · Showcase!!!!!!! Our studio leans more casual / crazy / fun, so I have a lot of creative license on Showcase routines. · Social atmosphere is great, many of us are friends who spend time together outside the studio. The bad: · Expensive. As I've branched out and done some research, this is so far the most expensive studio by far in the metro area. · Sales tactics in back room. We've put our foot down and now are subjected to a minimum of this, but I would still appreciate a more fair, transparent, open pricing and sales approach. Pressure to buy large amounts and pay up front ("I can't give you that price if you don't pay today…"). A lot of b.s.-ing in the backroom instead of quickly and efficiently taking care of business in a straight-forward manner (again, we've managed to minimize some of this but not without branding ourselves as being somewhat difficult). · The bad side of casual / crazy / fun is the natural immaturity of 20-something's who are instructing and running party who sometimes don't "get" that it's not always appreciated. Sometimes they forget to be professionals. · Quality of instruction may vary wildly. It's tough during periods when truly qualified advanced instructors are in short supply. · AM business model is dated; society was very different 20-30 years ago and some studios have not quite caught wind of some of the technological and social changes that have taken place (decreased deference to authority, increased and faster communication, expectations of transparency and accountability).
I also am a student at AM and fairly new to the AM scene. I live in the Washington DC metro area and there are a lot of dance studios. With my work schedule, I wanted something close to home and I wanted opportunities to expand my dancing; this is why I chose AM, the studio is close to me and is open late (I commute 45 minutes each way to work and I don't get home until 6:00PM), and they teach latin dancing. I wanted to improve my salsa dancing and I didn't want to have to rely on friends to go out dancing with me. I really like my teacher. He's a great dancer, great teacher, friendly, and funny. He understands my sarcastic sense of humor. Now, I will say, I don't necessarily agree with the fact that you have to other dances. I didn't want to learn any of the smooth dances, but I added waltz and foxtrot to my curriculum. I don't regret it because now I'm a more diverse dancer, but I'd prefer to focus on the latin dances first, which we do mostly. I think about the students who only want to learn one or two dances, but I guess if they are focused on doing that, they can go elsewhere. After reading other posts about AM, it definitely opened my eyes. Yes, it is expensive. And dancing is a business, I realize that. I haven't felt any pressure to do anything that I don't want to do, and I can stop taking lessons at any time and have the money that I have already paid refunded. I've decided that once if this becomes stressful, I will look elsewhere; I have enough stress in my life already and dancing is a stress relief for me. But for now I feel like I'm getting what I'm paying for. I'm sad for some of the negative experiences with AM, so far, my experience has been positive. I have noticed that my instructor has tried to get me to come in for more private lessons since I've signed up for Freestyles, I declined because I don't have the time, and it's not in my budget. If it continues, I will speak up, but so far, no pressure. I signed up for Freestyles because I wanted to try it out, it was a personal goal, no pressure from my instructor. I'm also thankful to have met others with the same interests. Some of the other students started a dancing group and we go out dancing together; I love this. The AM studio that I attend has a wide age range, we have a few teens, I'm in my late 20s, and up to the 60s. I'd say the average age is 35-40. Everyone is nice so I don't care about age at all. I never feel like an outsider. Thank you all for your comments! I am definitely more informed. I'm new to the dancing community and I appreciate everyone's wisdom. Any recommendations for awesome dance studios in the Baltimore/DC Metro area are welcomed! I'm especially interested in latin dances. Cheers!
Welcome to DF Elaina! I don't know much about the studios in the DC/Baltimore area, but I know there are some very good top level pros there outside of the AM system. I am sure there are experts here who can point you in the right direction. In the meantime, if you're happy at AM then don't let the negative comments get to you. I have never been part of the chain system and have no intention to do so, but I do know there are some very good pros and amazing dancers who work through that system, so it isn't all bad.
Elaina, I too welcome you to Dance Forums. I hope that you will find it as helpful as I have. There are some real experts who post here. I also just sent you a private message regarding your question concerning dance studios in the DC area.
