540 Tango conference for instructors?
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 17:49:26 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@RAGTIME.ORG>
Subject: Tango conference for instructors?
Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango@AOL.COM> wrote:
>I am always looking to improve my teaching skills, when it comes to tango.
>What to teach, and How to teach it?
>What do I say, and how do I say it?
>I get a lot of people in my milonga, How do I get them to keep coming back.
>Do I teach the code of tango? Or do I teach the 8 count Basic?
>How do I teach people to learn tango in less time?
>How do I teach them improvisation?
>There are so many topic I want to discuss with people.
>
>I feel it's time to have a conference for people who instruct the tango.
>I would like to host this event If I could get enough people interest.
>
>Please give me your comments
>Hey, for instructors, this would be a tax write off! And have fun also.
Timothy Pogros posted this to the Tango-A list, but I think it is
more appropriate as a discussion topic. So here's his re-post, and my
thoughts on it.
This is a good idea.
The old joke is that to teach tango all you need is a pair of dance
shoes, (...and a business card?) It is rare for tango instructors
anywhere to have a serious basis in dance pedagogy, or "how to teach
tango."
What are useful skills for teaching?
For discussion sake here is a partial list. Some are surely more
important than others, but there is probably wide disagreement on the
proper ranking.
- Experience with Different styles
- Credentials as a Stage Tango dancer
- Experience with Social Tango
- Travel widely
- Buenos Aires experience
- Choreographic skill
- Teaching personality
- Ability to communicate
- Degree in Dance Pedagogy, Ballet or Modern
- How to Advertise effectively
- Good Dance skill of your own
- Friendly personality
- Analytical framework
- Can a man teach women?
- Can a woman teach men?
- Have you been injured, and learned why.
- Musical understanding
I think most US local instructors have learned how to teach primarily
by taking classes themselves and hosting many different travelling
tango teachers. By the time you've watched 10 different teachers do
their thing in beginner workshops, you will have passed a survey
course in tango teaching. More and more I find beginner or
fundamentals classes more interesting than classes that focus on
fancy material.
Sometimes the best teacher is one who has taken the most difficult
path, perhaps being injured. Sometimes the really great dancers who
learn so easily have a harder time putting themselves in a beginner's
situation.
Retention...Nothing succeeds like success.
We can talk about obtaining credentials all you want, but in the end
what matters is whether your students actually succeed and move into
the community.
One of the hardest things to learn is the ability to retain students.
Two difficult stages are, from Beginner to Adv-Beginner and from
Adv-Beginner into the community as Intermediates. Even the best
teachers are less than 33% successful at each level.
(Let's see, 100/3 then 33/3 is 11 intermediates out of 100 newcomers.
..Am I right or is this still too optimistic? )
Here is a challenge to all tango teachers and community builders:
*** Create 10 or 20 solid community members over the next year. ***
In communities with 10 teachers, that would add up to 100 or more newcomers.
--
-----
"To my way of thinking the tango is, above all, rhythm,
nerve, force, character...I tried to restore to the tango
its masculine quality." -- Juan D'Arienzo (1949)
-----
Tom Stermitz
- Stermitz@Ragtime.org
- 303-725-5963
- https://www.tango.org/dance/EternaTeaching.html
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:25:32 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Tango conference for instructors?
Timothy Pogros wrote (to Tango-A):
>I feel it's time to have a conference for people who instruct the tango.
>I would like to host this event If I could get enough people interest.
I have met many other tango instructors and dancers around the country, and
I find it a worthwhile activity to exchange notes and dance together.
These meetings have all been much more informal--sometimes associated with
an already occurring event. I for one would rather see such an activity
planned to occur a day before or after an already occurring tango week or
weekend such as the Labor Day Weekend in Denver or the USTC in Miami.
Tom Stermitz wrote (to Tango-L):
>The old joke is that to teach tango all you need is a pair of dance
>shoes, (...and a business card?)
>What are useful skills for teaching? ...
For me, the list boils down to a consistent ability to put people out on
the dance floor with the ability to dance tango.
With best regards,
Steve
Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 11:55:37 -0500
From: Bibib Wong <bibibwong@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Tango conference for instructors?
Hi all,
Tom commented:
>What are useful skills for teaching?
> - Experience with Different styles
> - Credentials as a Stage Tango dancer
> - Experience with Social Tango
> - Travel widely
> - Buenos Aires experience
> - Choreographic skill
> - Teaching personality
> - Ability to communicate
> - Degree in Dance Pedagogy, Ballet or Modern
> - How to Advertise effectively
> - Good Dance skill of your own
> - Friendly personality
> - Analytical framework
> - Can a man teach women?
> - Can a woman teach men?
> - Have you been injured, and learned why.
> - Musical understanding
>
>Retention...Nothing succeeds like success.
To me, what constitutes a good teacher, besides some points mentioned by
some members here so far, is not only how the teachers perform **during**
their teaching-hood, but how they perform post-teaching, i.e., towards the
growth of the student and the community.
To me, one quality is for the teacher to acknowledge and respect the future
of the students, as such, the student eventually will need to MOVE ON.
Parents are not good parents until they learn to let go of their
children.....
Another gauge is the teachers' attitude to the dance community.
Possessiveness and promotion of animosity are not traits of good teachers--
in my humble opinion.
Bibi (chicago)
