#1
Posted: 6/21/09 at 9:31pm
So I'm a soon-to-be senior BFA musical theater major, but I live in the NYC area and I am home for the summer. Because I don't want to lose the technique and strength that I have, I am making a big deal to continue dance classes this summer. I have been going to Broadway Dance Center, as I have clearly outgrown my high school dance studio. I have taken at BDC on other breaks and have had this problem, but it's getting even more frustrating.
I find the classes really frustrating for a couple of reasons. The main one is that I find I have no idea what to expect with classes as far as the difficulty. They have levels listed, but some classes have the "regulars" so a beginner class becomes an advanced class. Yesterday I took an Advanced Beginner class where almost everyone in the class was a "regular" and the combination was the same combination from the day before. As a result, it was mostly just reviewed as opposed to taught. I basically got nothing out of it. It was reviewed even faster than any dance audition I have been to (and I've been to enough to have a sense how quickly a combination is typically taught). I realize that part of my problem is that I am not a "regular" in any class. I am kind of just going whenever I can and I don't have a routine of exact classes I am taking, but that said, I shouldn't feel I need to take a hundred classes with one teacher just to get a sense of their choreography and such. It is so frustrating. Some intermediate classes I have taken have been insanely easy and some beginner classes have been IMPOSSIBLE.
Now, I don't feel that way about classes there. Some teachers and classes I have taken there have been wonderful and the teacher shows their warm-up and stuff (because I don't care how good a dancer you are, you obviously can't learn a warm-up if you don't know what it is!). But I also feel that the classes don't always have a growth because the turn-out can vary. I also took a tap class yesterday that I had taken the week before too. That class also did the same combination from the week before, so I felt like I didn't get nearly as much out of the class as I did the week before.
In addition, the classes are all so crowded. I realize that's partly on the weekends that it's REALLY bad, but I find that it's impossible to turn or anything when there are so many people and a couple of the rooms aren't even that big. I know that they are going to allow as many people into the classes as is physically possible, but sometimes it's unbearable.
I have not ever taken at Steps. Does anyone find these problems to be less of an issue there?
What I really would like is a dance studio the way it was in high school, where I would sign up and pay for a class and there was essentially a "session" from September-June so it would be the same people each week so there could be growth. Because a beginner in September is obviously different from a beginner in June. Do any of these places exist for adults who are aspiring to be at a professional level in NYC? I feel like I would have heard of some studio if it existed, but I am asking just in case.
I worry because I am planning on moving to NYC a year from now and these dance classes will be the source of my dancing unless I get lucky and cast in a dancing show immediately upon graduation haha.
Have other people experienced similar frustrations? Suggestions? Anything? Thanks for listening to me vent!
I find the classes really frustrating for a couple of reasons. The main one is that I find I have no idea what to expect with classes as far as the difficulty. They have levels listed, but some classes have the "regulars" so a beginner class becomes an advanced class. Yesterday I took an Advanced Beginner class where almost everyone in the class was a "regular" and the combination was the same combination from the day before. As a result, it was mostly just reviewed as opposed to taught. I basically got nothing out of it. It was reviewed even faster than any dance audition I have been to (and I've been to enough to have a sense how quickly a combination is typically taught). I realize that part of my problem is that I am not a "regular" in any class. I am kind of just going whenever I can and I don't have a routine of exact classes I am taking, but that said, I shouldn't feel I need to take a hundred classes with one teacher just to get a sense of their choreography and such. It is so frustrating. Some intermediate classes I have taken have been insanely easy and some beginner classes have been IMPOSSIBLE.
Now, I don't feel that way about classes there. Some teachers and classes I have taken there have been wonderful and the teacher shows their warm-up and stuff (because I don't care how good a dancer you are, you obviously can't learn a warm-up if you don't know what it is!). But I also feel that the classes don't always have a growth because the turn-out can vary. I also took a tap class yesterday that I had taken the week before too. That class also did the same combination from the week before, so I felt like I didn't get nearly as much out of the class as I did the week before.
In addition, the classes are all so crowded. I realize that's partly on the weekends that it's REALLY bad, but I find that it's impossible to turn or anything when there are so many people and a couple of the rooms aren't even that big. I know that they are going to allow as many people into the classes as is physically possible, but sometimes it's unbearable.
I have not ever taken at Steps. Does anyone find these problems to be less of an issue there?
What I really would like is a dance studio the way it was in high school, where I would sign up and pay for a class and there was essentially a "session" from September-June so it would be the same people each week so there could be growth. Because a beginner in September is obviously different from a beginner in June. Do any of these places exist for adults who are aspiring to be at a professional level in NYC? I feel like I would have heard of some studio if it existed, but I am asking just in case.
I worry because I am planning on moving to NYC a year from now and these dance classes will be the source of my dancing unless I get lucky and cast in a dancing show immediately upon graduation haha.
Have other people experienced similar frustrations? Suggestions? Anything? Thanks for listening to me vent!
Updated On: 6/21/09 at 09:31 PM
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