115  Beginners, etc.

Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 21:46:44 -0700
From: Sergio <sergio@NCINTER.NET>
Subject: Beginners, etc.

If you are a poor dancer or a beginner in a crowded milonga where you do not
know anybody your chances of dancing are low. You can still learn a lot by
looking as others dance, soaking up the ambiance, inhaling the atmosphere.
The same person at a milonga where he knows some people has a chance to
dance.
Instruction on the floor even if wanted by both partners should not (IMO) be
done as this generally affects the other dancers.
Obstruction of the floor, distraction by talking, etc.
A good dancer will lead a beginner by walking in front, if the follower
makes mistakes or does not cross ignore the fact totally and compensate. If
the follower does not cross dance without crossing. Walking is very
important as a practice for the beginner.
If possible walk to both sides of the follower, introduce ochos, combine
ochos, media luna, change front, etc. all possible moves without giros
(turns).
The benefit to the leader is that he practices and improves his leading
skills and improvisation.

In my group I consider that a beginner is a person that can walk, can do
ochos, combines ochos in different ways such as "La Medialuna", he can do
"el sandwich" simple or with embellishments (dibujos, ganchos), he can do
boleos and amagues, he can do a barrida(drag) after a sandwich. He can
change front. He can navigate the floor properly and knows how to check and
change direction at any step. He could also know figures that require
changes of front, walking in different ways.
He might be able to do "la calesita", "la cunita", tango rocks. He knows the
milonga basic step, he can walk and change front.
He knows the vals basic step, he can change front and walk.
They have a basic knowledge of the music, recognize the beat and try to
dance to it.
Many dancers do not need anything more than the above knowledge to enjoy
tango and to have a great time at the milongas.

An intermediate dancer knows all the above plus how to do sacadas and giros
to both sides.
He combines giros from one side to the other.
He can do barridas, ganchos including inside ganchos, amagues, boleos,
enrosques.
Some corridas (runs).
Learns to displace and push the leg of the follower with the thigh or the
lower leg.
The follower knows all the beginner knows plus how to turn around the
leader.
The follower becomes skilled at doing embellishments after leads or by her
own initiative without disturbing the flow of the dance.
Milonga, add simple figures such as two steps forward, two steps back, step
and point to the side, etc.
Vals add giros to both sides.
Musicality, a more advanced knowledge of the music, dance to the beat.
The dancer is introduced to different tango styles, Milonguero and Nuevo.
The dancer is introduced to improvisation.
The dancers know how to dance with each other and the rest of the dancers on
the floor with good navigation skills.

An advanced dancer introduces barridas, ganchos, boleos, amagues, enrosques
all during giros.
He does more complicated figures such as bisicleta (bicycle), paso enlazado,
enrosques combined con back crossing of the feet, amagues, boleos. Puente.
Some jumps. Estocadas. Chilena, etc. Endings with lifting and sentadas.
Complicated walks with or without syncopation and contrapaso.
Both partners keep their axis during the execution of the steps.
The follower knows how to turn around the leader at different speeds with or
without syncopations.
The follower does front and back sacadas.
Milonga is danced with traspie, adds different turns, free turns of one or
booth .
Vals, figures typical of this rhythm are added.
The dancer has total knowledge of the different tango styles.
The dancers are proficient at improvising.
Musicality the dancers know the different orchestras and adapt their dance
to them.

Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 08:19:50 -0700
From: JC Dill <tango@VO.CNCHOST.COM>
Subject: Re: Beginners, etc.

On 09:46 PM 7/25/01, Sergio wrote:


>In my group I consider that a beginner is a person that can

Do some certain moves,

>An intermediate dancer knows all the above plus how to do

more complicated moves,

>An advanced dancer introduces

even more complicated moves.

Do the dancers in your area all automatically know how to lead, and follow,
with sensitivity to their partners? Do they all know dance floor
etiquette? Do they know how to do a simple dance (even if they are
"advanced" dancers) when the floor is crowded? IMHO, way too much emphasis
is placed on knowing lots of moves, and your list reinforces that. We need
more emphasis on being better dancers with the moves one already knows,
especially as one relates to one's partner. In your lists, you never once
discuss a leader's ability to properly adapt his repertoire to the skill of
each follower he dances with. To this follower, hat skill is *far* more
important than learning barridas, ganchos including inside ganchos,
amagues, boleos, enrosques, etc.

jc

Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 12:44:51 -0700
From: Sergio <sergio@NCINTER.NET>
Subject: Beginners, etc. II

In answer to JCDill note.

"In your lists, you never once
discuss a leader's ability to properly adapt his repertoire to the skill of
each follower he dances with. To this follower, hat skill is *far* more
important than learning barridas, ganchos including inside ganchos,
amagues, boleos, enrosques, etc."

I agree entirely with the above observation. My intention in writing the
list was to answer some doubts where there was a discussion with respect to
what a beginner, intermediate or advanced dancer was.
The list attempted to give a general idea with respect to parameters that
seems to be followed by most instructors in Buenos Aires.
According to them it is fairly common to divide a large number of students
at a class in three groups as follows:

1- Beginners - those that do not know how to do Giros (turns).

2- Intermediate those that do Giros but still have problems executing them.

3- Advanced those that have no problems doing Giros.

I found this division very useful to work with subgroups according to their
skills.

Dancing is an interaction between a leader and a follower, for a dance
segment to occur a leader has to know how to lead and a follower has to know
how to interpret the lead and act accordingly. It seems obvious to me that
if a dancer is able to perform any move whatsoever he is able to lead that
move it does not matter how simple it might be. Lead and follow are taught
from day cero. There is no dance without that knowledge. Sometimes I get the
impression that most of the problems here discussed come from this
deficiency. How do you know a student knows how to lead???

I thought it was quite clear in my note, third paragraph which starts... A
good leader will lead a beginner by walking in front, etc... that a good
dancer always adapts to the skill of the follower.
I also stated that it is possible to enjoy tango and have a great time at
the milongas dancing in a simple way, actually most of social dancing is
simple, with emphasis in musicality, rhythm and feeling. That is what
Milonguero style is about.

The conclusion to draw from JCDill's observations would be: is it possible
for someone that walks his tango, and does some of the figures by me
described under "Beginners" to be actually an advanced dancer? He dances
with good rhythm, excellent musicality, emotion, interpretation, navigates
the floor very well and is sensitive to his partner's feelings.
I would certainly call that particular dancer "an excellent dancer".

What about the one that knows all the moves by me described under "advanced"
but has poor rhythm, terrible interpretation of the music, disturbs the
other dancers, is insensitive to his partners feelings. I would call this "a
bad, poor, terrible dancer".

So the prior list is more a description of a general program or curriculum
than a pretension to box any given dancer under those guidelines. In
summary I totally agree in this sense with JCDill's observations.