Wilddancer’s research into the social couples dancing industry so far suggests that the overall demand for dance lessons is either declining or not growing enough to say so. We spent a couple of days visiting studios in Las Vegas, and came away with some impressions. Dance studios are small organizations and the owners are usually busy teaching, so there wasn’t time for lengthy, in-depth discussions. But a few things stood out. First, like any other business, the better the quality and quantity of effort and thought you put in, the better the results you get. Second, as the nature of the demand changes you have to change with the times and make your offerings match the demand. (The best example here may be Hip Hop. There isn’t any standard version of this. But likely some of the pieces will end up coalescing into a meaningful whole or changing the look of some of the other “street dances”. In any case, it seemed that the more successful studios all offered Hip Hop; we didn’t have time to sample their offerings, but we suspect that they were quite dissimilar.) Third, with all the other things competing for the mindshare of dancers (and prospective future dancers), you have to be opportunistic. (We were particularly impressed with the “Wine, Dine & Dance” event held subsequently by DanceCenter on May 25 that “did well by doing good”, raising over $1,200 for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.)