936  Practica, Godfathers and Community growth

Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 21:52:14 -0300
From: Tango Pichincha <tangopichincha@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Practica, Godfathers and Community growth

In my experience a Practica is a good place for the beginners to share some
moments with those more experienced.
There are 4 teachers during our practica: playing the music and dancing,
specially with the beginners. We try to make it very informal, and encourage
the people to ask questions to the teachers and clarify any doubts they
have. Whe have a lot of room where the practica takes place, so it is very
confortable.

To make it easier for people to get to know each other, we have copied a
system they use in a Salsa ball in this city: once a month (or so) we
dedicate the practica to get in contact with somebody from other level of
dance. So we ask the intermediate and advance dancers to act as a
"Godfather" for a beginner. As the beginners enter the practica, they will
write their name in a small paper and put it on a can. Meanwhile, the
Practica runs normally. When there is enough people, we begin the game: we
go to each intermediate/advance and ask them to take a name from the can.
The more advanced then will go and dance some tandas with his "godchild"
during the practica. To be a godfather doesn't mean you have to dance the
whole practica with that person: it only means you accept to dance several
times with that beginner. It will lead to a situation where they can talk
and introduce to people and posibly joke, so it will be easier next time
they meet to get another dance. In that way the beginners can improve their
dance faster: in the same Practica they can dance with other beginners + a
teacher + a godfather.
As you can imagine, since there are more beginners than others, usually a
more advance will have more than one godchild. As you can also imagine,
there are more women beginners than men so the men have to "work hard"...
Each godfather is a volunteer: if you don't want to play, you just say it.

I would like to hear some sugestions or ideas (or critics) we can implement
in our practica in order to make it better.

Piccolo
in Lisboa (Portugal)