[Tango-L] Beginner to Intermediate

[Tom Stermitz]

What vanity and pseudo-self-esteem these people have!? "Oh, I just  
want to challenge myself" What about the other people in class?


This is a problem all over. Many teachers or workshop organizers are  
unable or unwilling to set levels or enforce levels. It gets so bad  
sometimes that you have intermediates who can't do ochos learning  
volcadas or ganchos in a class labeled advanced.

Some teachers welcome anybody into an advanced class or workshop  
under the philosophy that people can learn fancy steps and build up  
technique later. I think they are just trying to build attendance,  
without any concern for the quality of learning for the individual or  
the other students.

I'm of the opposite philosophy, i.e. that with good technique you can  
easily learn fancier steps, and reversing the order embeds bad habits  
that slow down your progress. We've all seen women who don't have  
balance and can't even do an ochos smoothly being thrased through the  
tango turn. They're just learning that thrashing is a lead for the turn.

If you layer the learning process properly (strategically), then  
people progress more quickly and feel more successful at each  
stage... this boosts retention at each stage.



How about introducing the idea of "Advanced-Beginner"?

"This is an intermediate class. Please be aware that there is a large  
gap between Beginner and Intermediate. In this class we assume you  
ALREADY know ochos and och-cortados. Those are topics we cover in our  
Adv-Beginner series".

"For those of you who have been doing beginner tango for 4 or 8 weeks  
and are ready to move on. Please join our "Advanced Beginner  
Progressive Series". This is not a drop-in course. In this eight week  
series we will review and develop ocho cortados and ochos."

The idea is that people should spend a month or two in beginner and  
two months at adv-beginner. Those exceptions can be bumped to adv- 
beginner to pick up vocabulary, instead of intermediate where they  
frustrate everybody else.

Sometimes your beginner series is mostly about learning to walk and  
basic lead-follow.  Upgrade your beginner class to include  
improvisation, musicality, phrasing and rhythms, and then it won't be  
so boring. When I visit a new community (or when I get students from  
other teachers who don't teach musicality) I discover that many  
Intermediates know quite a bit of vocabulary, but aren't very good at  
rhythm and musical phrasing. These are topics I cover in my brand-new  
beginner class. Presenting the same topics to Intermediates actually  
creates a challenging and interesting class.



On Sep 7, 2006, at 12:11 AM, Fred Herman & Mary Menz wrote:

> When someone who does not yet  belong at an intermediate level class
> shows up at one, has anyone out there found a  diplomatic way to deal
> with the situation?
> Also,  has anyone found a good, reliable way to graduate someone from
> the beginning class to intermediate?  I would be curious to know what
> seems to have worked for other people out there.
> Mary
> _______________________________________________