Dance schools are all about pleasing everyone when really they don't help anyone at all. If you really want to learn one or two styles of dancing check out you local community colleges and ask to see a course syllabus before signing up for the class, or, if you can afford it take private lessons and let your teacher know exactly what you are looking to learn. I don't know where you went or what you were hoping to learn but just FYI most Arthur Murray studios don't teach the swing/Lindy that's being done on social dance floors right now.                   

                     Learning multiple styles at once? Yes, it can be done. I took up dancing last July, and since then I've learnt (in classes), in varying amounts:
Lindy hop (both Savoy and Hollywood)
East coast Swing
Collegiate Shag
West Coast Swing
Rockabilly (Yes, I know most of you don't think it's a dance style, but it is down here )
and even a *tiny* bit of Texas Two-Step.
I think that's all...
It's kind of confusing at first to try to mix them up... especially stuff that was so similar but with subtle differences... but once you get them sorted out in your head, it's doable. It even kind of helps... I found it kind of useful to know bits of West Coast when learning Lindy, and vice versa, and you can put moves from one into another.

I generally take three classes a week... so long as you go out on the weekends and practice, you get better *real* fast.                    

                     West coast & lindy can work together but West coast & East Coast are hard to mix.  I'm assuming your a leader in dance which makes it more diddicult for you.  If your a follower, go out dancing ( allow the leaders to lead you) and decide then what you like best.  That will hep ypu determine what exactly you want to persue.  I would suggest one style at a time as you learn them you'll discover which styles can work together.  As for your ballroom ~ I don't know much about it but PLEASE don't do it on a swing floor, that is all I ask (you can see my initial beef about this in the topic entitled dance ettiquite)

~Mindy                   

                     Thanks for the great feedback!
My main concern was not fun (I could have just as much fun learning and using either swing style ) but footwork compatibility.  Yes, it would be ideal to learn one style that would help me get better with the other.

I mean, ballroom starts by the lead stepping forward on the first count with the left foot; so does west coast swing.  When I was learning Lindy, we would always step backwards on count one with the left foot; east coast swing leads also step backwards.  If the above info. is totally wrong, please let me know.  So I guess my original question should have been about proper foot placement.

The easier it would be to transition between the different dance styles, the better.   

Regarding my choice of classes, I might be forced to learn a little of each on account of the weak swing scene in central Illinois.  Summer course offerings worry me a bit, as so much enrollment is based on when school is in session at the University of Illinois.    I hope we can eventually pull this area out of the 1980's culturally.......