5667  Geraldine and Ezequiel

Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:25:57 +1000
From: "Vince Bagusauskas" <vytis@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Geraldine and Ezequiel
To: <tango-l@mit.edu>

Having spoken to my NZ contacts last night, who attended their classes at
the NZ festival, seems that they were better teachers in the intensive
immersion course before the main festival workshops.

I have been contacted off-list to be told that there were similar negative
reports on their attendance of a German tango festival *last year*.

Cheers

>
> Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:31:25 +1000
> From: Noughts <damian.thompson@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Aus International TangoFest
> To: Pat Petronio <petronio@adam.com.au>
> Cc: tango-l@mit.edu
> <cb8208d0906121831p6495382bv14ec8ca494b0f503@mail.gmail.com>
>

This was also the exact

> same feedback that was received from all the Aussies that went to NZ
> to have classes with them there.

Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:37:38 +1000
From: Myk Dowling <politas@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Geraldine and Ezequiel
To: Tango-L <tango-l@mit.edu>

Ok, given the clear posting of the relevant rules, I will be more
specific about my experience of Geraldin Rojas & Ezequiel Paludi's
workshops at the Aus International Tango Fest.

I am Myk Dowling, and I am part of the Canberra tango community. I am
not a Tango instructor, though I do date one.

I attended two workshops by Geraldin and Ezequiel. The first workshop was:

Techniques for Men & Women (Geraldin Rojas and Ezequiel Paludi)

Techniques to be explored include: axis, posture, pivot, articulations
(knees, shoulders, and ankles) ideal to make adornments for men and women

Recommended Level: Available to all levels

What actually happened in the class was: The demonstrated a sequence,
then vaguely indicated that we should partner up and reproduce it. Now,
one of the reasons I like Tango is that I don't need to memorise long
sequences, and I had no idea which particular move they were expecting
us to attempt. After a minute or so of everybody dancing pretty much
randomly, they stopped the music and demonstrated a particular move,
then got us to attempt that particular move. After another minute or so,
they picked a couple to show how they were doing, and then vaguely asked
us all if we thought the couple had done the move correctly. This pretty
much set the scene for the rest of the class - Show a bit of move, get
everyone to try, pick on a couple who were struggling and then not
clearly describe what they were doing wrong (or even really if they were
doing wrong). At no time did they discuss technique in general, but were
very dismissive of milonguero-style dancing (performing comically bad
examples as if to say that elegant dancing Milonguero-style was
impossible) Other than that, it was very difficult to tell what they
were suggesting that people ought to do, as opposed to what they were
suggesting people should not do. Anything I learned from the class, I
learned in spite of their explanations, not because of them. I also
fopund their smoochiness towards each other highly unprofessional, and
Ezequiel's posturing and strutting annoying.

Although billed as "All levels", I would not say it was in any way
accessible to beginner dancers.

The other workshop was:
Class 10: Milonga (Geraldin Rojas and Ezequiel Paludi)

Techniques to be explored include: turns, sacadas and boleos

Recommended Level: Intermediate

Okay, an Intermediate level class. This was supposedly a milonga class,
but they were unable or unwilling to clearly define the difference
between tango and milonga, were again teaching a sequence, and spent
absolutely no time out of an hour and a half talking about how the moves
they were showing us were supposed to work with the music. The sequences
didn't seem particularly suited to milonga any more than to tango (or
even vals). A 90 minute class that ground to a halt for an infuriating
half-hour spent incoherently trying to get some point across. It was
something about hip disassociation and leading with intention, but they
never really made it clear. Half an hour spent talking and smooching and
prancing about, doing such highly exaggerated versions of alternate
walks that we were never really sure what was supposed to be the better
option and which the worse. Half an hour where none of us participants
were dancing to show whether or not we had grasped their point.

In general, their teaching method seemed almost non-existent. They were
almost attempting a socratic-style "teach by asking questions", but
their response to every answer was either non-committal sidestepping or
rejection, and they rarely gave their own answer to the question. They
almost used a demonstration/copy/correct method, except they replaced
"correct" with "vague harangue". Their demonstrations sometimes
contradicted their rare declarative statements.

Geraldin's lack of English only hampered matters, especially since
Ezeqiel seemed unable to adequately translate the comments she did make.
(I was told by a Spanish-speaking fellow student that what she was
saying was not any clearer than Ezequiel's explanations, anyway.)

The two classes (especially the half-hour incomprehensible lecture and
prance session in the middle of the milonga workshop) were enough to
make me decide that I wasn't going to go back for the vals class that I
had paid for. Unfortunately, there was no other class I could swap into
for just the session I missed, due to scheduling limitations.

Myk,
in Canberra