PERSONAL NOTES ON

LEARNING AND TEACHING TANGO

Last Updated: 8/26/98

REMEMBER:

July 8, 1998

Where is the Connection?

Communication occurs most where the connection is strongest.

We talk about two styles of dance, for which we have much terminology. "Milonguero" vs. "Salon" is one set of names. I like to refer to the styles as "leaning" or "upright", because I think that's what distinguishes them. In the leaning style the main connection is made with the chests, and the arms have little to do with it. In the upright style the connection is made with the arms, and the chest has little to do with it. (You can dance upright quite close together, and still have the connection in the arms.)

When I dance upright, the connection is in my arms (the frame). It's a looser connection, which allows us to dance more independently and do more with our feet. I find this connection more subtle, and it's hard to establish a good sensitive one this way. Most people, especially beginners, are more comfortable with this connection at first.

When I dance leaning, the connection is in our chests. This is a very powerful connection if it's well made. When this connection is good, my partner and I feel every little tremor the other one makes. When she puts her foot down, I can know exactly when and where it went. In this style I can truly find the "one body, four legs" concept of dancing. Since the connection is tighter, it limits the number of things we can do with our feet, but the emotional communication is stronger. Many people are quite uncomfortable dancing this way. It requires you to press your body against another person, and to depend on them to move with you. It takes some getting use to.

Some people dance close together, but don't really create the dedicated connection that's necessary. When this happens both styles are defeated. We're to close together to do steps, and to far apart to communicate with our chests. If you lean, you will have a connection in your chests. No way around it. If you lean strongly, you will have a strong connection. If you lean weakly, your connection will be weak.

I think the dancers must either lean or not lean, one or the other. There is no such thing as a simultaneous combination. If you lean, you must be committed to leaning. A partial commitment is partially effective. If you dance upright, your partner must depend on you to not suddenly lean. How you make the connection is dependent on the style you choose.

Constancy. For me, the connection must be one or the other. It's awkward for me to be leaning, and all of a sudden find that my partner is not leaning back. It's equally awkward to not be leaning, and all of a sudden find my partner leaning on me. It means the connection is always changing, with no warning. If the connection is not constant, then it's going to be a rugged dance. However you decide to do it, it can't change to something else depending on the step.

In my experience, I can deal with whatever connection my partner gives me, if it's clear and reliable.

Well, that's not entirely true. If a woman establishes her main connection on my right shoulder blade, or on the back of my neck, or on my upper arm, then I must try to lead her from that part of my body. I can't communicate effectively that way. My ability to lead her is stifled if she does that.

Summary. If you lean, lean completely. If you don't want to lean, then stand up straight, on your own balance.

8/19/98

A Hard Question: To Whom Do You Teach, And Why?

(The following notes were written from the perspective of a teacher (me) who would burnout a week later and abruptly turn the task over to others. The commitment of my students was not the cause. I was frustrated by my own method.)

When students come to my class they have many different levels of potential, and most of them have not gone on to become tango dancers. Given this classroom situation, I must decide for myself if I want to direct my teaching toward those students who are more likely or less likely to be successful. And yes, if you are an experienced teacher, you will know who they are. If I am trying to create tango dancers, I should put my effort where it will achieve that goal the best. Since I will probably loose most of my students within eight weeks, I should try to influence which ones I keep. I should not loose my high potential dancers for the sake of the lesser ones. If I am directing my teaching to the least capable students, then maybe I should ask myself what I am trying to accomplish. True, the process of teaching can be a stroke to my ego, but it is really the end result that I am trying to achieve.

You may think that each student has paid the same amount of tuition and therefore deserves the same amount of attention. I agree, but the premise is that I have already done what I am able to do, but the student has not. In this situation, it is the student’s turn to fulfill his or her obligation.

For some students learning tango will be a stroll in the park. For others it will be very challenging. It can be rewarding to teach a quick learner, but it can also be very rewarding to teach someone who struggles mightily, and finally overcomes some challenge. It has always been my commitment to work as hard and as long as my students work. If they struggle, so will I. If they don’t struggle, neither will I. It is not my objective to be a teacher. It is to teach. Notice the difference in the verbs. I would be happy to teach and not act like a teacher. In fact, I try to. (See teaching at a milonga)

Once I had woman in my class who didn't learn to do the crusada after eight weeks of class, in spite of several good teaching assistants and myself all doing our best to teach her, using patient and varied approaches. I don't intend to speculate on why she didn't learn this step, but I maintain that we gave it our best, and she didn't learn. There was nothing more we could do within the realm of teaching tango.

I also had a woman who didn't limit herself to taking only the steps that were lead. She often took additional steps to adjust her balance. When I demanded that she focus her attention and arrive cleanly at each new location, she was able to do it. However, generally she didn't. It was her own lack of attention that prevented her from dancing.

I often have students that are able to do a certain task when I press them to do it. I think it's part of my job to urge, exhort, cajole, harangue, nurse, goad, berate, cheer on, and/or brow beat students into higher levels of ability. Sometimes they need it. I have a student who argues with me, but then she makes progress. It's how we operate, it works, so I do it. However, once I have shown a student a certain step, feeling or movement, and we both know they are aware of the movement and able to do it, then the teaching is over and it is time for the student to handle the learning.

As a teacher, it is my job to teach. As a student of teaching, I continually try to learn how to teach better. But I cannot make another person learn. Learning is the sole responsibility of the student.

08/26/98

Words and Descriptions

Anyone who tries to write about dancing tango either doesn't know how, or is fundamentally twisted. To clarify, I am writing about teaching and learning tango, and I am fundamentally twisted.

If you were bound hand and foot to a chair placed in the middle of a dance hall, and instructed to tell some new students how to dance Tango, you couldn’t do it with any clarity or efficiency, if at all. Do you think a book, with no interactive facility, no matter how well written, could do any better? If your answer is "no", then why would you ever use written information to learn how to dance? You must know from the start that any description could only be a frozen shadow of the real dance.

Recognizing this, why would you ever use description to teach? I think the only answer is simply to augment or clarify your demonstration of a step. Words can only serve an auxiliary purpose, and sometimes that’s necessary. But, recognize that their isolated worth is trivial. It has been, and still is, my goal to reduce the amount of words used in my teaching, and increase the amount demonstration and experiential training.

Learning Tango

I think a beginner’s class is the worst place for women to learn this dance. They are subjected to sequences, to which they should pay no attention. They are trying to respond to movements and feelings that are probably nothing more than a hint. The result is women applying step sequences to symbolic leads. That is not what should happen in tango.

There have been several women who began their study with me privately. Within three or four lessons they were dancing relatively well. When they started attending classes their dancing went downhill, because they began to learn sequences and interpret leads.

However, as long as they continue to dance with me only, they will not learn to dance tango. I think it is necessary for women to learn to dance with many different men, and after three or four lessons with me they should begin to broaden their experience. They should start going to practicas and milongas.

Women do need to have some technical skills, and those can be developed in a group situation. Groups may even be better, because they could provide more enjoyable and encouraging ways to learn.

I think men should learn to dance the woman’s role first, so they know what it is. They shouldn’t even touch a beginner woman until they have passed that role themselves. I have tried many times to invite, implore and exhort men into attending classes for men only. Generally the men who need it least are most likely to attend. Beginner men usually won’t even think about it.

However, I think this is the right direction, and I intend to pursue it. Perhaps I will run a practica/milonga on Friday nights. Maybe Thursday night Men’s sessions would be useful. I am developing a particular direction for my teaching. Any interested and willing students may come to me. (One of my best life teachers said, "When you need a teacher, one will appear." I shall raise a cup to Jack Rother. He taught me well, by being a student himself.)

Teaching Your Students to Learn.

Teachers, unless you consider yourself to be a master, you are a student also. Even Michael and Luren claim openly to be students. At various tango weeks, when they have not been teaching classes, they have usually been in someone else's class. Do not separate yourselves from your other students. Show them how to learn. It is, perhaps, one of the most important skills you can pass on. Let them see you struggle with a step until you get it right, so they will know that it can be done. Let your students see how to handle frustration and inability. They must know this.

I’ve noticed that adults who pursued some discipline as a child, are more successful in learning to Tango. Many students don’t know what it is to devote ones self to a discipline and work at it tenaciously. You must show them, and the best way to do this is to demonstrate it yourself. Many students get discouraged because they think they are the only ones having trouble. They seem to think that I and others are good dancers due to some innate quality that they don’t have. They need to know that I am only a good dancer because I’ve struggled with it. (Struggle can be fun. See "Quotes".) I want to continue to make improvement, so I continue to work at it, and I am willing to demonstrate this to my students.

If you walk around your class demonstrating pride and protecting your image, then that’s what your students will learn to do. Remember, your students learn more from your demonstrations than from your words. What you do is more important than what you say. If you won’t let your students see you struggle with a step, then they will learn not to be seen struggling with steps. (See next comments regarding Milongas.) There should be no shame in working on a step. To struggle with a step is a necessary part of learning Tango. Everybody does it, or doesn’t learn to dance. It is a clear mark of a good dancer to know how to struggle with a step. If students need to struggle, and need to know how to struggle, then it is an important part of the teacher’s job to teach this skill. Demonstrate your skill at struggling. You should be proud of your ability to struggle. It’s not easy to attain. (See comments on Learning to Practice.)

Teaching in the Milongas

The milonga is not a place to be seen struggling with steps. It is a place for men and women to dance with confidence, expression and pleasure. If I don’t want to see people studying steps at the milonga, then clearly I should not be teaching steps at a milonga. I try my best to never put myself in the role of teacher at a milonga. It is contrary to my beliefs.

I even worry about telling someone at a milonga that they are doing well. If I rate someone’s dancing, I think it implies that they wish to be rated according to my standard. What would I think if someone told me I was doing well? Might I be offended? I only want to accept that role if, and when, students come to my class or take a lesson from me. But the milonga, as in life, is a place for you to be who you are, and not what someone else wants you to be.

Of course, much learning goes on at the milongas. It is particularly important for leaders to get out of the classroom and onto the dance floor, which is a different environment. I constantly urge my students to attend milongas, even if it’s only to socialize and observe. That too is worthwhile. However, learning does not require teaching. The two are not necessarily related.

It is important to adopt a proper attitude at a milonga. We all have different attitudes that we can adopt as necessary. It would be foolish to display bravado in a situation where a show of humility would be more appropriate, and vise versa. The roots of the word "persona" refer to a mask through which we speak, and the mask changes as needed. All high caliber athletes adopt an attitude before an important game. They put on their "game face", and the face is not artificial. If we put on our party face after the game is over, it doesn’t mean the game face was in any way false. We are not all things at all times. Our attitude in the classroom should be different from our attitude at the milonga.

When we go out on a date, we get dressed up, whatever that means. We carefully prepare ourselves to be cool, whether it be a polo shirt or pierced lip. Imagine a Captain of the Hussars arriving at a Grand Viennese Ball, boots and buttons polished, and asking another man to show him a waltz step. Even worse, presuming to instruct his partner. Totally un-cool. Completely wrong attitude. If he didn’t learn the step before, back at the barracks, it’s too late. He must do the best he can, using the steps with which he can do his best. He must also do his best to make his partner look good too. He must support her attitude of grace, beauty, and confidence. If she is a fine lady, she will compliment his airs in return. If she is a truly great lady, she will make everyone around her feel fantastic. It’s all part of the game we are playing together, no matter how seriously. If we gather to play volleyball, one must not bounce the ball or hold it during the game. It’s against the rules; it ruins the game. If we gather to dance, it alters the party if some people don’t adhere to the rules. It changes the atmosphere, and the atmosphere can enhance or degrade the way we play.

To change the imagery a bit, would a compadrito in a brothel be asking other men about technique, or giving instruction to his partner? Not. Imagine a woman suggesting to her partner that he could be a little firmer in his frame, or maybe that straighter posture would be an improvement.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are there to have a good time and impress one another, not necessarily in that order.

email: Please send me your comments or questions.

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