[Tango-L] Can we please just dance?

[Chris, UK]

"Keith" <keith at tangohk.com> wrote:

> Chris, can you take the 'UK' out of your Tango-L name. You're a total
> idiot and you're giving us Brits a bad name. I can only imagine what your
> dancing looks like, but if you've learned to dance without an instructor
> I'm almost sure it's bloody awful.

Actually I referred to the show-and-tell instructors of the 
one-size-fits-all bulk tango classes. There are many tango instructors 
outside that category.

But regardless, do please tell what makes you think that the dancing of 
those who've learnt without instructors must necessarily be 'bloody awful'.

Chris


-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* Re: [Tango-L] Can we please just dance?
*From:* "Chris, UK" <tl2 at chrisjj.com>
*To:* Tango-L at mit.edu
*CC:* tl2 at chrisjj.com
*Date:* Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:46 +0100 (BST)

Andy wrote:

> If you understand the music you can explain it. If you want to explain 
> it, you need words.

There's a founding fallacy of the class teaching model, for sure.

To explain the music, you do not need words. That is what dance is for.

The only one who needs words to explain the music is the instructor who has 
/chosen/ words over dance. Often because they are better at words than dance.

An advantage of words is that the instructor needs to do no more work to 
transmit them to many students simultaneously. In the example hereabouts of 
New York tango classes of 100 students, just think how much more work it 
would be for the instructor to actually dance with them.

The disadvantage of words is that, in this one-size-fits-all model, they are 
almost completely useless in communicating the essential feel of the music 
and the dance.

In fact the whole idea of teaching a class the music and dance of tango by 
show and tell makes about as much sense as teaching a class how to ride a 
bike by show and tell. Such tango classes exist only because, compared to 
would-be bike riders, would-be tango dancers are astonishingly gullible.

Chris
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