The Bear
New Member
In the face of so much expertise and knowledge that exists within this forum, I feel a little embarrassed admitting this, but yep, as the thread title suggests, I've taught Tango!
Those who've read my posts will no doubt be wondering what the hell's going on as you'll know I'm really little more than a beginner myself and have no business teaching tango to anyone. With this in mind, let me put it in context, discuss the results, and then you can fire at will. Or at me, if you can't find anyone called Will to fire at.
I was away teaching a low key salsa weekend on Guernsey (I was the only guest teacher there) and as a result I was going to lose out on my tango fix as being away all weekend, I wanted some family time upon my return so would miss out on my regular weekly class. I'm really enjoying tango and didn't want to go two weeks without if I could help it, so I approached the salsa promoter running the weekend and suggested that whilst I was little more than a beginner, if she would let me, I'd like to attempt to run an "Intro/Taster" workshop at no extra charge during the course of the weekend, mainly in the interest of getting my fix. She was a bit reticent but let me have a go at the end of the Friday evening party, when numbers had dwindled a little and we weren't going to be upsetting so many by interrupting the salsa proceedings.
I had two goals; Firstly to get a bit of a fix for myself (I've no shame!), and secondly, to try and give those there gathered some of the sense of grace and drama I'd got in my first taster session last September.
I think because I'm still regularly attending beginners classes myself, and also because I'm still very aware of all the pitfalls I fell into, (but mostly because I've got a good teacher myself and I stole all his drills) I was able to impart some of the basic foundation and some of 'em actually understood it.
We didn't do much, mainly posture and walking/sidestep drills, concentrating on achieving the extension, grace and drama, then towards the end did some pivot drills and a little bit of ocho work so they could actually feel like they were doing something that looked and felt like Tango. It was a taster session after all, not a proper lesson. I ended up running over an hour but the dancers there seemed to really enjoy it, which was nice.
On the Sunday evening, numbers were way down as most people had left Sunday afternoon to get back to work on Monday morning. As there hardly enough of us there to make a party, I suggested an extra salsa workshop so imagine my amazement when the promoter told me that everyone had loved the tango I'd done on the Friday, and actually, could they do some more?!?!?!
None of 'em seemed to care that I'm not a proper tango teacher, and everyone there (though to be honest, only about 10 of 'em) was up for it.
Well, I couldn't refuse.
We did lots of drills again then got into some partner work looking at stuff like back/side/forward outside to cross, followed either by a walk or forward ocho.
At one point I left them practising for a moment whilst I went to check on the music and when I turned around, they were all doing it! Actually looking like they were actually dancing tango! They all had massively serious looks on ther faces as they concentrated on getting the feel of it as well as the steps but wow - they actually looked like they were dancing tango. I was gobsmacked! And overjoyed.
Aware that it was a taster session, (I'm not sure I should admit this) I even got as far as attempting to explain a gancho, and watching them try it really brought back memories from when I first tried it myself, and how difficult it was to place my foot precisely whilst sending the lady forward in an ocho, then twisting hips but not torso as I brought her back for the actual gancho. The leaders really struggled (no surprise) but loved it anyway, but a couple of the followers seemed to get the hang of it and could actually follow my lead when they danced it with me.
One of the girls really got the hang of everything we'd looked at and we ended up dancing a whole track at the end whilst everyone else watched. I had to interject a few verbal cues here and there but I was amazed at some of the stuff I was able to successfully lead once she got the idea. I certainly got my fix that night.
Feedback afterwards was brilliant - one guy was even heard to say he felt he was "Born to dance tango!" and a girl who'd never danced tango before, insisted that half the private salsa lesson she'd booked with me the next day was tango based.
So. I'm not a tango teacher, but I did manage to give those present a taste of what could be. And I got my fix too.
Those who've read my posts will no doubt be wondering what the hell's going on as you'll know I'm really little more than a beginner myself and have no business teaching tango to anyone. With this in mind, let me put it in context, discuss the results, and then you can fire at will. Or at me, if you can't find anyone called Will to fire at.
I was away teaching a low key salsa weekend on Guernsey (I was the only guest teacher there) and as a result I was going to lose out on my tango fix as being away all weekend, I wanted some family time upon my return so would miss out on my regular weekly class. I'm really enjoying tango and didn't want to go two weeks without if I could help it, so I approached the salsa promoter running the weekend and suggested that whilst I was little more than a beginner, if she would let me, I'd like to attempt to run an "Intro/Taster" workshop at no extra charge during the course of the weekend, mainly in the interest of getting my fix. She was a bit reticent but let me have a go at the end of the Friday evening party, when numbers had dwindled a little and we weren't going to be upsetting so many by interrupting the salsa proceedings.
I had two goals; Firstly to get a bit of a fix for myself (I've no shame!), and secondly, to try and give those there gathered some of the sense of grace and drama I'd got in my first taster session last September.
I think because I'm still regularly attending beginners classes myself, and also because I'm still very aware of all the pitfalls I fell into, (but mostly because I've got a good teacher myself and I stole all his drills) I was able to impart some of the basic foundation and some of 'em actually understood it.
We didn't do much, mainly posture and walking/sidestep drills, concentrating on achieving the extension, grace and drama, then towards the end did some pivot drills and a little bit of ocho work so they could actually feel like they were doing something that looked and felt like Tango. It was a taster session after all, not a proper lesson. I ended up running over an hour but the dancers there seemed to really enjoy it, which was nice.
On the Sunday evening, numbers were way down as most people had left Sunday afternoon to get back to work on Monday morning. As there hardly enough of us there to make a party, I suggested an extra salsa workshop so imagine my amazement when the promoter told me that everyone had loved the tango I'd done on the Friday, and actually, could they do some more?!?!?!
None of 'em seemed to care that I'm not a proper tango teacher, and everyone there (though to be honest, only about 10 of 'em) was up for it.
Well, I couldn't refuse.
We did lots of drills again then got into some partner work looking at stuff like back/side/forward outside to cross, followed either by a walk or forward ocho.
At one point I left them practising for a moment whilst I went to check on the music and when I turned around, they were all doing it! Actually looking like they were actually dancing tango! They all had massively serious looks on ther faces as they concentrated on getting the feel of it as well as the steps but wow - they actually looked like they were dancing tango. I was gobsmacked! And overjoyed.
Aware that it was a taster session, (I'm not sure I should admit this) I even got as far as attempting to explain a gancho, and watching them try it really brought back memories from when I first tried it myself, and how difficult it was to place my foot precisely whilst sending the lady forward in an ocho, then twisting hips but not torso as I brought her back for the actual gancho. The leaders really struggled (no surprise) but loved it anyway, but a couple of the followers seemed to get the hang of it and could actually follow my lead when they danced it with me.
One of the girls really got the hang of everything we'd looked at and we ended up dancing a whole track at the end whilst everyone else watched. I had to interject a few verbal cues here and there but I was amazed at some of the stuff I was able to successfully lead once she got the idea. I certainly got my fix that night.
Feedback afterwards was brilliant - one guy was even heard to say he felt he was "Born to dance tango!" and a girl who'd never danced tango before, insisted that half the private salsa lesson she'd booked with me the next day was tango based.
So. I'm not a tango teacher, but I did manage to give those present a taste of what could be. And I got my fix too.
