Thread: Long-distance study

I’m interested in doing intermediate/advanced instruction in a larger city, about two hours away from me. There are teachers near me who teach at the advanced level, but not in a style that interests me. What’s the best way to go about this? There are some people that I am interested in learning from, but in most cases I have only seen them perform and know them by (good) reputation—not attended classes with them, or necessarily met them.

My goal would be to find someone who would be willing to work with me long-distance. Perhaps one private class per month, with practicing on my own and taking some local classes. I’d like to improve my overall technique and work on performance skills.

What is the best way to approach this? Would it be best to send out some feeler e-mails explaining what I’m interested in and asking if the teachers would be amicable to such an arrangement? Try to drop-in on a beginners’ class (if they accept drop-ins) to get a feel for teaching styles, and then make my pitch later?

ETA: I'm not entirely sure what my end-all dance goal is, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference in how instructors would react to that. My overall goal is to become the best dancer that I can be (I know that sounds cheesy), because I love to study the dance, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it beyond that, i.e, teaching, professional performer, etc.

I think the email feeler is a good idea (assuming the teacher is in the email age - I still come across people who check their email less than once a week and are phobic about any real communication by email). You could also ask then if you could drop into a class - maybe before you spend big dollars on a private.

The other thing about doing private lessons is knowing what you want. Do you want to effectively do the teacher's internediate material as if you were in class or do you have a different goal? If you don't communicate to the teacher what you want (and at least a few days before the private) the experience may be quite frustrating.

Hi! Over the last three months I did almost exactly what you are talking about! Made a list of dancers I had seen perform and checked out their background and bios. I started by emailing my first choice about monthly private lessons. We emailed back and forth and I had the opportunity to give her a list of things I wanted to work on and learn over the next year. And I've just done my second with her.

Like you I am traveling 3 hours for this lesson, so I decided to go ahead and pay for a private lesson the first time rather than dropping in on a regular class (she didn't mind). I have the same overall goals, refine and strenthen technique and performance skills. The first class we basically did a drills technique class so she could see what I could do and what needs improvement. I think this work well for me rather than dropping in on a group class cause she could push me as far as I could go, which was a real challenge for me and probably more informative for her. After that we made a game plan together for how to proceed.

Good luck! Hope it works out for you!


OH! and your not alone in your dance goal! I said the exact word for word same thing, and it sounded just as cheesy!! Oh well, its the truth!

If you're able to drop in on a class to get a feel for the instructors, that might help you find one who feels like a good 'fit' for you.

If not, I'd set up a *single* private lesson. If you start off by discussing a long term arrangement, do one lesson and decide this isn't the right instructor for you, then you have to through an awkward 'break-up.' If you set up a single private lesson and it's awful, you can wave cheerfully and walk away...

If you do one lesson and love it, then you can bring up the idea of a more regular arrangement.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Meredith, I'd love to hear how your situation progresses.

I think your reasoning, Lauren, about just scheduling one private initially makes a lot of sense.

Before I do this, I'm definitely going to sit down and figure out what my goals are, at least for the next year or so.

Yeah, I took 6 months inbetween deciding to take privates and settling on an instructor. Definately needed to figure out what you want and who is most likely to give it too you.

If I might make a suggestion, if you haven't already, you might want to invest in a video camera. It is the second best investment I have made in my dance, classes being the first. I tape myself almost every single time I practice, so I went into privates having a very good idea of what needs fixing and a lot of things I was able to clean up on my own. In the beginning I was so shocked at the difference between what I thought I looked like while dancing and what the camera showed me! Even with using mirrors! So I have spent the last 8 months with only self instruction and feedback, and have made good progress (I feel) on perfecting all the things I had already been taught. Not sure how many people have the same experience....but IMO it has been an extremely valuable tool, especially in a long distance situation.


Meredith