Class Information
Each class meets once a week for one hour at Hancock Recreation Center: 811 E 41st Street. Unless otherwise noted, each class continues consecutively for a five-week session, during which, participants may elect to take either one or all of the classes available in that session.

The fees for each five-week session are as follows:

	ABD Member	Non-member
One Session - One Class	$20	$35
One Session - Unlimited Classes	$30	$45

* All two-hour classes are charged at the unlimited price.

2009 Class Schedule

No classes the week of June 29-July 3; closed for the 4th of July.
No classes the week of November 24-27; closed for Thanksgiving.

Don McCollum's Classes: Tuesdays and Thursdays

		Tuesday		Thursday
Dates		7:30-8:30pm	8:45-9:45pm	7:30-8:30pm	8:45-9:45pm
1	01/13-02/12	Quickstep 3	Foxtrot 4	Viennese Waltz 1	American Waltz 2
2	02/17-03/19	Waltz 3	Quickstep 4	Tango 1	Viennese Waltz 2
3	03/24-04/23	Viennese Waltz 3	Waltz 4	Rumba 1	Tango 2
4	04/28-05/28	Tango 3	West Coast Swing 3 and 4	Samba 1	Rumba 2
	06/02-06/05	Summer Workshop only for Don McCollum To be Announced
5	06/16-07/23	Rumba/bolero 3	Bolero 1	East Coast Swing 1	Samba 2
6	07/28-08/27	Samba 3	Demand	Polka 1	East Coast Swing 2
7	09/1-10/1	East Coast Swing 3	Demand	Intl Foxtrot 1	Polka 2
8	10/6-11/5	Merengue	Demand	Intl Waltz 1	Intl Foxtrot 2
9	11/10-12/17	Intl Foxtrot 3	Demand	West Coast Swing 1	Intl Waltz 2
	Winter 2009	No Winter Workshop

Richard Fowler's Classes: Thursdays and Fridays

		Thursday		Friday
Dates		7:30-8:30pm	8:45-9:45pm	7:30-8:30pm	8:45-9:45pm
1	01/13-02/13	Cha Cha 3	Bolero 1	Foxtrot 1	Mambo 2
2	02/17-03/20	Mambo 3	Bolero 2	Waltz 1	Foxtrot 2
3	03/24-04/24	Foxtrot 3	Bolero 3	ECS 1	Waltz 2
4	04/28-05/29	Waltz 3	Bolero 4	WCS 1	ECS 2
	Summer 2009	No classes for the first week of June
5	06/18-07/24	E. C. Swing 3	Waltz/Foxtrot 4	Tango 1	W.C. Swing 2
6	07/30-08/28	W.C. Swing 3	Viennese 1	Rumba 1	Tango 2
7	09/3-10/2	Tango 3	Demand	Cha Cha 1	Rumba 2
8	10/8-11/6	Rumba 3	Demand	NightClub 1	Cha Cha 2
9	11/12-12/18	Cha Cha 3	Demand	Mambo 1	NightClub 2
	Winter 2009	No Winter Workshop

*Please Note: There will be no ABD classes during the week of Thanksgiving.*

*Demand classes usually determined by student-vote, at the beginning of Richard's last level-three (sometimes level-four) class of a five-week session; determines what will be taught for the subsequent five weeks, and will now be the same for Don's classes as well.

NOTE: "Intl" is short for "International Style," rather than "Intermediate."

American vs. International
American style dancing is done mostly in the United States and Canada while the International style is done all around the world (including the U.S. and Canada) and is the style that will be danced at the Olympics. American style dances were codified with ease of learning (and sales) in mind, and so tend to have patterns that are easier to mix-and-match. Most beginners find the American style easier to learn and to dance socially, since a dancer with only one figure in a dance can be functional (although a bit boring) on the floor, whereas International style dances tend to have smaller patterns which must be fit into longer sequences in order to get to a point where a sequence can be repeated.

One way to think of it is that International style patterns are syllables and American style patterns are words you use in forming dance sentences. The International style was also codified more for descriptive clarity than with ease of teaching (or sales) in mind, and so some difficult skills are included fairly early in the syllabus, while the American style builds up to these skills over time. Eventually, the two skill sets are quite similar, the two styles just take two different paths to achieve their goals.

Once you've attained a certain amount of skill in one style, it is easier to learn the other, and in some cases the differences are quite minor (especially between Smooth and Standard).

(From kungfuballroom.com)