1836  Reconcilable differences

Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:20:29 -0700
From: Barbara Garvey <barbara@TANGOBAR-PRODUCTIONS.COM>
Subject: Reconcilable differences

Sergio wrote:

> The problem was that frequently the organizer was totally ignorant of the
> existence of different styles.

If someone is teaching tango or organizing visiting teachers (s)he ideally
should have enough experience to understand that there are different
approaches.

> In my opinion each group should decide what style they wish to dance and
> then be consistent with the type of instructor that they bring to town.

I totally disagree with this. I do think it is better for beginning students
to stick with one instructor if possible until the basics are mastered.
After mastering the basics of salon style, for example, it is not a big
stretch to add the vocabularies of other styles. We teach close salon style
as opposed to 'apilado', but let the students know from almost the first
class that there are a number of different ways to dance tango and they will
encounter other instructors who will sometimes directly contradict what we
teach. And that the beauty of tango is when each of us makes it his(her) own
in the interpretation of the moment.

> Once a style is mastered then it could be interesting to explore another
> form of dancing.

We suggest that after they have a certain amount of experience and have
absorbed the basic techniques they attend workshops with visitors in various
styles, add new ideas and find their own way.

I think Sergio's 3-school division of tango is way too rigid and that there
is and should be much more individuality in each person's dancing. There
have been 4 or 5 visiting instructors in the Bay Area over the last month or
so who all teach 'close embrace', and they don't dance at all alike.

The worst thing I can imagine is that a certain community confines itself to
whatever tango is offered by whoever begins teaching there. God knows there
are too many people out there teaching, sometimes as the only game in town,
who don't know word one about authentic tango of any kind. For example some
ballroom dancers who teach in the spirit of International competitions using
some Argentine tango techniques and combinations they learned from
videotape. Or let's imagine someone who studies with show dancers, learns
routines and then passes this off to students as Argentine tango. These are
extreme examples and I am not saying that dancers from other disciplines
can't dance or teach authentically, but not everyone who teaches tango is
qualified (surprise!). This is true even in the Bay Area where there are
dozens of teachers as well as many excellent dancers who don't teach, each
of whom has an individual style, sometimes identifiable within Sergio's
catagories, but sometimes not. The best dance differently depending on the
music and the number of people in the room. But even with all this
competition there are a few people teaching here who imho are not remotely
knowledgeable about tango.

Let's dance each moment with all our heart with the partner in our arms to
the music that is playing, and not concern ourselves so much with
categories.
Abrazos,
Barbara