5236  How to break couples who do not want to change

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:45:35 -0700
From: "Igor Polk" <ipolk@virtuar.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] How to break couples who do not want to change
partners.

Ok, no one knows how to grow a good ( I mean excellent ! ) man-dancer.
GOOD !

Now, much more practical question.

When one has 4 couples who do not change partners per, say, other 6-7
couples, it is a real disaster.
These people just dump the energy ( not to speak that they needed it most ).
Especially if the class is more difficult than average, and if there are
some extra women.

What to do with it?

I am ready to tell them to leave if they do not start to change partners.

I already used all persuasion power I know of, telling stories that it is
good for them, bla-bla-bla, and for forth..

Can anyone help me with an advice how it works in practice?

Note: all students are of the same level. Actually those who change are
better, and they do not mind practicing with less advanced stubborn
not-changing students.

Or may be I am wrong? Should I dump those who are without a partner?

Igor Polk

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:38:36 -0400
From: "Sorin Varzaru" <tango@bostonphotographs.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] How to break couples who do not want to change
partners.
<bc7e48270710110938xdc4bc09td1329901734ea479@mail.gmail.com>

The main reason I don't change partners in the workshops is that most people
or at least too many people are in way over their head. I prefer to change
partners, but when the women in class don't have basic following skills, it
makes it a waste of my time and money. So when I take group classes, I
usually bring my own partner or find one who is at the appropriate level
and suggest we partner up.

If you want people to switch, you need to make sure that :

a) the class is gender balanced, or at least role balanced. if it's a
beginner class, don't expect men to come back if they have to dance with
other men. It took me a long time to get over my reluctance to dance with
men. To make that happen I would suggest have the (more) advanced class
first, and then offer to the/some more advanced students access for free or
other incentive to volunteer to the (more) beginner class to cover gender
balance.

b) all the people in class are at the appropriate level. And by that, I mean
actual level, not how many months/years they've been dancing.

c) there is usually a mayhem when a switch is asked. Everybody starts moving
like chickens with their head cut off. Make that organized. One teaching
couple used a technique that I found interesting. At the beginning of the
class they identified the gender larger in numbers (it was men in that
case), and then they made them get a partner and sit in a circle. Then they
placed the "leftovers" in between the couples. Then they asked the men to
memorize the exact spot in the room where they were. When a switch was
called, the men would bring their current follower at the designated spot
and then the followers would move one to the right. This insured that
everyone danced with everyone and it encouraged people to switch.

Sorin
my photography site: https://www.bostonphotographs.com
my milonga review site: https://www.milongareview.com
blog: https://sorinsblog.blogspot.com


On 10/11/07, Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:

>
> Ok, no one knows how to grow a good ( I mean excellent ! ) man-dancer.
> GOOD !
>
> Now, much more practical question.
>
> When one has 4 couples who do not change partners per, say, other 6-7
> couples, it is a real disaster.
> These people just dump the energy ( not to speak that they needed it most
> ).
> Especially if the class is more difficult than average, and if there are
> some extra women.
>
> What to do with it?
>
> I am ready to tell them to leave if they do not start to change partners.
>
> I already used all persuasion power I know of, telling stories that it is
> good for them, bla-bla-bla, and for forth..
>
> Can anyone help me with an advice how it works in practice?
>
> Note: all students are of the same level. Actually those who change are
> better, and they do not mind practicing with less advanced stubborn
> not-changing students.
>
> Or may be I am wrong? Should I dump those who are without a partner?
>
> Igor Polk
>
>
>
>
>
>

--

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:40:27 -0500
From: Stephen.P.Brown@dal.frb.org
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] How to break couples who do not want to change
partners

Interesting situation. Some people arrive at a tango as couples, and some
arrive as singles. The singles may be unhappy with the limited number of
partners in the class if the couples don't participate in the rotation.
There may also be a gender imbalance, which will fall more heavily on the
singles if the couples don't participate in the rotation. The instructor
knows that rotation can help with learning, but rotation also helps
alleviate some of the problems the instructor may face with the singles in
the class.

Why might the couples be less interested in rotation?

1) They don't know enough about tango to know that rotation helps with
learning.

2) They don't know the people with whom they will be rotating, and find
the idea of dancing in a close embrace with a stranger to be
uncomfortable.

3) They feel threatened by seeing their own partner dancing with someone
else.

4) They will share in any gender imbalance even though they didn't help
create it.

5) They view some/many/most of the singles as less desirable dance
partners. (Why are the singles without a partner?)

6) They don't see everyone as equally skilled in dancing, and either
don't want to embarass themselves by dancing poorly with someone who isn't
a close friend or don't want to waste their time dancing someone isn't as
skilled.

7) Some people arrive at tango classes with bad breath, body odors, or
wearing heavy cologne or perfume, and some people may not wish to be
exposed to such scents or have such scents transferred to themselves.
Sticking with one's own partner means that all those issues have already
been worked out.

An instructor's rush to force rotation--rather than simply to encourage
it--can actually create an environment that is actually unfriendly/hostile
to couples.

Tango is an intimate dance, and intimacy is voluntary. Instructors need
to respect the voluntary nature of intimacy if they are to they are to
convey a real sense of tango.

With best regards,
Steve (de Tejas)

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:05:26 -0300
From: "Jacob Eggers" <eggers.pierola@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] How to break couples who do not want to change
partners.
<dfa4cf020710111205u659ab200rc0809cd8623dee0c@mail.gmail.com>

One teacher down in Buenos Aires had a technique that really worked for both
gender ballance and getting people to switch partners.

He would let people practice for a few songs during which he was almost
continually taking followers by the hand and placing them with their next
partners. In this way, no one was waiting to practice for more than 30
seconds, even though there was a large gender imballance. The behavior also
fit his personality, I don?t think that this would work for every teacher.


On 10/11/07, Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:

>
> Ok, no one knows how to grow a good ( I mean excellent ! ) man-dancer.
> GOOD !
>
> Now, much more practical question.
>
> When one has 4 couples who do not change partners per, say, other 6-7
> couples, it is a real disaster.
> These people just dump the energy ( not to speak that they needed it most
> ).
> Especially if the class is more difficult than average, and if there are
> some extra women.
>
> What to do with it?
>
> I am ready to tell them to leave if they do not start to change partners.
>
> I already used all persuasion power I know of, telling stories that it is
> good for them, bla-bla-bla, and for forth..
>
> Can anyone help me with an advice how it works in practice?
>
> Note: all students are of the same level. Actually those who change are
> better, and they do not mind practicing with less advanced stubborn
> not-changing students.
>
> Or may be I am wrong? Should I dump those who are without a partner?
>
> Igor Polk
>
>
>
>
>