Answer this question correctly and you will have a very successful studio. Over the years I kept hearing, if only we were in the Olympics… Yet Dancing With the Stars, or Strictly Come Dancing in England, So You Think You Can Dance, World of Dance, Strictly Ballroom, Shall We Dance (both English and the original Japanese classic), Shag, Love N’ Dancing, an probably a dozen more back through the last 70 years have done little to change the attendance at dances. One of the early seasons of DWTS outdrew the ratings for the Olympics Closing Ceremonies. The Olympics are every four years and these shows are either weekly or twice weekly. And your numbers stay the same.
At its most primal level, there is a human need for touch. Probably only one level below the need for love or fear. Yet dancing is of the need for love. Because we have a form that expresses love in a safe way dancing is accepted worldwide. So if you believe that people learn to dance because the want to compete, you are fooling yourself. In reality a person learns to dance because they want to be around people. A competitive person will gravitate towards the sport, while another can be coaxed into trying it. It took me 10 years of teaching before I even began to understand that and another 10 to understand how to use it to my advantage. Sharon Savoy said it perfectly when I asked her why girls learn to dance. She said “Girls dance for the fantasy and the rhinestones, Guys to meet girls.”
Yet looking at that- what is the fantasy? Prince Charming. Of course both sexes want to meet up- dancing is a whole lot easier than the bar and pick up lines. Done like speed dating it is a lot more like swiping on Tinder. Eventually they discover or acquire the fun, of dancing for dancing’s sakes. So in my training to build massive classes, the first level we work is called Facilitating Relationships. In a nutshell- make it easy for people to meet and they begin to feel like a family. Feeling part of a group they begin to bring their friends, Feeling like a family they may eventually move on to other things but they will be back. Wedding dances, bringing their kids, something to do once the kids are out of the nest. Lou Schreiber the #1 Arthur Murray Instructor in the world became a Psychology Professor who applied his training into developing the biggest weekly classes I ever saw. His classes were 250-300 students. His parties- over 500. Here are some clips that came up on you tube you might enjoy and I’l post Lou’s workshop one of these days.
Good article! We are linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the good writing. Shayne Wenck
Hi mates, its enormous paragraph on the topic of teachingand entirely defined, keep it up all the time. Jack Yagoudaef