Introduction: The most coveted award that a teacher of ballroom or Latin dancing can achieve is an NDCA Top Teacher Award. This is gleaned by the accomplishments of your students in "open to the world" ballroom and Latin dance competitions against other teacher's students of the same age, genre, experience, etc. I am very proud to have won over 30 such awards!
There is nothing that thrills me more than taking a pedestrian / non-dancer well beyond a point than they would have believed about themselves or their own capabilities. This often occurs in spite of their past experiences or even failures in their past dance experiences.