club tango

[opendoor]

That's an interesting idea. ... I would have said very much Salon.

I would also call milonguero style mixed with figures, salon.

I would agree with ´it looks like´ but, it feels different! Could not find my own old thread "Is Salón healthier than Milonguero?" where I posted about my problems with axis, posture, and spine, and my following change from Apilado to Liquido dancing.

 

[Dave Bailey]

One point of agreement... sounds like this teacher doesn't really know what he is doing.

As I said, it's difficult to judge based on hearsay, but the reports don't fill me with confidence.

One point of disagreement... there's nothing wrong with dancing these elements, whether they are called 8CB or not.

I think dancing an 8CB in a nightclub would simply take up too much space.

The reason I know this is, I've a lot of experience dancing AT in Modern Jive venues, and you simply don't have space to take more than 1-2 steps in any direction; although the amount of space changes depending on which direction you go.

The technique that works best for me is close embrace, short steps, but with lots of rotation; so you effectively take up as much space as a jive couple would normally.

I think that technique would work OK in a nightclub, but I confess I've not tried it out.

 

[opendoor]

Club Tango ≠ Club Style

...I have asked the instructor, but he did not really give me a good answer.... This is more of what he calls a night club style

Hi morgrob, sorry, I answered the style question above, but that would be another thread, and is not relating to your question, really. Your teacher is rather unexperient: he mixed style with didactics, so did you, ... and finally I. Hope he´s better with dancing than with words.

Your concern is different:

...The "basic" is kind of a box step.... For the middle QQ steps the woman is doing a lock type step .... and then end all the steps in the same way.... there have been rocking steps, running / progressive steps, reverse turns and then also forward ochos which we have covered..

All the keywords above belong to a very traditional way of teaching, that was invented 40 years ago, and shaped generations of tango teachers. The only good thing about it: There should be a lot of material.

..just kind of would enjoy reading up more about it online or if there are any videos available...

Dont know if you are familiar with YouTube, and if you have trained your computer to show flash videos. I will post some Links, and you might get an idea, if it was, what you are looking for. Browse the menue with the related links on the right side then, and browse all those educational vids. Chop up complex movements into smaller units, find or ask for names for that special moves, draw tables or concept maps, and you will find your own way through this jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhSTIFvpZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQQzc7JVTQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEnrp9makg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-wl7kf-tU0

w.r. OD

 

[Ray Sison]

Thanks, opendoor, for all this info! Very generous and useful

Hi morgrob, sorry, I answered the style questionabove, but that would be another thread, and is not relating to your question, really. Your teacher is rather unexperient: he mixed style with didactics, so did you, ... and finally I. Hope he´s better with dancing than with words.

Your concern is different:



All the keywords above belong to a very traditional way of teaching, that was invented 40 years ago, and shaped generations of tango teachers. The only good thing about it: There should be a lot of material.



Dont know if you are familiar with YouTube, and if you have trained your computer to show flash videos. I will post some Links, and you might get an idea, if it was, what you are looking for. Browse the menue with the related links on the right side then, and browse all those educational vids. Chop up complex movements into smaller units, find or ask for names for that special moves, draw tables or concept maps, and you will find your own way through this jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhSTIFvpZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQQzc7JVTQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEnrp9makg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-wl7kf-tU0

w.r. OD

 

[morgrob]

I appreciate all of your answers, but I feel it is unfair to judge someone's instructor based one my one post. He has been very helpful in the past and is very knowledgeable.

 

[Dave Bailey]

Does this sound familiar?

http://www.tejastango.com/tango_styles.html#club

 

[sambanada]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpTs4ykITeQ

 

[newbie]

I have asked the instructor, but he did not really give me a good answer.

Doesn't sound good. Is he an instructor in other dances?

 

[morgrob]

I don't get why people all of the sudden jump to the fact that he is a bad instructor. He isn't; he is very good. It turns out that it is mostly argentine style with some other stuff thrown in there.

 

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

I don't get why people all of the sudden jump to the fact that he is a bad instructor. He isn't; he is very good. It turns out that it is mostly argentine style with some other stuff thrown in there.

Pardon, perhaps the instructor is great indeed, and possibly something had been lost in translation, but my guess is, for most of us "argentine style with some other stuff thrown in there"

#1, does not make much sense,

and as far as social dancing in our neck of the woods goes,

#2, sounds pretty useless.

 

[morgrob]

Pardon, perhaps the instructor is great indeed, and possibly something had been lost in translation, but my guess is, for most of us "argentine style with some other stuff thrown in there"

#1, does not make much sense,

and as far as social dancing in our neck of the woods goes,

#2, sounds pretty useless.

I guess my question has ignited some debate. I merely was wondering, at the start, if anyone had some insight. It has mostly been cleared for me. As for the argentine with some other stuff thrown in, that was my take on it, not his. I am just not sure why some people, especially the AT people, take it so seriously. Dancing should be fun in all capacities. Lighten up, life is too short.

"Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."-Wayne Dyer

 

[ant]

I don't get why people all of the sudden jump to the fact that he is a bad instructor. He isn't; he is very good. It turns out that it is mostly argentine style with some other stuff thrown in there.

Morgrob, what you have been descibing is the basic 8 step. You then go on to explain that it is a dance taught for limited space night clubs and not neccessarily for tango. I would suggest that there are much smaller Milonga and Tango patterns that would do exactly the same job and use far less space for the envirament you say it is being used for.

One of the reasons that you have been asked is if the instructor has knowledge in other dance styles because Tango is often fused with other dances, Modern Jive in the UK, Swing in the USA, Balboa generally and I am sure there are other styles as well. So that line was being examined.

It would be helpful if you could name the other styles that he is throwing in.

It appears to me that he is teaching the basic 8 step with no consideration of the envirament and at the moment you have not given sufficient information on other styles he is using to see the basis of fusing in.

Therefore based upon the information you have provided so far it is not surprising the conclusion people have come to. But this may be more a reflection of the limited information you have provided rather than the instructor.

 

[Gssh]

I guess my question has ignited some debate. I merely was wondering, at the start, if anyone had some insight. It has mostly been cleared for me. As for the argentine with some other stuff thrown in, that was my take on it, not his. I am just not sure why some people, especially the AT people, take it so seriously. Dancing should be fun in all capacities. Lighten up, life is too short.

"Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."-Wayne Dyer

Well, some of us take it so seriously because AT is a social dance, and part of the fun is (at least for me) that whenever i am travelling for work or on vacation i take my dance shoes, and i have found milongas anywhere in the world, and i have danced with people i would never have met otherwise, and sometimes we had no shared language besides tango. And while we have (sometimes ridiculously heated) debates about CE or OE, or V or Parallel, or nuevo or milonguero, the core of the dance is the same, and we usually can have quite enjoyable dances in our non-preferred styles. Its different dialects, but the same language - we can still communicate - it is british english, and american english, and so on..., not english and spanish and french. Some of the things in the OP sound like it might be a different language, and then some of the beauty of the dance is lost. I have met people who went out to milongas and realized that they were not able to dance with anybody there - and that is not fun, no?

Gssh

 

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

I guess my question has ignited some debate. I merely was wondering, at the start, if anyone had some insight. It has mostly been cleared for me. As for the argentine with some other stuff thrown in, that was my take on it, not his. I am just not sure why some people, especially the AT people, take it so seriously. Dancing should be fun in all capacities. Lighten up, life is too short.

"Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."-Wayne Dyer

IMO there is a distance between "fun" and "anything goes".
Rules are there for a reason, at least some of them.
AT people are serious about some rules because they know that even one or two people neglecting those rules may prevent a many around from having fun, and create unpleasant, at times, dangerous, situations.

 

[morgrob]

Well, some of us take it so seriously because AT is a social dance, and part of the fun is (at least for me) that whenever i am travelling for work or on vacation i take my dance shoes, and i have found milongas anywhere in the world, and i have danced with people i would never have met otherwise, and sometimes we had no shared language besides tango. And while we have (sometimes ridiculously heated) debates about CE or OE, or V or Parallel, or nuevo or milonguero, the core of the dance is the same, and we usually can have quite enjoyable dances in our non-preferred styles. Its different dialects, but the same language - we can still communicate - it is british english, and american english, and so on..., not english and spanish and french. Some of the things in the OP sound like it might be a different language, and then some of the beauty of the dance is lost. I have met people who went out to milongas and realized that they were not able to dance with anybody there - and that is not fun, no?

Gssh

Thanks for your reply. I did not mean that you shouldn't take it seriously. But I feel like, within the AT community, it is almost blasphemy to do something another way. People seem very protective of it. Of course AT is a wonderful thing to do, a great way to meet people, and a fun social activity. I enjoy watching it. That is not the point I was making. AT people just seem to have a vehement sort of defense when AT is mentioned. No offense was meant. I just am a beginning / intermediate social dancer, and was looking for some clarification, which I have gotten. I appreciate your help.