[Tango-L] tango learning concepts

[Stephen.P.Brown@dal.frb.org]

Wow! Chris must be confused.  There is very little resemblance between 
what I wrote and his selective quotation of my remarks.

To clarify my thoughts for Chris and others who may be equally befuddled, 
I will restate and amplify the idea once more.
(In doing so, I am ignoring the ensuing discussion which has been quite 
informative.)

Most people pursue learning by studying with a teacher who uses a 
pedagogy.

Pedagogies are limited by their nature, and in my opinion each of the 
three major pedagogies used to teach tango in the United States are 
extremely limited.

Because each of the styles of tango are linked to a particular pedagogical 
approach to teaching in the United States, the profusion of poorly trained 
dancers has created confusion between the characteristics of a style and 
the limitations of the pedagogical approach to teaching that style.  That 
confusion may have resulted in the appearance that different styles of 
tango are wildly incompatible and do not belong to the same generic dance 
form.

Moreover, it lets the instructors and other advocates of each style 
criticize the other styles for characteristics of the pedagogy rather than 
the style itself.   Dancers who have been taught by instructors using 
narrowly conceived pedagogies and who have not learned very deeply on 
their own may be misled into believing they are dancing a style that is 
substantially different/better than the other styles.  Dancers who have 
been so misled may polarize into communities of ignorant, 
self-perpetuating belief.

If students are unable to look beyond the one pedagogy by which they are 
being taught, their learning will be relatively limited.  Through their 
own exploration, some dancers may overcome the limitations of the narrow 
pedagogy by which they have been taught and actually learn to dance their 
own tango.  Others may might find it fruitful to pursue instruction from 
those taking different pedagogical approaches to teaching tango, but doing 
so in the United States is likely to mean taking classes from instructors 
who teach different styles of tango.

Occasionally, you will find a wacky instructor who uses a widely conceived 
pedagogical approach and is open to multiple styles of tango.  Run like 
hell to get away because such instruction is likely to prove totally 
confusing or you will end up misunderstood yourself.

With best regards,
Steve