[Tango-L] Teaching and learning tango

[Chris, UK]

Sergio wrote:

> My father had a good friend who owned a dance studio, his name and that 
> of the Studio was "Gaeta".  That studio taught all sorts of dances
> including tango, in great part by mail, with descriptions and graphics

Thanks for account Sergio - most interesting. I stand corrected.

> Some people from my neighborhood, very few, would learn from this type 
> of studio but generally speaking those were the worst dancers and they 
> had the characteristic of dancing the same way.

Not much change there in half a century. ;)

Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* [Tango-L] Teaching and learning tango
*From:* "Sergio Vandekier" <sergiovandekier990 at hotmail.com>
*To:* tango-l at mit.edu
*Date:* Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:40:58 +0000

Brian Dunn wrote:

"Janis wrote:
"There had to be someone teaching tango in Buenos Aires before the late
1980s."

Yet more data -
"At the time of the revolution [of tango dancing in the 1940's], Mingo
[Pugliese] points out, few milongueros were professional. Cachafaz and Ain
had given lessons in the 1920's, [and] Mendez and El Negro Pavura ran
studios..."
"Tango - The Art History of Love" - R.F. Thompson, pp. 249-250

Before the sixties tango was taught mostly within the family. It was 
transmitted from parents to children, from older to younger siblings, or 
else you could learn from your uncles or your cousins.

Then you could start practicing in family gatherings or parties, 
engagements, weddings, baptisms, birthdays, etc.

Later on, boys would teach each other playing both roles (man and woman) so 
that they could learn to dance but also to lead.  Leading has always being 
the most difficult thing to learn.

During weekends they would go to dance to the neighborhood clubs, modestly 
leading their partners to execute the new moves that they had learned during 
the week.

The usual practice consisted in learning some new steps or figures but lots 
of walks and some corridas.

My father had a good friend who owned a dance studio, his name and that of 
the Studio was
"Gaeta".  That studio taught all sorts of dances including tango, in great 
part by mail, with descriptions and graphics that were sent all over the 
world.  It had great economical success.  I wonder now how useful such a 
program by mail may have been. :))

My main interest at the time, during my childhood was to collect the 
thousands of post stamps that came to the studio from all over the world.

Some people from my neighborhood, very few, would learn from this type of 
studio but generally speaking those were the worst dancers and they had the 
characteristic of dancing the same way.

We have historical documentation of music and songs in magazines, 
newspapers, radio programs, recordings, television and movies. Unfortunately 
there are very few documents for the dance itself, they are mostly in very 
old movies.

Summary Tango and other dances were   passed from generation to generation 
within the family and the neighborhood. There were dance studios as well.

The big problem is that exists a period of a generation that ceased to dance 
tango and broke the chain of teaching and learning.

Best regards, Sergio

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