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Originally Posted by Shepherd
Before Greg and Alizee opened their studio but were talking about it, I did a search on Google Maps for dance studios in Ajaccio and was astounded to find a dozen or so. I didn't believe Ajaccio was big enough to support that many, and thought G&A would be foolish to open another. Well, as we see they have been very successful. Since Scruffy raised the issue again today, I did another search and found the number of studios significantly reduced. I wonder if Gregg and Alizee drove the others out of business. Even so, I counted 8 studios still remaining today. I'm amazed that Ajaccio can support that many. The city has a population of 66,245. Dance students would make up a small percentage of those under the age of 20, I don't know how to calculate that number.
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I imagine it's like any other business. If you deliver value better than the other businesses, you win. It looks like lately they carved a niche by teaching kids how to ballroom dance. Still, there can't be a lot of money in it. Corsica has a higher unemployment rate than France as a whole, so the dance studios are really competing against each other for whatever customers are out there with expendable cash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shepherd
Evidently, there's a dramatic cultural difference. San Antonio is in the Bible Belt and there seems to be a church on every two or three blocks. Storefront churches that service congregations smaller than a couple hundred people are popular. San Antonio is also host to several of the largest televangelist ministries in America. The Baptists believe it's a sin to dance and they make up the majority of churches in San Antonio. Perhaps that explains the discrepancy between the two cities.
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I come from a Baptist background and lived around Houston for 30 years, so I can speak to this topic. The SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) doesn't really micromanage the
culture of member churches, so basically the leadership of the church does that. There is a lot of variance in culture from church to church. Some can be extremely strict, but I found this to be the exception and not the rule. Basically they condemn the "bump and grind" type dancing you might find young people doing in nightclubs. Dancing with your spouse or types of dances which require "minimal" contact such as the two step or ballroom dance don't cause any concerns in my experience. I have also had the pleasure of visiting a black Baptist church, which was a very lively experience. Lots of dancing while they are singing.
Besides, the more you tell young people that they can't do this or can't do that, the more likely they want to do it.
