I would have chosen something slow and lyrical - Di Sarli.
Dancing to the music
- Thread starter AndaBien
- Start date
I would have chosen something slow and lyrical - Di Sarli.
It probably is boring, until they get good enough with their embrace and the connection aspect of the dance.
Yes, I tell them that taking a pause does not mean coming to a stop. They should be able to dance without moving their feet.
I always like to bring my students (try to) to a sharp focus on a specific point. If I tell them to give their partner a dance without moving their feet, maybe they will discover that it's possible, and sometimes delightful.
tangomonkey
Active Member
I find most beginners lack musicality for the opposite reason: they are so involved with the physical and mental process of movement that they don't even hear the music. In fact it is common that novices will continue dancing after the music is finished because they haven't noticed that it has stopped.
Your musical knowledge and training puts you in a unique position. If you found it difficult to pare down your dancing and match it to the music how much harder for the average leader with no musical background?
What should teachers say to help people through this painful phase? Apart from, "Stop when the music stops."
I'm certainly not a tango teacher, but there are things I've seen work and things that have been detrimental. A few thoughts:
Every beginner level teacher I've taken classes from (three of them) has taught the 8cb in the very first or second lesson. I think that is unwise. The leaders can barely walk and do not need to start stepping and walking outside the follower and waiting for her cross. The followers can't walk backwards at all, yet they are expected to cross and step out of it. And of course none of the steps are lead, they just happen because that's what the pattern does. No wonder beginners become oblivious to the music, they are thinking about the next step and hoping they get them all in the right order.
Musicality can be taught right from the first lesson. Nothing fancy at first: simply walking to the main beat, stepping double time, rock steps, in-place weight transfers, and eventualy more difficult rhythmic patterns and combinations. Always to be done with good posture. The teacher could play pieces with regulary occurring phrases and have students pause and/or do in-place weight transfers then walk at the start of the next one; to learn some elementary phrasing awareness and that constant directional movement is not necessary. These exercises should be done individualy, then in practice hold, with the follower's hands on the leaders chest, with some resistance applied, then in open or closed embrace. The teacher should explain how to lead every step and maintain proper body alignment. After a few lessons have the students improvise their own steps in time with the music and phrasing.
With proper guidance from the teacher, I think students would make very good progress in technique, musicality, and improvisation.
Anyway, just some thoughts that came to mind....
I think this is a very good idea.
However, I can imagine that most beginners won't be able to appreciate this. They would not feel enough achievement to stay. I think. (I am not a teacher)
I think it is an excellent idea, but writing as a teacher (but not of AT), I am fairly convinced that the instructor would have no one's company but his own by week three. Because I teach, and have vague plans to add AT to my teaching programme at some point, I have given much thought about the process of introducing the dance to beginners, and deliberately have thought about it while the experience of being a relative beginner myself is fresh in my mind.
I see that a lot of teachers have an 'introductory' class (often 6-8 weeks long) which they repeat regularly, and this is obviously a model that works, or they wouldn't do it. My current view is that the most practical (but not 'purist') approach is to teach the fundamentals of the walking action, alongside some common 'figures' that contain the key actions (so ochos, cruzada, rock steps, pasada, giro (perhaps)). The students need to feel as though they have achieved something tangible if they are going to come back next week. Unless they 'come back next week' for several months, they are never going to acquire the ability to navigate a crowded floor in a genuinely imrovisatory way, and that has to be their medium-term goal. So, an introductory class builds confidence, rather than competence, and then, if you have them coming back regularly, you have an opportunity to break down those 'figures' into their elements, and start building improvisatory ability around their use, while adding additional elements, and working on the development of walking ability and musicality. Such are my thoughts.
I thought, for a moment, that in writing this I was guilty of going 'off-topic', but on second thoughts, I concluded that the object is 'Dancing to the music', so perhaps not. anyway, feel free to ignore my ramblings.
Captain Jep
Active Member
Why dont we have a Like button on the forum?! Anyway
@OD haha - yes just because you're in your 70s or 80s at a BsAs milonga it doesnt mean that you are a dance God ..
That, indeed, is a problem. Not all teachers attempt to delve into the most fundamental elements of tango; some are happy to just teach steps. But those that do try realize that the most fundamental part is both the most difficult to learn and the most difficult to teach.
For me, I assume that students come to me because they want to learn what I know, so I try to teach them to dance, more or less, the way I do. If I'm going to tell them that they can have a great dance without doing any fancy steps, then I better be able to demonstrate that. If I can show them a good dance that uses nothing more than forward steps, side steps, rock steps, then maybe they will believe that it's possible.
tangomonkey
Active Member
Well, there is that possibility. I took guitar lessons (private) from age 8 to 20 and I first started teaching when in high school (at 16). Maintaining a student base can be a problem. Almost every student has unrealistic expectations and very few have any idea how difficult it is to learn an instrument. Same for tango students.
The framework I described is a starting point only. A GOOD teacher could adapt it and make the students feel like they are dancing tango, because they are. Walking to the beat and phrases in various steps and directions, with pauses, is tango. Adding pivots, change of direction, and turns at some point is a good idea.
There is no need to provide elaborate sequences (which the 8cb certainly is) or any multi-step pattern. Many students are there to learn all the fancy moves they've seen in movies. Unless the teacher believes teaching beginners the fancy stuff is OK (it isn't), or is desperate to maintain the cash flow (more likely), there is no valid reason to teach by sequence and pattern and flashy move.
The question is, works for who? If patterns and sequences are the focus it does not benefit anyone but the teacher. From my personal experieince it does damage to the student, who will have to spend considerable time removing ingrained sequences from the mind and muscle memory.
A teacher's obligation (duty!) is to transmit fundamental skills and technique, and help their students develop musicality and improv. abilities. Like a doctor, they should do no harm.
I agree with you. The problem is that nearly all dance instruction takes place for hard cash. The customer is King, and the customer will only pay for what they think they want - which is often not would be most useful to them. I don't have an answer to that.
Yes, a teacher must meet the demands of their students. The best a teacher can do is plant a seed in the minds of their students that there is a better way. Then, when the student (mainly guys, I think) gets utterly bored after doing the same, repetitious sequences for years on end, maybe they will begin to think of other ways to enjoy the dance. Unfortunately, many guys just drop out, rather than give up their fancy steps.
FWIW, week 3 is when I introduce the 8cb in my beginners class.
In week 1, I cover the embrace (close, of course), how to lead with the chest, and walking on the slow beat (to include side steps, and occasional pauses). In week 2 I cover the quick beat (quick quick slow), rock steps, and a little musicality. Week 3 is the cross, walking outside, the 8cb, and cross system. Weeks 4 is back ochos. Week 5 is back & front ochos. Week 6 is on the molinette (sp), and 7 is on combining the molinette with ochos. The last week (8) is preparing for the first milonga (which we attend as a class).
I'm in the middle of my second time teaching this course, so it's still too early for me to draw definite conclusions on how successful it is, but it appears to be working.
The answer as a teacher is surely to educate them.
If you respect the tango tradition and wish to increase/improve
the dancing pool then teach what will do that. Regrettably tango
is going the way of ballroom dancing with standardisation of hold
(not even an embrace really) and homogenisation
of steps, moves and patterns (VU).
Social tango isn't the steps or moves or the Basic8 (8CB).
It's the feeling of movement in the embrace to the music
so teach that. One hour (or even less) is enough to get
new students doing so, then encourage them to listen
to the music and practice. Teaching of posture, connection
and all the possibilities will have the correct context -
that of dancing the music.
Teachers concentrate too much on teaching and not on
the learning of their students. The more I dance tango,
the more I realise just how misguided (I say this because
I do feel that their intentions were genuine) my teachers
were and now my search would be for a method to get
people simply dancing as soon as possible.
We cannot tranship the old BsAs way, we don't have the
culture nor tango infrastructure for that. And as a result
we need teachers and their motivation to spread the word.
Regrettably that necessary (?) commercialisation is in itself
a big danger to a tango of the senses.
Your post quoted above encapsulates that.
But surely from being on here and what you've written
you could be different. You know it's different to ballroom
so attempt to teach it differently if teaching is what you intend
to do. Maybe don't think of it as teaching but coaching
or even coaxing!
I'm reminded of this from Tete:
November 23, 1998
Hello, Tango people
The one adressing these words to you, with great affection and respect to all
is the Tete. I hereby say to you that I find myself feeling unconfortable knowing that,
one way or another, the Tango is being distorted. I cannot believe that in this age
when the Tango has been recognized worldwide there should be people who dance
and teach it without the music, caring only about the "steps" and not the music.
It hurts very much to know that at this stage we find ourselves in, they shouldn't know
that Tango is the one and only and nothing else, that it's a life, a part of each and
every one of us, our very own emotions, and that's why it makes us feel so good.
So, gentlemen, stop fooling around when you dance and teach it. Do not make a living
teaching it if you can't dance it. For the good of the tango, for the good of the teachers
and milongueros that danced it and taught it and for the respect that tango deserves,
one of the few things that weren't privatized.
It doesn't matter which style is danced, but that is musical.
Thanks for understanding this dancer and his partner and scribbler.
Tete and Silvia
http://teteysilvia.blogspot.com/
Yes, indeed. If I dance with beginners that can smoothly walk me around the floor and include some basic steps, responding to the music, as AndaBien describes, I am fulsome in my praise! It is just so hard to make them believe that this is the best foundation for what they want to go on to achieve (and, of course, more pleasurable for their followers,) than botched attempts at fancy steps they are not ready for.
Exactly what I have in mind. Thank you for your excellent suggestions. Personally, I think the first three months should be spent doing this and can't really understand why people don't seem to consider it marketable.TangoMonkey said: