2558  Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 19:05:40 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

Syllabus

1 : a summary outline of a discourse, treatise, or course of study or of
examination requirements.

Richard Powers says in reference to social dancing in the USA and I believe
that this also applies to Argentine Tango:

"The American tradition of creativity and crossover is still alive.
"Traditional" dance does not mean "old," because traditions continue to
evolve. To merely collect the steps created by others, perhaps by learning
a swing step that Frankie Manning invented in 1935, is missing the point of
creativity. The way to capture the authentic spirit of American vernacular
dance is to participate in the ongoing evolution oneself. To truly learn
from Frankie Manning's example, emulate his creative process, not just his
steps. American dance is innovative in spirit and multicultural in its
influences. Creativity and crossover are its trademarks."

BUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

"Dancers will have neither the skills nor the elements for creativity until
they have learned the basics, which include a solid foundation of
partnering. After someone knows the basic dance forms, they can begin to
find their own personal style, diversify and create if they want to. First
you learn the alphabet. Then you construct sentences. Then you make
poetry."

In summary: I have no problem with having a syllabus or a "list" of basic
tango elements in a Tape, a CVD or a Book. This will be used by the
instructors as a guide to teach tango . The student will learn this alphabet
and then a vocabulary of tango links that he will combine in a chain of
improvised poetry. This poetry will be his personal and unique style of
dancing.
I personally do not need it since I end up teaching what comes to mind at
the moment inspired by what I see the students doing. The instruction is
adjusted to each couple in particular, since thare are always different
levels and skills.A good instructor should not need it either because he
already knows the dance and a reasonable sequence of elements to be taught.
It is important however to have a collection of movies and tapes of good
Tango Dancers, so that their talent and expertise are not lost.

If the syllabus is used to restrict creativity and improvisation it will
be detrimental to the student. At the end Argentine tango will be
transformed (abroad) into a sibling as it happened at the beginning of the
20th century: American and International Tangos will be reborn.

I say abroad, meaning outside Argentina, because it does not matter how many
syllabuses are invented the dance will continue to evolve as a free
expression of popular Argentinean Culture at home the same as Swing
continues to evolve in North America.

Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 23:02:47 +0100
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:

People seem to be using at least two different kinds of ideas of what
might go to make up a syllabus for Argentine Tango. The majority
could probably agree with this:

[...]

> In summary: I have no problem with having a syllabus or a "list" of
> basic tango elements in a Tape, a CVD or a Book. This will be used
> by the instructors as a guide to teach tango . The student will
> learn this alphabet and then a vocabulary of tango links that he
> will combine in a chain of improvised poetry. This poetry will be
> his personal and unique style of dancing.

Such elements would presumably include forward step, backward step,
side step, cross, or perhaps open step, cross step, etc. I suspect
any tango student is going to have to learn such things, even if we
might not all have the same names for them (or agree on the number).

But then there's the notion of a syllabus like those that ballroom
dancers have. That's got to be something different: apart from
anything else, there aren't enough basic elements of tango to split
into bronze silver and gold levels.

And anyway, a ballroom dancing syllabus isn't about basic elements in
the same way, it's about figures. There are easily enough figures to
split into different levels, and it's reasonably easy to split them
broadly in terms of technical difficulty.

Clearly that's not going to work well with Argentine Tango. Figures
don't have the same significance that they do in ballroom dancing.
And the method of teaching often used in teaching ballroom dancing
(teaching figures, with fixed rhythms, put in routines) seems unlikely
to be of any value. Routines can sort of work in ballroom dancing
partly because the music varies so much less---all slow waltzes are,
to a first approximation anyway, interchangeable, so a routine that
musically fits one is likely to work acceptably to any.

[...]

Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 20:09:47 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

Bruce Stephens wrote:

>And anyway, a ballroom dancing syllabus isn't about basic elements in
>the same way, it's about figures. There are easily enough figures to
>split into different levels, and it's reasonably easy to split them
>broadly in terms of technical difficulty.

>Clearly that's not going to work well with Argentine Tango. Figures
>don't have the same significance that they do in ballroom dancing.

Agreed.

I wonder to what extent the following might describe those who favor the
use of a standardized syllabus for learning Argentine tango:

1) have come from a ballroom dance background;
2) had their first instruction using the 8-count basic;
3) learned tango as a series of memorized figures in which the man and
woman each have prescribed steps;
4) see progressing to intermediate and advanced dancing as learning more
complicated and more showy figures;
5) see stage dancing as an extension of social dancing;
6) see improvisation as learning enough figures to be able to mix and
match the elements to create variety.

With best regards,
Steve

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:56:05 -0400
From: bailadora2000@EXCITE.COM
Subject: Re: Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

Someone wrote:
And anyway, a ballroom dancing syllabus isn't about basic elements in
the same way, it's about figures. There are easily enough figures to
split into different levels, and it's reasonably easy to split them
broadly in terms of technical difficulty.


This isn't completely true...and it also depends on the way the teacher teaches it. There are two types of syllabi in Ballroom, the International Syllabus and the American Syllabus. The American Syllabus, until recently by the NDCA organization, hasn't been very well developed as a unified syllabus, but was developed by the individual studios. They were mostly set into patterns. But the International Syllabus, is more set as elements that can be combined to create combinations. The syllabus helps you out and tells you what elements combine best with others (precedes and follows) to help you create choreography. I've learned both American for teaching purposes and International for competing purposes. I've found that when many times students learn the American syllabus they have a hard time breaking from the patterns. For instance, for anyone who understands ballroom terminology: In International, a cha cha crossover (or "New Yorker") would consist of only 4 beats (which could be directed with a left 1/4 rotation, or a right 1/4 rotation). To me, that's an element. But in the American syllabus, the student would learn a crossover as 16 beats (a crossover to right, a crossover to left, a crossover to right, then a spot turn left -exact opposite for the lady). To me...that's a pattern.

I don't like to teach patterns in ballroom to start, but I know many teachers that do. I also don't like to teach patterns in tango, but I know many teachers that do. However, at times you get students who have a very, very difficult time learning the concept of elements that they freely can combine to create their own steps, patterns, almagamations, and choreography and need to be taught patterns so they can feel comfortable moving on the dance floor. Otherwise, they'll get frustrated, feel like they aren't learning anything and give up. That's why I said once before, every student is different and generally has to be taught differently. I teach children. I can't teach the children the same way I teach adults (actually children are easier to teach). So, to say to eliminate a syllabus completely can actually hinder some students. You have to know when to use it and how to use it and how to explain the difference between elements and patterns.

Guys have a hard job when it comes to dancing, and if a woman has never tried leading, she'll never understand the difficulty. The man has to learn to control his balance and axis, his partners balance, to has an understanding lead, to navigate on the floor around others, to listen to the music, as well as try to decide where his feet should go and where he wants his partners feet to go. It's alot for many guys to learn (we know that men a not naturally multi-task oriented). So, at times, we have to help the guys along and give them a map (a pattern) because otherwise they get frustrated, their egos get shattered, and they give up. Other times, you get lucky and find a guy who feels natural in his body and is able to learn through improvisation and concept.

Nicole
Miami

Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:21:35 +0100
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Syllabus, Syllabi, (Syllabuses) and Tango.

bailadora2000@EXCITE.COM writes:

> Someone wrote:
> And anyway, a ballroom dancing syllabus isn't about basic elements in
> the same way, it's about figures. There are easily enough figures to
> split into different levels, and it's reasonably easy to split them
> broadly in terms of technical difficulty.
>
> This isn't completely true...and it also depends on the way the
> teacher teaches it. There are two types of syllabi in Ballroom, the
> International Syllabus and the American Syllabus.

I was referring only to the International Syllabus. In the US, both
may be taught, but as far as I know, here in the UK it's only the
International Syllabus.

[...]

> But the International Syllabus, is more set as elements that can be
> combined to create combinations. The syllabus helps you out and
> tells you what elements combine best with others (precedes and
> follows) to help you create choreography. I've learned both
> American for teaching purposes and International for competing
> purposes. I've found that when many times students learn the
> American syllabus they have a hard time breaking from the patterns.
> For instance, for anyone who understands ballroom terminology: [...]

But generally, emphasizing those aspects doesn't seem to be a
priority. Presumably competitors get taught the skills of creating
choreography, of improvisation and floorcraft (since the opening
rounds of competitions are on crowded dancefloors), but (in my limited
experience, anyway), ordinary classes don't stress those. Quite the
opposite.

And probably reasonably, since most people at those classes will never
need those skills, since they're never going to dance except during
class, during medal tests (when they're dancing in an empty room) and
(perhaps) once or twice a year at a social event. One might ask why
students mostly don't dance socially; in some cases, it's because
they've no idea how to, or why it might be enjoyable (after all, they
only know how to dance one or two routines, so after half an hour
they're finished), but probably there are other reasons, and perhaps
they wouldn't want to dance despite any change in teaching---quite
possibly they'd resent too much time spent on irrelevant skills like
floorcraft.

(Argentine tango teachers have said the same about their
classes---that most people who go to their classes never turn up at
milongas. I must admit I've never seen that, but I've been to
occasional workshops rather than regular classes. Perhaps the two
audiences are significantly different?)

[...]

> Guys have a hard job when it comes to dancing, and if a woman has
> never tried leading, she'll never understand the difficulty. [...]
> So, at times, we have to help the guys along and give them a map (a
> pattern) because otherwise they get frustrated, their egos get
> shattered, and they give up. Other times, you get lucky and find a
> guy who feels natural in his body and is able to learn through
> improvisation and concept.

Nobody, I hope, would suggest leaving men to their own devices to
learn. It strikes me as quite possible to teach by beginning with
just walking around the room, and then gradually adding elements (the
cross turns you to the left, for example, which motivates teaching
some things which turn to the right, and the cross is worth learning
because it feels nice to your partner). So always (after a relatively
short period, anyway) the men know how to navigate safely. There are
other things we can be usefully given besides maps---nice simple
navigational and rhythmical tools, for example.

That strikes me (struck me, because the experience of a tango class
like that was what caused me to give up ballroom dancing) as a much
more direct route to enjoyable social tango than learning patterns and
then trying to fiddle with them. Both can work, of course, and
presumably different people respond to different approaches. Perhaps
all we can be sure of is that different learners are different, and
different teachers are different, and that some combinations of the
two work much better than others, even if there's no teaching approach
that's definitively best or worst.