3919 How to keep the talented beginners interested and involved
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:25:36 -0700
From: Yale Tango Club <yaletangoclub@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: How to keep the talented beginners interested and involved
Hi Igor,
Here at our university tango club these are things we do now or have successfully done in the past.
We prowl the beginner lesson at the gym, covertly audition the newbies and give them tango scholarships. It's a nice letter on pretty paper and it flatters the hell out of them. Tango scholarships include club membership, a free CD or two, a big discount on the next maestro workshop coming around, and one-on-one practicing or tutoring with our experienced dancers. Private lessons by amateurs, if you will.
Other things we've done is invitation-only classes to beginners who show promise in our tango bootcamp. 12 people, voila.
When they progress, I ask them to become teachers, junior or senior (we have 7). They get to attend classes by visiting teachers for free, and tuition assistance to take privates or semiprivates with them. I take them on field trips when I DJ on location. In return they teach classes to the beginners.
I think we are about to get an apprentice DJ, too. This might be a little tough for me because I can't stand bad music and she is bound to make mistakes, I made plenty I know, except when I was learning there was no alternative. So for now she DJs when I'm not here so I'm not hovering and being a control freak.
This accomplishes the goals of giving them extra teaching attention and keeping them challenged and interested, it makes them feel special and it lends prestige, you know the beginners feel kinda hot to be dancing with them, and it spreads the work around so everybody helps out and nobody feels overburdened.
Tine
Igor Polk <ipolk@VIRTUAR.COM> wrote:
Yes, yes, yes, everyone can learn dancing.
As we all did.
But how to hold those extra talented fast learning guys?
They are the future and nucleus of the milonga.
They are who will form tango-gravitation around them, where they go -
everyone goes after them.
They are who will be able to preserve legacy and move things forward.
They are treasures!
How to keep them interested to stay in between gray rhythm-struggling
unshaved crowd dressed in crumpled tough cotton shirts and shapeless pants?
Igor Polk.
************************
Tango Club at Yale
YaleTangoClub@yahoo.com
Check out our brand new website at www.yaletangoclub.org
To subscribe to our event emails, please email us or visit our website.
To unsubscribe, send us an email, or if you're in a hurry, do it yourself by sending an email to YaleTangoClub-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. If it doesn't work, just let us know. We're nice people and we really don't want to aggravate anybody. Thanks!
