479 Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 20:05:18 -0900
From: Dan Boccia <redfox@ALASKA.NET>
Subject: Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
I don't care for the approach of "breaking up" a pattern or figure into
elements. This may result in many ways to enter or exit "the pattern", but
still, the students are condemned to some extent only to that particular
pattern and its variations. Also, this usually leads to ignorant repetition
of the pattern, or its variations. The dancer only finds new ways to
execute portions of "the pattern". This to me is confining.
I prefer the approach of "building up" from a series of small elements,
namely walks, rock steps, pauses (more than enough for new dancers), then
adding ochos and giros, all the while emphasizing musicality and partner
connection. Once students have a decent command of these elements, they are
free to combine them together into any sequence they like, but
psychologically (and physically) their repertoire is much more compact and
therefore way more applicable to the conditions of a milonga. Rather than
being trapped in "the pattern(s)", the dancers can combine the small,
familiar elements into an infinity of combinations, without ever leaving the
familiarity of what they were taught in class. I think this leads to more
confident dancing at an earlier stage than other approaches. That is
certainly going to help the guys stay interested in the dance.
Another major advantage of the "building up" approach is that it is so much
easier to teach musicality when you're working with a handful of small
elements of the dance that take up only a fraction of a phrase of music.
There's no comparison in a milonga between the person who can walk musically
with a good embrace and connection versus the person who struggles to fit
their XX-count pattern to the music.
The other nice thing about learning small elements of the dance is that
should these dancers desire to learn some patterns, they will soon recognize
that the patterns are made up of familiar elements, and thus all they need
to do is link these familiar elements together seamlessly. I think it makes
a lot more sense that way for social dancing.
Dan
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 18:29:26 +0900
From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
Subject: Re: Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
Dan comments:
1)> I don't care for the approach of "breaking up" a pattern or figure into
> elements.
2)> The other nice thing about learning small elements of the dance is that
> should these dancers desire to learn some patterns, they will soon
recognize
> that the patterns are made up of familiar elements, and thus all they need
> to do is link these familiar elements together seamlessly. I think it
makes
> a lot more sense that way for social dancing.
Sorry, Dan, but I do not really see the difference with the first and the
second. You take B apart into As, then start with A. Or you start with A,
and then put it together into B or whatever you like. You still end up
learning A and how to put it together.
Trini did not say, that you necessarily have to put A back together into
only that particular pattern B, the way I understood it, or did you, Trini ?
Anybody with some experience in tango will know by that point that other
combinations are possible too, unless they were such extremely mechanical
dancers that they never noticed that all the patterns are made up of common
elements in varying combinations..
Astrid
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 08:08:04 -0800
From: "Larry E. Carroll" <larrydla@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
Dan Boccia says
> I don't care for the approach of "breaking up" a pattern or figure
> into elements.
I tend to agree with Dan. My book (on my Web page) uses the approach
of starting with a few simple elements and building up from there. And
like Steve Brown I prefer to start with walking for exactly the reason
he gives:
> An approach to teaching that builds upon walking and adds small
> rhythmic elements such as ochos, pauses and variations in walks
> allows the male dancer to [build on] the navigational skills he had
> when he walked into the room.
On the other hand, I agree with John Lowry's wife (who didn't sign her
name) that
> It's useful to remember also that people learn differently.
The teacher who wants to keep hi/r students will present the same
material in several ways. Showing, verbally describing, having
students repeat something to exercise "muscle memory,"
connecting dancing with music, focusing on the elements of the embrace,
handing out summary notes with text and diagrams (as I do at class end
those rare times when I teach), etc.
In this context, showing a complex figure can display the way different
parts flow into one another so that the end result is a unified whole.
By both breaking down AND building up, and spending more time on the
building up, a teacher can avoid the problem of teaching
choreographies.
Larry de Los Angeles
https://home.att.net/~larrydla
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 12:23:09 -0800
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
--- astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP> wrote:
> Dan comments:
>
> 1)> I don't care for the approach of "breaking up" a pattern or figure into
> > elements.
>
> 2)> The other nice thing about learning small elements of the dance is that
> > should these dancers desire to learn some patterns, they will soon
> recognize
> > that the patterns are made up of familiar elements, and thus all they need
> > to do is link these familiar elements together seamlessly. I think it
> makes
> > a lot more sense that way for social dancing.
>
> Sorry, Dan, but I do not really see the difference with the first and the
> second. You take B apart into As, then start with A. Or you start with A,
> and then put it together into B or whatever you like. You still end up
> learning A and how to put it together.
> Trini did not say, that you necessarily have to put A back together into
> only that particular pattern B, the way I understood it, or did you, Trini ?
> Anybody with some experience in tango will know by that point that other
> combinations are possible too, unless they were such extremely mechanical
> dancers that they never noticed that all the patterns are made up of common
> elements in varying combinations..
>
> Astrid
>
=====
PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society . . .Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance.
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 12:44:20 -0800
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Learning/teaching styles - Breaking down or building up
Oops, Sorry about the blank email.
Astrid's interpretation is correct. For example, if we make an analogy of the
8-count basic to the 8 notes on a scale, then we could make different step
combinations in the same way we can make different songs (or one could repeat
the same song). Add a pivot here, change some timing there, voila! Some men
may be more confident if they know they can follow a pattern, whereas others
gain more confidence if they figure out things on their own and play.
As for sequential thinkers learning to translate feelings into the dance,
that's a separate issue from sequential versus abstracts thinking. It's
interesting to see that beginners who are musically inclined seem to
automatically pick up syncopated resolution when they hear vals music, even if
they've never been taught vals. That may have to do with left versus right
brained tendencies.
--- astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP> wrote:
You take B apart into As, then start with A. Or you start with A,
> and then put it together into B or whatever you like. You still end up
> learning A and how to put it together.
> Trini did not say, that you necessarily have to put A back together into
> only that particular pattern B, the way I understood it, or did you, Trini ?
> Anybody with some experience in tango will know by that point that other
> combinations are possible too, unless they were such extremely mechanical
> dancers that they never noticed that all the patterns are made up of common
> elements in varying combinations..
>
> Astrid
>
=====
PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society . . .Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance.
