Learning to Dance at 5th Avenue - How it works?
Discovery Dance Lesson
At 5th Avenue Dance Studio Gold Coast, we offer a Free Introductory Dance Lesson. This is so we can get to know you, find out your natural dancing style and discuss your goals and dreams.
There is no obligation to sign up to our dance program and we don’t use a ‘hard sell’ approach. As we are a Social Dance studio, we want our members to enjoy learning to dancing and feel welcome and comfortable with our dance studio style and other members!
Call us on 07 5527 8018 to book your dance lesson
Dance Program Tailor Made For You
Our first course of lessons is called “Dance Planning”. This course consists of Private Lessons (4), Group Lessons (2 – 4) and a Social Night. These are our 3 types of lessons (Private / Group / Socials). During these first few lessons, we like to show, and get you started, in all the main dances that would cover any music played. The “Planning” part is twofold;
- You get to tell us what you like, and how good you would like to feel, in each dance whether that is “Get By”, “Comfortable” or “Very Good” there may even be some dances you never (ever) want to do again. Any dancing you do after the dance planning would be working towards the level and standards for each dance that you have set.
- The other part of the “Planning” is your teacher assessing your ability to learn, we will plan out the number of lessons you need to achieve your dancing goals.
We then guarantee the standard will be reached with your finite number of lessons. If you are not there yet, you keep having lessons until you have achieved you standard without paying for more lessons. That is our guarantee.
Remembering every lesson you have – you are only doing dances you like, to the level you want.
Lesson Progress
Every lesson you have with us at 5th Avenue Dance Studio Gold Coast, we write down what you did on that lesson; introducing, reviewing or completing – a step, technique or style point, onto a lesson block and pre-plan your next lesson.
We also mark of your Plan so you can see the progress, know where you are up to and what there is to achieve.
Every 10 to 15 lessons, we have your dancing checked, to give you a sense of progress and achievement and to let your teacher know what is now most important to focus on in your lessons.
Guarantee Your Results
Yes, we have enrollments / agreements for the total number of lessons you need to achieve your goal, with the costing and how you will pay for those lessons (which can be “up front” attracting a discount or pay as you go).
There is still a big stigma associated with “contracts” and you still see today certain fitness centers and weight loss centers advertising and promoting “no contracts”.
Using weight loss as an example; weight loss companies that have “no contracts” will still take your money, in return they really only need to give you that time, on that occasion, with no other obligation. In fact, if you achieve your goal weight with a “no contract” company then you stop going, meaning they lose a client. So it is their interest to have you never achieve you goal weight.
With weight lose companies that do have contracts, they, yes, will take you money, in return though, you will get a whole package of things including; food, counsellors, a program, measured results and a guarantee of achievement of a goal weight.
Who would ever build a house without a contract?
At 5th Avenue Dance Studio Gold Coast we guarantee your results, and do have enrollments.
Curriculums
All steps, techniques and style are on top of what has already been learnt, therefore nothing is ever hard. We liken it to a pyramid when at the bottom you can look up at the person towards the top and think “that can never be me”, but remember what they are seeing in front to them is really the same as what is in front of you, one step. Everything is always only one (small) step more than where you are.
We have two main standards:
Social Ease Standard
Social Ease is a standard that will allow you to dance to any music with any partner, without having to count or think, utilizing 5 or 6 steps in every dance. This will make you SOCIALLY at EASE.
You are a good dancer to someone who cannot dance.
Bronze Standard
Bronze is where we add style, technique and movement and is split up into 4 sections
Bronze 1: Easy Steps, introduce Style and Technique
Bronze 2: Harder Steps, Polish, Style and Technique
Bronze 3: Show Steps, Perfect Style and Technique (Easy Steps)
Bronze 4: More Showy Steps (Introduce some Silver) All steps to have full Style and Technique
You are now a great dancer, in the top 10% on any dance floor
- Silver and Gold
For those who do not want to stop, but also do not want to stagnate or get bored, we have Silver, where all the steps are eye catching and GOLD, the tops by any standard.
Social VS Competition Based
Our focus is on partnership: teaching men to lead and ladies to follow. This enables you to dance with any partner regardless of their ability to dance.
The difference between Social Studios like ours and Competition based studios is being able to use your dancing i.e. both types of studios will teach: dances, steps, techniques, and give you more friends, fun and fitness. Great!
Trouble is, if you have learnt a routine – which tends to happen in competition based studios when you go to that next club, wedding or cruise – you look around and no one from your class is there. So…. You cannot dance and stay sitting down.
At 5th Avenue Dance Studio, because we do not teach set routines and do teach lead and follow then you can dance with any partner.
Because of how we teach: keeping it fun and easy with progression.
We have generally have an even number of Men and Ladies in our groups and social nights
Exams
We do have exams to get you from one level of Bronze to the next, similarly through Silver and Gold. We do not have set dates for exams. Set dates lead to: some may not be ready, and others may have been ready weeks or months before.
We keep doing Progress Checks, until students are ready for the next level, then the exam is booked.
At our studio those who dislike or have no interest in exams, the last progress check becomes the “exam” and students starts on the next level on the next lesson.
Music and Style
Importantly, we use music of extended range. Which means, no matter what song is being played you will be able to dance comfortably. The style that we teach is not “clear the floor” or over the top “competition” or “exhibition” styling. We want you to be proud and comfortable dancing what you know.
We were visited by the International Dance Director of Fred Astaire Dance Studios back in 1992, he assessed our studio and was happy with standards, teaching, décor, and the professionalism of our studio his only complaint was our music was not always of “correct tempo range” during our parties and lessons.
Our response to this was twofold:
- That the correct / required tempo range was for exams and competition (and that our parties and lessons were neither exams nor competition) and
- We are a social dancing studio, our goal is to enable our students to dance to any music, and until he could arrange every composer, band, music company and radio station to only play strict tempo music we would continue to expose our students to music that they would hear in social situations.
Lead and Follow
We do teach Leading and this is what most people think it is: the ability dance with any partner regardless of their dance ability or knowledge. (Without having to teach or question or “talk” them through what you are doing)
Following is where we are rebellious, the standard definition of following is: responding to a man’s lead. We teach FOLLOWING independently of Leading, the same as a man does not require a Lady to follow his lead, Ladies that we teach do not require the man to be leading.
A bit of fuzzy maths:
100% leading with 0% following will 100% work. (Not a lot of fun for the man who has to work hard)
0% leading with 100% following will 100% work. (Not a lot of fun for the lady who has to work hard)
If a Man who can lead dances with a Lady who can follow he can back off and not work so hard and does not need to lead at 100%, like wise a Lady who can follow is dancing with a man who can lead she can back off and does not need to follow at 100%. Therefore:
20% leading with 20% following will 100% work.
Interestingly that means that partners who need a leader or follower to be able to dance, miss out because they tend to be dancing together, who wants to “work hard” on the dance floor.
