2434 Never Showing Up For the Milongas
Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 15:03:51 -0700
From: T T <raretanguero@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Never Showing Up For the Milongas
Online greetings to the whole list. Although I have been a member of the list for nearly a year, this is my first post. I have been one of those 'silent' members who enjoys reading the interesting (sometimes quite lively ;-)) debates and tries to learn from the experiences and wisdom of the more seasoned dancers on this list.
I read the recent posts regarding 'Teaching at the Milongas' and whole heatedly agree with notion that these Tango lessons on the fly do more harm than good. However it made me think of the opposite phenomenon that I have observed in my own community. Namely that of beginners who take classes (sometimes quite diligently) BUT never bother to come to any milongas (or practicas for that matter). In my opinion this is a complete waste of time and money. However they believe they are learning to dance tango in this way. Of course the dance floor is a very different environment from the classroom.
It would be interesting to hear some thoughts and experiences of the other members. Thank you.
Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 10:53:25 -0700
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Never Showing Up For the Milongas
--- T T <raretanguero@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
However it made me think of the opposite
> phenomenon that I have observed in my own community.
> Namely that of beginners who take classes (sometimes
> quite diligently) BUT never bother to come to any
> milongas (or practicas for that matter).
That responsibility lies on the teacher/organizer and
the environment that they create, not on the student.
We take great pains to encourage a positive and safe
learning environment where mistakes are okay, even at
milongas.
I once had a couple of students go to someone else's
workshops, and they weren't allowed to dance with
others at the workshops (not because their dancing was
worse than other students). One received an apology
later, but that isn't a memory that is easily erased.
There was a(nother) incident last fall, in which an
instructor almost brought a female student to tears in
front of the entire class. Even though he know how
hurt she was, he never apologized. Fortunately, she
had an alternative place to tango.
Guess who has a higher rate of getting beginning
students out to milongas?
To encourage beginners, I always stress how other
factors can influence their enjoyment at a milonga -
the music, the floorcraft, other dancers - things that
have nothing to do with their dance skills or that
they can control. It keeps me on my toes, too.
Organizers need to take responsibility for that. When
problems do arise (and they will), organizers should
see what learning opportunity it presents.
Trini de Pittsburgh
=====
PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance.
https://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 13:26:55 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: Never Showing Up For the Milongas
T T <raretanguero@YAHOO.COM> wrote about beginners that take lessons but do not go to milongas for practices, asking for comments about this matter .
I could say , based on my own experience within beginners groups of tango schools , that it is a personal choice wether to go or not to go to dance. One thing is to take a tango lesson, another thing is to socialize ,and the last thing is wether oneself is ready for the proposal to dance with unknown people at unknown places.
It took myself more than 8 months to go to a milonga alone , and this was due to other male student that almost tow me from the tango lesson saying " you will not escape this friday, I am going to take you to a milonga, wether with your consentment or not ".
I was almost in panic when we arrived . Even though this milonga was particularly friendly with newcomers ( La Viruta ) . And I do not dance that night, just keep looking in amazement, how my friend went to the tables and ask women to dance, always succesfully.
The following week this friend went a step further, he take me again to the same milonga, but invited some female friends from other tango school . So we met at La Viruta, shared a table, make some conversation, and later I swallowed deeply and asked one of the ladies if she would like to dance.
She acepted and there we go. Later we became friends and went several times together to other milonga places, so my personal tango gauge, move the needle from "idle" position to "full thrust" ::):) Sometimes we went to dance 3, 4 times within the week , to differente places , besides the tango school lessons , that we took in two places . So it was almost all week long going to dance .
This was in 1999 , I wonder where I got the energy to do all that activity, and I could not explain . Maybe it was the joy of being able to dance ,and to be acepted by women for the dancing, which is not a small matter.
People will say that it doesnt matter to be rejected, but ....... it DOES matter , you really have to rebuild yourself from inside to outside after a rejection , even if it is gentle and polite.
This was my personal experience , and if someone asked me now, wether it is correct or not to take tango lessons and not showing up for the milongas, I would say that it depends on what does the person really want to do .
If it is a kind of amusement or relax, after a week of hard work, the tango lesson is good enough.
But if the person is feeling that he/she is not really completed as tango dance student, that tango lessons are not enough because maybe , there is a counterpart waiting for him/her at the milonga to close the embrace and dance, well.. then , there is no other place than the milonga to find the medicine for this wanting :):)
Warm regards
Alberto Gesualdi
Online greetings to the whole list. Although I have been a member of the list for nearly a year, this is my first post. I have been one of those 'silent' members who enjoys reading the interesting (sometimes quite lively ;-)) debates and tries to learn from the experiences and wisdom of the more seasoned dancers on this list.
I read the recent posts regarding 'Teaching at the Milongas' and whole heatedly agree with notion that these Tango lessons on the fly do more harm than good. However it made me think of the opposite phenomenon that I have observed in my own community. Namely that of beginners who take classes (sometimes quite diligently) BUT never bother to come to any milongas (or practicas for that matter). In my opinion this is a complete waste of time and money. However they believe they are learning to dance tango in this way. Of course the dance floor is a very different environment from the classroom.
It would be interesting to hear some thoughts and experiences of the other members. Thank you.
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