Facts to Set You Straight
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Big group classes are NOT the most cost-effective way to learn
Okay, big group classes may well be the cheapest way to learn, but the are absolutely not cost-effective.
In a group class, you move at a pace set by the teacher, usually geared towards the middling kind of student. If you learn quickly, you waste time repeating material you've already mastered. If you learn slowly, you don't get the chance to consolidate material before you move on. No matter how quickly or slowly you learn, you don't get to work on your own individual questions or difficulties. And the teacher can't take the time with anybody to feel how they're dancing and make subtle individual improvements.
Private lessons are undeniably more expensive on a per-minute basis. But every single minute is dedicated to your dancing and your learning.
At River City Ballroom, we think there are loads of benefits to be gained from group classes - you get the social benefits of meeting other learners, and you get the partnership benefits of dancing with lots of other partners at your own level. That's exactly why we offer practice classes... but ours are free. If you're taking private lessons, all practice classes up to your own level of learning are open to you, free of charge, simply as a support service that we think is important. And those classes are not available to people who aren't taking private lessons, because we really don't think it's an effective way to take your main learning.
We've told a little fib here. We said that big group classes are not cost-effective. It's not wholly true. Group classes are not cost-effective for a learner. They are hugely cost-effective for the owner of the dance school. But... EVERYONE WOULD LEARN TO DANCE BADLY.
That's not what we're about. We really believe that one lesson of one-on-one tuition tailored to your own learning is worth at least five or six lessons in a big group.