Tango Bellingham

Why we no longer teach group classes

Marjorie and I have decided to discontinue our group classes for the time being, for the following reasons:

• Gender imbalance - there are always more women in our group classes than men, and there is only so much of me to go around, so the women always get short-changed.
• Individual attention - the bigger the group class, the less individual attention anyone gets. In privates, you have our undivided attention.
• Difference in learning curves - in privates, we can get a woman student to the danceable level much more quickly, so she can go out and dance at milongas and have a good time fairly early in the learning process. For the guys, we can spend as much time as needed so they will gain confidence and competence.
• Solutions tailored to the students' particular problems and goals - in a group class, one size fits all. In privates, if the way we are teaching a technique or concept doesn't work for a particular student, we can change it on the fly.
• Studio rental space is becoming extremely over-priced.

I think group classes might work better after students have reached a certain level, but it's been our experience that they really don't work very well for beginners.

----Michael

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