Re: [TANGO-L] Memorized Patterns and Improvised Tango

[Tom Stermitz <Stermitz @RAGTIME.ORG>]

Nicole, bailadora2000  @excite.com wrote:

> Bruce wrote:
> The foundation (for tango) needn't be a set of patterns. There'll
> probably be patterns included, but it's certainly possible to teach
> beginners while teaching very few patterns---I've seen it done
>
> I've been teaching dance for almost 10 years now, from students from
> the ages of 4 til 80.  No one can be taught the same, and no style
> of dance can be taught the same.  There are fundamental things that
> tie all of dance together, but the method of teaching changes with
> each student that you teach.
> ...
> ...  And no, teaching improvisation is not so easy...and if it was
> there would be a lot more great dancers out there.  It's hard to !
> teach adults to break their learning methods.  Children yes, it's
> easy
> , and it is possible in a few adult dancers...but not very often.
>
> And I have a question for everyone....if tango is all about walking
> improvisation..then how would the cruzada for the woman come into
> play?  Surely most people would recognize that as one of the most
> identifying elements of the Argentine Tango....but would that change
> the concept of just a walking dance...since crossing the ankles is
> not a natural movement to walking backwards?
>
> Nicole
> Miami

Nicole, it depends on the teaching methodology.

I find that teaching improvisation is extremely easy, if the teaching
is based on simple elements and the concept of swapping between them.
It is possible to learn improvisation based on splitting up longer
sequences, but that is a more difficult skill to teach.

The cross is a walking step, like all steps of tango. It is very
similar to the natural "together-step", but with the follower's foot
about three inches away, on the other side of her foot. It takes just
a couple songs of practice for 90% of brand new beginners to lead and
follow this. It takes about the same amount of time to learn to
improvise on two walking elements,  namely leading the
"together-step" and the "follower's cross".

This is what I use in all my first New-beginner classes. For the
other 45 minutes of class, they practice phrasing to the music, and
rhythmic variations like QQS in tango and waltz.

> Actually, Luda, I once had a 14-year old girl in one of my classes
> (it happened to be a cha-cha class who had absolutely no sense
> of coordination.  She actually tripped over herself and fell 3 times
> in class, once on top of another student.  I finally ended up
> telling her parents that they should invest their money into
> something else, like piano or singing, because she was not made to
> dance.  It was hard to do, but she was so pathetic, I felt bad to
> see her parents spending all this money on dance classes.
>
> Nicole
> Miami

Clay Nelson is fond of pointing out that you shouldn't write off anybody.

Even some of the most uncoordinated, awkward, shy people can find
success in tango. Maybe they'll never become Miguel Zotto stage
stars, but it is not too hard to discover the ability to embrace a
partner, learn some simple tango steps and move with feeling to tango
music.

Smooth, comfortable, confident and musical still take time, but that
is true even for a skillful dancer.

I have noticed that teaching excess vocabulary to beginners slows
down their learning process, and leads more men to quit than women.


The biggest difficulty is how to deal with people whose hygiene or
social skills are so negative, that they cause other students to quit.

--

Tom Stermitz
http://www.tango.org/
stermitz  @tango.org
303-388-2560

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