Metropolis - The Aftermath Jan 2011

[David Bailey]

A big gulf, from my point of view. IMO it seems silly to say the quality was equally low.

In a large scale class, you can only learn a routine. You actually need to be quite experienced to get value from a large class - because if you have experience you can break the routine down into components whilst learning it, and start to think about how you can use those components in the dancing.

Whereas in a smaller-scale class, the teacher should be doing such analysis for you.

But I do notice a tendency for people who do private lessons to dismiss anything else.

Well, that's equally silly of course.

The most effective learning process is a blend of group classes, practice sessions, private lessons, and social dancing. Doing nothing but privates is not effective. I suspect anyone who eulogises private lessons as The One True Way is simply the sort of person who always looks fo a magic bullet.

Although I will say that, as time goes on, the most effective "blend" changes, and that you tend to take relatively more privates and relatively less group classes. Again, it's a matter of proportion. The dancers who progress the most seem to be the ones who do all of these, especially practice.

Anton and Erin are famous. That isn't any guarantee of being good teachers.

I thought they were OK, but what do I know. It doesn't matter - it's an example.

So what is the critical size. At around the 40 people mark I haven't noticed much benefit over a far larger class.

I'd say anything over 30 myself - yes, at that point whether it's 40 or 400 doesn't matter much. For me, the ideal size for a 2-hour class is about 15-20. It gives people enough variety of partners to keep things interesting, but allows the teacher to spend some time on each individual. But Your Mileage May Vary on that one.