2429 Lessons on the milonga floor
Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 14:19:42 -0500
From: Leonard Kunkel <image10@SWBELL.NET>
Subject: Lessons on the milonga floor
I was not going to say anything about this but the recent post has
enticed me to offer my two cents.
I have taken "never before to dance beginners" onto a milonga dance
floor and had them fairly proficient after 30 minutes to an hour. Having
said that I have shuttered to see men and/or women giving instruction
after only having taken a few lessons themselves.
I have observed a segment of the tango community that are in what I call
the "danger zone". They know just enough about tango to be dangerous. I
know that all they are doing is being enthusiastic and anxious to share
what they are learning. But it would better serve tango if they could
restrain themselves.
I find this danger period is usually around 6 months to 3 years
experience. (Sometimes up to 5 years) I am sorry to say unless someone
has had intensive training from multiple experienced and profession
teachers they are almost never qualified to teach with less than 3 to 5
years experience. (I would guess there are exceptions to this but I have
not observed any myself) I can look back on my experience and know now
that I did not know enough to truly get someone started on the right
track, while I thought that I did.
On occasion I have had a new person to a milonga or in visiting another
communities milonga had a lady partner try to give me instruction or a
tip. This always happens before they have even observed my dance. They
assume a new face is a new tangero. They always fall within this earlier
experience level. It turns me off and I am sure that other men even
beginners get turned the same.
Women are more tolerant of instruction than men and they sometimes even
solicit instruction. But I never instruct at a milonga, I may teach by
dancing but never instruct. A milonga is a place to have fun, relax and
enjoy.
Blessings,
leonardo k
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 08:34:39 -0500
From: Lois Donnay <donnay@DONNAY.NET>
Subject: Re: Lessons on the milonga floor
How about those who teach during lessons they're taking? Leaders who say
"you didn't do that step right. Didn't you see it?" Or "No, you're supposed
to step HERE!" when I'm just following what he led. (When I'm taking a class
as a leader, I don't like it when my follower does the step whether I led it
of not. How does that help me?)
When I teach, sometimes I have to run across the floor because I see some
marginal leader "helping" a woman to follow by explaining where she should
go. I don't want to embarrass him by yelling across the floor, but what can
we do?
Lois (a female)
Minneapolis
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 12:13:35 -0400
From: bailadora2000@EXCITE.COM
Subject: Re: Lessons on the milonga floor
Leonardo wrote;
I am sorry to say unless someone has had intensive training from multiple experienced and profession teachers they are almost never qualified to teach with less than 3 to 5 years experience. (I would guess there are exceptions to this but I have not observed any myself) I can look back on my experience and know now that I did not know enough to truly get someone started on the right track, while I thought that I did.
WHOA...you just killed the teaching profession of dance in the United States with those qualifications! :) But, I do agree with you. I've been dancing since I was 5 years old..and not just occassionally, but seriously. I've been considered a professional for 8 years of various dance forms... but I'm still learning how to teach. Tango in particularly I've been dancing for almost 4 years now, and this year was the first time I began to teach beginner classes to a small group of ballet dancers. I refuse to teach above that, because frankly I don't know enough about what I'm doing to do so. I know I'm a good tango dancer, but what I portray and what I actually know and can teach are different, and until I feel sure of what I know, I won't try to teach any higher level.
Oh, but how I've seen many tango dancers here who after 6 months of dancing think they are teachers!! It is a scary world (and even worse in the ballroom and salsa community).
Nicole
Miami
