733 Men's workshops
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 08:35:01 -0700
From: Jai Jeffryes <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Men's workshops
--- "Gabriella_C._Marino" <gcmarino@IOL.IT> wrote:
> However, what really makes my girlfriends and I
> angry is that it's the
> men who NEED these workshops more than the women!!!
This is the big secret about tango that everyone
discovers eventually. It's sort of like having a
relative in prison or rehab. Everyone is acutely
aware of the embarrassment, but tries to keep the
smile painted on in polite company.
Group classes are for men, not women.
At least beyond the beginning level. By the time a
woman is an intermediate follower, she is likely to be
very frustrated by group classes. She knows how to
follow, she just needs somebody who will lead her.
Naturally, the men in the classes don't know how to do
that, else they would have no reason to attend the
classes! The women wonder why they're there, since
they never really get to try the combinations being
taught.
An intermediate level follower probably really only
benefits in two kinds of class: non-partner women's
technique classes, and couples only workshops with a
partner she knows she can dance with. Maybe she would
benefit from an advanced class where she gets to
rotate to many good leaders. The problem with
advanced classes is the attendees are never really
advanced. Schools may say that instructor approval is
required before advancing a level, but in reality no
paying customer is ever turned away, for obvious
reasons.
If women didn't come to the classes and agree to be
voluntary "crash test dummies", then who would the men
learn with? Well, they might learn in the way the
dance was learned by the men who originally created
the lead in tango: by dancing with each other.
I don't offer this as a solution for marketing tango.
If it's already hard to get men to start dancing even
though there are so many available women, you
certainly aren't going to entice them further by
telling them, "just wait until you're a little better,
then you'll get to dance with a man!"
Still, if a man can calm down long enough to try it,
he'll find that nothing is so informative as
experiencing a lead to a cross or an ocho. It's
particularly informative to experience unclear or
downright bad leads.
Once I gave it a chance, I found that I got something
like a thousand percent more out of my classes if I
volunteered at every opportunity to dance the follower
part. Newbies aren't ready to stomach this, but I
daresay beginning intermediate dancers might never
improve if they don't try it.
As a rule, the classroom experience for men depends on
the goodwill of women who consent to come (and
pay!)and practice with them. Thus, it's well-known by
dance schools how precarious their relationship is
with their female clientele.
A group class I attended for a while was so poorly
attended by women, that it became in effect a men's
workshop. All of the men there were experienced
dancers so we overcame the trepidation of dancing
together and we found the sessions very productive.
We proposed to the teacher that it become a regular
event, but nothing came of it. I'm not altogether
sure the initial enthusiasm would have sustained
itself. If it had, though, I'm quite sure it would
have made all who attended better dancers.
Jai
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Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 09:08:09 -0700
From: Jai Jeffryes <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Men's workshops
--- Jai Jeffryes <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> Once I gave it a chance, I found that I got
> something
> like a thousand percent more out of my classes if I
> volunteered at every opportunity to dance the
> follower
> part.
This was the point I really wanted to make, that it's
very beneficial for men to work together and I would
give consideration to attending a class that was
structured exclusively for men.
What came out of my keyboard sounds like a
condemnation of classes in general. That's
unfortunate, and I'm sorry I made it sound like that.
There are teachers whose praises I'm dying to sing,
and now I will sound like a total hypocrite if I do
so.
Jai
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Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:13:18 +0200
From: "Lagrana, Fernando" <fernando.lagrana@ITU.INT>
Subject: Re: Men's workshops
Jai wrote :
<...I'm not altogether sure the initial enthusiasm would have sustained
itself. If it had, though, I'm quite sure it would have made all who
attended better dancers...>
Good idea ! Here in Geneva, we include a one-hour group work in each of our
4-hour practicas during which we work all on the same topic. At the end of
last season (May-June), we also started separating women and men for
specific work. During the Summer break, we were invited to give a tango
presentation which included a men-dance. We enjoyed preparing for this. I
guess we should go on this way and I will report to Jai in a few months
about theis experiment.
Fernando
mailto:fernando@almatango.com
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