Re: [TANGO-L] Technique

[Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG>]

Trini wrote:

>[T]he "bad" teachers must not be on this list or don't
>see themselves in the complaints being presented.

Most of the teachers with whom I have studied are Argentine, and almost
none of them participate in Tango-L.  In the nine years that I have been
dancing tango, I have seen three of my teachers grow in their pedagogy.
The others seem to be teaching much the same as they have for the entire
time that I have known them.

>So the question becomes how does one encourage "bad" teachers to want
>to develop their teaching skills?

If it is a local instructor, a lack of students might encourage that
instructor to develop greater teaching skills--although some might argue
that those who have achieved popularity are simply pandering to the common
expectations of teaching step patterns.  Students might also tell the
instructor what they do not understand.  If the instructor hears the same
comments from several different students, the instructor might realize
that further teaching in an area would be helpful.

If we are writing about the top dancers of Argentine tango, I find posing
the question is a bit presumptuous.  If I am able to take a class or
lesson from a top dancer, it is up to me to learn from it.  Very few of
the top dancers/instructors pull together a complete understanding of
Argentine tango for their students and deliver it as a pre-digested
package.  They expect the student to provide the effort and the context,
and offer their students a closer view of their incredible dance skills
and a few insights about how these skills might be developed.  For the
right student the glass is well more than half full.

With best wishes for 2003,
Steve

Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
http://www.tejastango.com/

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