[Tango-L] women leading

[Jeff Gaynor]

I've been watching this thread and have to chime in. Again, I'm a newbie 
but a very good athlete and a martial artist. It is well known that you 
cannot learn a MA to proficiency unless you receive the technique. 
Indeed, I can tell at a glance who has never felt a given technique done 
properly just by how they move.  Most communication is non-verbal and no 
amount of explaining will ever really beat experience. It struck me when 
I started tango that it is taught asymmetrically even though the motions 
of both parties are the pretty much the same once they get proficient. 
It also has impressed me that the learning curve is therefore steeper 
than it need be. I've also noticed that all the really good tango 
teachers I've run into know how to lead and follow and often suggest it 
to their students.

A cleaner way to teach it -- and I know a lot of you will shout me down 
immediately so save your electrons -- would be to teach leading and 
following each basic movement from the start. If my experience elsewhere 
is a guide, the first week or so will be the hardest for people to get 
through (as they learn how to learn), then after that you will easily 
halve the time it takes to get proficient in anything.

$.02

Jeff