[Tango-L] What Does It Take to Dance Tango?

[euroking@aol.com]

 I cant say my only real dance experience is Tango, but I can say it is the only one in which I feel comfortable and believe I am learning proficiency. My wife tried to get me to learn swing, Latin and ballroom, with highly limited success, because I also felt like I had two left feet, and besides one was always infected. For some reason, Tango clicked and for the last 3 years I have done basically nothing but Tango. 
 
Teaching Tango is beyond my comprehension at this stage, but I think prior experience depends on the person. In teaching skiing, I have found that relating the need and the relationship of balance to someone that has ballet training has been a tremendous advantage for them in learning to ski better.  On the other hand, if they don't have an open mind and rely on movements from other dances it could be a long road. But the key is transferring skills which relate to balance as opposed to movements.
 
Another point is the issue of the music and the question of musicality, this too I believe lies in the person. Some can assimilate music naturally, the rhythm,  the beat they see and feel it, the walk is a natural progression.  For some of us, (me in particular) the walk and the music are initially from different planets. Time is the answer here. It will either with lessons and floor time meld into Tango or you will walk away off beat shaking your head.  
 
Summarizing, I guess what I am saying is that prior experience is a plus or a minus depending on how an teacher leverages it and how a student adapts.
 
Just some thoughts,
 
Bill in Seattle.
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: arrabaltango at yahoo.co.uk
To: tangosmith at cox.net; tango-l at mit.edu
Sent: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] What Does It Take to Dance Tango?



--- "tangosmith at cox.net" <tangosmith at cox.net> wrote:

> I'm curious, are there a lot of people (outside of
> BsAs) whose only real
> dance experience is tango?  

I did Russian Ballet for 6 months when I was 7; that
torture put me off any kind of dancing for the
following 40 years. I came to tango with 2 left feet
some thirteen years ago and am still finding out that
I have a hell of a lot to learn, but I feel no
compulsion to learn any other dance.
> 
> To the instructors out there, how many beginner
> students do you get who are
> new to dancing?  From my limited observation, it
> seems fairly common. 
> Sometimes there even seems to be bias against people
> who have experience in
> other dance, particularly ballroom. 

I have now been teaching tango for around 9 years and
have found empirically that the most gifted tango
students were those who had no previous dancing
experience, the basic reason being that they bring no
bad habits. The most difficult ones have been ballroom
dancers, with their compulsive hyperlordosis, begging
for a slipped disc. Yes, the best background is to
know how to walk....

Cheers,

Andy.


Andrew W. RYSER SZYMAÑSKI,
23b All Saints Road,
London, W11 1HE,
07944 128 739.


        
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