Re: [TANGO-L] teaching technique

[Manuel Patino <white95r @HOTMAIL.COM>]

> There are elements of good technique that are not unique to a particular
> step or step pattern.  These are ignored by most instructors in their
> group classes.  Many instructors seem to reserve teaching the complete
> details of technique for their private lessons--maybe because individual
> attention is required.  Even in private lessons, however, you have to be
> careful and select instructors who that actually know how to teach
> technique.

Steve, I cannot argue this point with you, but for what it is worth, I do
not take lessons from or organize workshops for teachers who do not or
cannot teach. Sure, I've taken one lesson from teachers that I did not think
were good instructors, but no more than one. There are lots of excellent
teachers out there and we've been fortunate to take lessons from them.

>From our part, we always strive to teach *all* the elements of the material
we present in our classes. That is how people learn the "technique". The
idea is to watch and see what people are doing or not doing which is
impeding their dance, and then address those specific problems. Fortunately,
difficulties tend to be similar or exactly the same for many folks in a
class so it's not so hard to address and correct many issues in a group
class. Also, there are some very basic and very important principles for the
tango dance. If these few basic principles are mastered, everything else can
be mastered with enough talent, effort and practice.


Manuel