2432  Teaching / tango genes

Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 09:47:45 +0200
From: Ecsedy Áron <aron.ecsedy@OM.HU>
Subject: Teaching / tango genes

Dear Gibson and the List,

About teaching at a milonga

I believe if
- there are people who want to teach on the dance floor (even if they are clowns)
- there are people who willing to learn from them (even if they are beginners)
- there is place for this on the dance floor (the "lesson" doesn't obstruct other dancers)
- there are organizers who tolerate this
those guys should be allowed to teach.

I am dance teacher (meaning I have a degree in it) and I am not mad. I simply believe in "live and let live". Of course it is advisable to =
inform these beginners that they might have other opportunities to learn and the coaching they may get through these ad hoc lessons may cause =
them problems later on. Also, if other dancers are annoyed by these people, they should discuss this with the organizers. I don't think that =
ANYONE who is participating at a milonga is entitled to act. You may however tell these guys that the community considers them clowns...

About having "tango genes"

> I recall once I danced a 'first dance' with a young woman
> from Argentina. I gave her 5 words of instructions. She
> never danced tango before (which I understand is quite
> common). But boy could she dance tango. I didn't stop once
> thinking that she was anything but a seasoned dancer. 24
> years of Argentine TV and pop culture must have left their
> mark as she later moved to the states.

As she was living in Argentina she mostly picked up some basics unconsciously: she has probably seen tango during her childhood and =
adolescence many times, she probably heard the music many times and also she was living in the (physical, social and psychological) environment =
that created tango. That is probably a lot more that you or any of us could claim to have when we started. Just remember: how much time you =
needed just to be able to visualize the picture how the dance and the movements look in your head? She had that already. How much time you =
needed to know and feel the music? For her, it is not a problem.
This happens with all ethnical dancing/music (usually these are inseparable): even the person who doesn't know how to dance it's =
"native" dance has latent training and knowledge in it. Of course, I have seen Africans (raised in Europe - children of a diplomat family) =
with no talent for movement: if they were living in an environment where dancing and the music is not an everyday experience, they will not have =
the same talents as their ethnic counterparts.

Cheers,
Aron