1445  Detecting fabulous teachers

Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 16:54:34 -0700
From: Michael Kass <kass@PIXAR.COM>
Subject: Detecting fabulous teachers

I'm really not that interested in learning to detect sham and
incompetent teachers. If I end up in a
class with one, it is obvious pretty quickly. I leave and don't come
back. I'd be more interested in
gathering information on fabulous teachers. Teachers who are worth
going far out of your way to
work with. Teachers who are so good that when you hear they're coming
to town, you make sure
that your schedule is open because you don't want to miss a minute of
what they have to offer.
Teachers about whom you cannot say enough good things. Teachers, for
example, like
Oscar Mandagaran. Oscar has a deep and genuine love for tango, an
incredible feel for the dance,
a beautiful ability to share not only his extensive knowledge, but also
his enthusiasm for what he does.
Watching him dance will move you, feeling his lead even more so.
Fortunately for me, he's about
to return to the S.F. Bay area. But I'm sure there must be a number of
absolutely incredible teachers
out there that I've never experienced. Tell me about them. Tell me
about their particular strengths.
Make me want to search them out. Because maybe I will . . . .

--Michael

Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 01:58:04 +0900
From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
Subject: Re: Detecting fabulous teachers

I'd be more interested in

> gathering information on fabulous teachers. Teachers who are worth
> going far out of your way to
> work with. Teachers who are so good that when you hear they're coming
> to town, you make sure
> that your schedule is open because you don't want to miss a minute of
> what they have to offer.
> Teachers about whom you cannot say enough good things. Teachers, for
> example, like
> Oscar Mandagaran.

Yes, Oscar Mandagaran is a great teacher. I have had lots of lessons with
him, and last time he spent a whole month in Tokyo. I remember, the last I
time walked up the stairs to our club, I was chanting to my friend:
"ElastICITy !!! EmOtion !!! SensuALity !!!", and we both dissolved in
giggles. Reaching the top of the stairs, sure enough, we could hear him
through the door already, calling out to the students: "ElastICITY !!!....."
You know what I mean ? ; ) Oscar is a very dedicated teacher, very sweet,
very flirtatious, really cute, and will teach you how to move really
beautifully.

Jorge Torres has also evolved into a great teacher, my favourite maybe. Last
time, he spent most of his lessons here (he stayed for, like, three months ?
Waiting to go Petersburg, and staying and staying...) teaching men how to
lead. Not just steps, but how to really lead, gently, softly, lovingly,
without disturbing the woman's axis, making her feel safe and at ease.
Dancing with himself turned me to mush.

I also enjoyed Julio Balmaceda and Corinna de la Rosa. They started their
first lesson of tango week with showing us how to drink out of a bombilla,
and passing the mate around to everyone. They really enjoy dancing, and
teaching, and their lessons had great atmosphere. They would also teach some
basic things looking simple enough, which turned out to be damned difficult
, and exposed all of those who only believe they can dance tango. Like,
leading the woman in a straight line across the room, by just walking
forward, in line, no crosses no nothing.

Balmaceda is the student of Nito Garcia. And Nito is an old master, over
seventy, who has danced tango for at least fifty years and is very generous
with his knowledge. He and Elba are very kind, noble hearted teachers, who I
respect highly.

Carlos Gavito is very interesting, if you can stand being around him. He
sometimes has a way of making his students feel like a bunch of hopeless
people not worth his while. He did have a point there, I kind of felt like
that myself in that class with those guys , but when he told me, that he
does not care for students who have spent years learning from other
teachers, because that just encourages ingrained bad habits, and he prefers
teaching complete beginners, I got fed up too. The truth was, that his steps
and his technique were so difficult, that even intermediate students were at
a complete loss at times. But watching him walk and practising the walk with
him, is worth a million dollars. It was the first I saw of him, when he
entered the room, ten minutes late, and he immediately started walking, and
motioned us to follow. It was like:"So THAT'S what I have been trying to do
all this time. NOW I get it !" Those first ten minutes made my day, or say,
the whole week, worth it.
The crazy thing was, he was- what, over sixty ? And he'd teach ten hours a
day, and when he was finished, he'd ask:"Tell me, where is the milonga today
?"

Fabian Salas is interesting in an intellectual way. He is a former lawyer,
who has discovered that he can make a living teaching tango. He has spent a
long time analysing the actual underlying structure of tango, together with
Gustavo Naveira. So he spends a lot of time proving his concept,and giving
examples of what he has discovered. The practising was good, the drills were
helpful,but I did not like watching him dance with Carolina Riveiro. She is
his girlfriend, but she does not seem to like him very much, and seemed to
look at dancing as kind of a chore. He also did not have that open hearted
warm way of chatting and joking with the students like most of the other
Argentines. He looked more like an Englishman to me. Or a German ? ; ) So, I
did not take his second workshop when he came back the year after.

Ezequiel Farfaro taught me, when he was 22 years old. Before Milena Plebs
chose him as a partner. He had a job in a school in Tokyo, where he had to
teach tango from 10am til 10pm, 6 days a week, for a year, without
holidays. His friend, who had been hired together with him, was a wreck
after 8 months or so, when they also started rehearsals for a show late at
night, after work.. He turned pale and worn out, and his lessons became
really uncaring and low energy. But Ezequiel was so sincere and had so much
self discipline, that he would always deliver a good quality lesson, no
matter how he felt, and he knew exactly when to be gentle, when to be
strict, and when push the student to the next level. He showed me the walk
maybe almost a hundred times over the months, and his moves were always,
invariably, perfectly executed. He had the stuff to be a true professional.
I was surprised when I heard that he was dancing with Mlilena after he
returned to BsAs, and started touring round the world with her, but
actually, I thought, I can see why she chose him.
My girlfriend saw him in Berlin, a year later, after she returned to
Germany, and told me:"He dances soooo beautifully now." So, if you have a
chance to take a workshop with them, do, by all means.

I had only two classes with Gloria and Eduardo, but I'd love to take another
ten if I get another chance. We are still using that old fashioned cross
some times with certain music,that we learned in their tango orillero class.
They include a little lecture on tango history in their class, which is
great fun and very informative, if you have the right translater (our
translater was so clueless, that every time the word "Orillero" came up, she
said:"Tango um, tango uuhh, well, anyway, tango !" Thank God I knew at least
some Spanish.)

I have also had lessons with a number of other well known dancers, but I did
not take their classes again when they came back. There was always some
element that I did not like. More often than not the feeling that:"This may
look pretty,but this is not really tango. The heart of it is missing."

Astrid

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 21:04:50 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Detecting fabulous teachers

Some my favorite teachers include:
Nito and Elba--I owe much of my dance to Nito, who is quite generous with
the immense amount of tango he knows.
Nora Dinzelbacher--my first teacher, and someone who works very hard to
bring social dance to beginners.
Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida--even if you do not dance in the same
way that they do, if just a little bit of their elegance and sensuality
rubs off, it improves your sense of the dance.
Fabian Salas--one of the masters who helped push the boundaries of tango
out a bit
Gavito-- I was only able to take ta couple of classes, but learned a lot
about making the dance my own.
Mariela Franganillo--a force of nature for whom the ideas of simplicity
and complexity are synonomous.
Daniel Trenner--someone who shared a great enthusiasm for the tango, and
many insights into the dance and its culture.
Florencia Taccetti--a master at teaching technique and rhythm.
Susan Brown--my wife and dance partner of many years.


With best wishes to all,
Steve

Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/

Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 02:56:14 -0700
From: David Liu <luidisme@IMAP3.ASU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Astrid: Detecting Fabulous Teachers

> Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 01:58:04 +0900
> From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
> Subject: Re: Detecting fabulous teachers

Astrid,

Thank you for that post. It was the most informative post I've ever seen about
Argentine Tango Teachers.

To continue along that line (as best I can), I would like to add:

Michael Walker -- He is a magic dancer. When he dances salon, he has a very
graceful flowing (large) style, and a very soft but powerful lead. When he
dances club, it is a rhythmic "clipped" feeling dance. As a teacher, what most
impresses me is how he is so good at getting right to the point and teaching to
the individual students exactly what they need. He doesn't have a set agenda --
he just looks at you and tells you what you need to change to improve. P.S.
His classes are also typically fun -- he is a funny fellow, although it is a
certain brand of humor. I really like taking classes/lessons from him.

Thanks again for your post Astrid,

Happy Feet,
David