[Tango-L] a teaching moment

[Jennifer Park]

One time when I was teaching a student, she burst out crying and hugged me. 
All I could think was "What did I do?"  (wrong, if you know what I mean).  I 
really didn't have much experience either so it wasn't like I had grand 
knowledge to purport.  She said she could feel the music and felt like she 
was really dancing and understanding it for a change.  I wasn't dancing to 
patterns; I had merely played a few songs and asked her to pick the one she 
liked most and that was the one we danced to.

I wish too I could say what I did but I still shrug my shoulders.  I'm not 
any hotshot at all either.  Haven't been to BA... but I am actually at US 
declared poverty level income for a family of three.  Would jump at the 
chance for a trip to Tango Mecca if could finance it.  ...So if Derik would 
like to set up a donation fund for "the grand enlightment of a US woman 
tango dancer who leads too much", I'd welcome it.   BTW, I lead because it 
is "fun" and too since where I live the most likely and closest (within an 
hour+ drive) dance partners I'd have would be the cows next door, I dance 
most with my daughter, who is 11, and who never hesitates to tell me when 
I'm leading badly, off music, and the like.  I think 11 year olds might have 
more sense of these things than most adults...

One must adapt to what one has and make the best of it.

Jen
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos at yahoo.com>
To: <Tango-L at mit.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] a teaching moment


> Hi Jay,
>
> At the time, my only exposure to teaching beginners
> was by using the 8-count basic and your typical salon
> vocabulary.  This was what all of the visiting
> professionals had taught in their workshops for
> novices.  I also knew next to nothing about the music.
> I had already begun trying not to teach patterns and
> to focus on movement, but I had not yet seen different
> ways of teaching complete novices.
>
> It was soon afterwards that I met Susana Miller,
> Robert Hauk, and Tom Stermitz.
>
> Trini
>
>
> --- Jay Rabe <jayrabe at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Trini,
>>
>>      Unfortunate that you couldn't remember what you
>> were teaching that
>> prompted the awakening, but can you tell us how you
>> 'changed your approach
>> to teaching'?
>>
>>      J
>>      www.TangoMoments.com
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos at yahoo.com>
>>
>> I had a teaching moment that happened a couple of
>> months after I had started teaching tango.  Several
>> weeks into a beginners class, I was working with a
>> student and she suddenly said "Now I feel like I am
>> dancing!"
>>
>> That comment made me change my approach to teaching.
>> It is still something I keep in mind every time I
>> teach a new class, even though I do not recall what
>> I
>> was teaching at the time.
>>
>> Trini de Pittsburgh
>>
>>
>> --- jackie ling wong <jackie.wong at adelphia.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  > okay... i would like to start a thread of
>> teaching
>>  > moments...  when
>>  > the light bulb goes off... innovative thoughts
>> that
>>  > can help teachers
>>  > help their students
>>  >
>>
>>
>> PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
>> Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's
>> most popular social dance.
>> http://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm
>>
>>
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>
>
> PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
> Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social 
> dance.
> http://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm
>
>
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