[Tango-L] Technical vs Sensual - Where are the Engineers from?

[Christopher L. Everett]

Good teachers use language their students understand.

I've seen many, many teachers talk about 12 o'clock, 3'
o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock, but not one complaint
on Tango-L about that.  There's no difference between
using the language of hours on a clock face, and using
the language of math to discuss the mechanics of tango.

Tine teaches grad students at a world-class university;
her students don't just understand what she has to say,
they probably demand she discusses tango in those terms.
She could say "pivot pi radians clockwise" and everyone
know "turn right on one foot until you face the wall
behind you".

Also I'm willing to bet while Tine is saying stuff along
the lines of "turn 270 degrees this way and point your
nose thataway" she also demonstrates it with her body,
as many times as needed.  Then she probably has people
do it themselves, and goes around offering corrections,
up to the point of grabbing linbs and shifting them as
needed, having men experience the womans part, using
poetic analogies, or giving them whatever visual, auditory
and/or kinesthetic cluesticks needed until they grok.

It's important to get as much mileage out of each word
as possible.  Speaking your student's language is the
best way of conveying information.  If talking about
"Bose-Einstein condensates" (shout out to Rob Hauk)
trips your students' triggers, then go for it.

Just as important are: feeding students piece by piece,
setting contexts for what you teach them, avoiding brain
dump mode (intermediates "passing on what they know"),
striving for perfection when you'd be lucky to get "good
enough", and giving instructions that accomplish multiple
outcomes.

Christopher

Yale Tango Club wrote:
> Hey
>    
>   Huh? 
>   So if you showed up to my class, you would be happy if I told you 
>   Hey Everybody, thanks so much for coming and for giving me your 
>   money, the Tango is a Feeling that is Danced, just walk, feel the 
>   music, go with the flow, make the connection, have the blissful 
>   communication, ok now do it. Oh that? It's a left half turn, it goes like 
>   so (quick demo of several variations, with other stuff in between), 
>   I could explain the step but it's really not about knowing the steps, 
>   you don't need all that, the ladies just want to connect to the partner 
>   and to the music. Besides if you can't do the left turn naturally, and I 
>   would have to explain efficiently to you which foot to put where and 
>   what to do with your upper body, you would dance like a robot. 
>   Besides nobody ever explains anything in Argentina! They all just 
>   totally know what to do. Those classes they have are for tourists
>   and losers.
>    
>   If you explain things with precision it is good for everybody. If ppl have 
>   the mechanics down, it might take them a class or two and some 
>   practice, they can next forget about the mechanics and think about 
>   interpretation, artistry, etc. If you have ppl learning and becoming very 
>   good in spite of the lack of an efficient explanation, you will find that 
>   often they have a logical and efficient way of processing and storing 
>   the jumble of incoming information.
>    
>   Sorry if you are unable to comprehend precise instructions. Logical 
>   thought and verbal precision in teaching are generally appreciated 
>   by everybody, but I guess it has the effect of making skill attainable, 
>   and of making things easy, and where is the magic in that? All the fluff
>   would just sound like, well, fluff.
>    
>   Or are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing? 
>   Tine
>    
>   
> "Chris, UK" <tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
>   Aron wrote:
>
>   
>> In Hungary a great percentage of male dancers (my guess is well
>> above 50%) are engineers, IT people and alike. 
>>     
>
> Then surely they need to be taught less tango engineering, not more.
>
> This "do a 270 with your left foot pointing at 7 o'clock and your nose a 
> quarter turn ahead" thinking is not the cure for the problem Caroline 
> describes as turning people into programmed robots. It is the cause.
>
>   
>> The best teachers I know use a lot of mathematical and physical 
>> concepts or models 
>>     
>
> That could easily explain why well above 50% of your male dancers are 
> engineers, IT people and alike - can anyone else understand the lessons?
>
> Let alone benefit from them.
>
>   
>> everyone with an intermediate level of skill knows that it is first
>> and primarily understanding of underlying mechanics...
>>     
>
> Actually, no they don't. Just as everyone with an intermediate level of 
> skill in walking down the street doesn't know it is 'first and primarily 
> understanding mechanics'. It is first natural motion. If it wasn't, 
> no-one would be able to take his/her first step.
>
> Or to dance tango. As Jeff's Brother Reginald might have said ;) 
> "If almost any ***** in Bs As could dance tango, how difficult can it be?"
>
> Chris
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