[rant]
Well, last night was the first time I've nearly lost it when doing the refresher class. The group of 11 beginners I was taxiing for included 4 first-nighters (3 of them men) and one expert male dancer of several years experience. Said expert stood beside me in the row, leaving the beginners at the end where they would struggle to hear me (side note for those not aware of the venue situation: JJ's is not ideal for running the refresher class as we share the room with the intermediates, and so have to compete with the teacher on the mike and the music).
Anyway, he made a good job of hiding his abilities (not deliberately, he just didn't come across clearly!) whilst he peppered me constantly with questions about "what foot does the lady go back on", "surely we spin this way" and such like.

I buttonholed him afterwards, when someone pointed out that he was actually an experienced dancer who'd been around for years. He seemed to think he hadn't done anything wrong, and offered a few opinions about how we should be teaching footwork.

Point is, it's great when experienced dancers help out in the refresher class, but:

a) preferably they should ask whether they are needed first, and only take part if there is a bad numerical imbalance.

b) they should clearly identify their level - taxis don't remember every good dancer's face. As ever, at the start I'd asked everyone how many times they'd been, and he didn't say anything.

Otherwise, they just look like they're indulging in a cheap point-scoring exercise over a taxi dancer, which suggests a very fragile ego IMO .
[/rant]

PS to my fellow taxi Clare for helping out with those beginner guys afterwards, and to all those beginners last night who had to endure the refresher class!