Re: [TANGO-L] Any advice for complete and total beginners?

["Kohlhaas, Bernhard" <bernhard.kohlhaas @SAP.COM>]

Hi Alysa,

in addition to some of the advice already posted, I'd like to
add my 2 cents as well:

Take classes from teachers who focus on fundamentals & technique,
rather than fancy steps. Your abilities to follow well will improve faster.
Also in a true fundamentals class (sometimes wrongly labeled as "beginning" class),

Dancing with your fellow students in a milonga is probably less nerve-wrecking,
since you already know them from the classes. And since your fellow students are
also more interested in technique rather than fancy steps (that's why you're taking
classes from a teacher that focuses on technique), they probably won't
try to impress you with all thirty-something fancy steps that they know within
the first two minutes of your dance.

When I started dancing, I took the "beginning" class before a milonga. Many times
the classes weren't really that good (which I didn't know at the time), but I
would take a mental note of who came to that class and ask them later during the milonga.
After attending few milongas I also started asking other people to dance.

Bernhard

P.S.: If you love tango and techno music, you might find the CD
      "La Revancha del Tango" by "Gotan Project" a very interesting mix of both.