FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I teach classes and private lessons in several studios in North East Seattle. Private Lessons * Private lessons are private — no other teachers or students on the floor, no other music being played. * Free consultations before or between lessons. * Private lessons are by appointment -- for couples, singles and private groups. * Lessons are an hour long. * Rate for an individual or a couple is $85-$90/hour, depending on the studio we use. Add $10/person/hour for groups, up to 6 people. * There are no packages or required number of lessons, students can schedule the exact number of lessons you want. * Students can add or subtract lessons as needed. * Students prepay your first and last lessons to confirm any number of lessons. * Additional lessons can be paid in advance or at the time of the lesson by cash, check, Paypal or credit card. I accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. Classes * When we fully reopen from COVID we'll teach beginning and intermediate classes on Sundays and Mondays and hold a weekly dance in NE Seattle. * Monday’s class and dance is in Northgate, just north of the Northgate Mall. * The class is beginner-friendly, drop-in and progressive. * Both class and dance are open to the public. * Currently class and dance are $10. This may change when we reopen * Find more information on our website. * Sunday’s classes are in the University District on the “Ave.” * We teach beginning and intermediate classes in various styles of swing, waltz, blues and latin dances. * Pre-registration required. * Currently classes are $60/6 week session. This may change when we reopen * Find more information on our website.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
When working with beginning dancers I often need to reassure them that dancing is not some foreign thing from another planet -- that it's actually part of life, they already know more than they think they do -- even if they've never danced -- and they *can* learn to do it. So we start by helping them realize what they already know, and what they know they know. (Sounds crazy doesn't it?) We start with walking, because dancing is just walking -- slightly wacky walking. And we move on from there, in chunks as small or large as are needed to progress to each next step in the process, until they are satisfied, happy -- and dancing. With experienced dancers who are learning a new dance, we can often speed that process along by relating what they know from other dances to the new one. Learning new dances is much like learning new languages -- each one relates to the others and the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn another one. Dancing is like that. For experienced dancers who want to resolve a problem they're having, we spend some time diagnosing the problem, then we take apart what isn't working, reconstruct it in a new way and practice and refine that to instill it into muscle memory so the resolution becomes part of their dancing.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I'm a certificated classroom teacher with a degree in education and additional study in psychology, counseling and learning modalities -- how people learn -- also in music and dance history, and aesthetics -- philosophy of the arts. In a variety of capacities and subject areas, ranging from child development to arts based education, I've worked with and taught people of all ages, from infants through teens and adults, to older adults and seniors -- and in settings from family daycare through public and private school classrooms, college and university, and community based life long learning. I've been dancing all my life -- studying: * ballet, tap and figure skating, as a young child * ballet and modern dance as a teen and adult * social dancing as a teen and adult, many styles of partnered dance * more social dancing, jazz, African, Afro-Caribbean, historical dance, as an adult I've studied dance at the university level, and with international, national and local instructors and continue to study and practice dance and teaching. In addition to teaching in my own business, I currently research and teach social dancing and the history of American popular music, dance and culture at the university level.