[Tango-L] Beginner to Intermediate

[Christopher L. Everett]

Dlpens at aol.com wrote:
> Concerning the recently concluded Chicago Tango Fest, I have one  correction 
> and some additional comments on the classes.  During Fernanda  and Guillermo's 
> "Turbo Gancho in Giros" class, a friend of mine in the class  asked the 
> instructors to explain "Turbo Ganchos" early in the class.   Guillermo looked at 
> him, puzzled at the request.  My friend showed him the  schedule whereupon 
> Guillermo laughed out loud- it was a misprint.  The  class was about "Turns and 
> Ganchos in Giros".  Many of us avoided that  class like the plague figuring that 
> the class would be about high speed, fast  moving ganchos.  
That's hilarious. 
> So the laugh was 
> on us as Guillermo and Fernando are  wonderful and very popular instructors.
>   
Agreed, they are excellent teachers and nice people as well.
> In point of fact, Javier and Andrea did change the subject of a  class after 
> only a few minutes.  The class contained some fine instructors  but somehow 
> Javier  felt that the entire class needed to concentrate on  walking.  One 
> instructor, known for his walking and teaching, had no  problem with having 
> walking exercises but did not count on 1 1/2 hours of  walking.  Others walked 
> out of the class deeply disturbed by Javier's prognosis.
>   
Well,  I didn't say Javier was a nice guy.  But judging by
what I saw, I'd agree at least in part with his assessment:
basic walking and embrace skills were not present in
over half the people there.  That class may have received
an extra concentration of those.  There's just something
about Ganchos and Boleos that draws such people.
> In another "advanced" class, the instructor had to take time out of  the 
> class to go over an ocho with one student.
>   
Several times, I had the experience that I could perform a
lot of material with women dancing at a high level, but later
I would dance with one of the women sitting down for more
practice, and then nothing worked.  And, of course, I was to
blame. ;)
> In my opinion, when left to the dancer to place him or her  self in a 
> beginner, intermediate or advanced class, the majority will select a higher level 
> then they should have considered.  Never  was this more evident than in the 
> first extensive tango course my wife and I  took in 1998 in Montreal.  On the 
> first day, the organizers, Daniel Trenner  with Rebecca Shulman, asked everyone 
> to select beginner, intermediate or  advanced level.  One dancer I know placed 
> himself in the advanced  level.  In fact, he had no concept of the basics and 
> in the end, he upset  the organizers as well as his class mates.  
Someone told me a story of going to CITA and encountering
a beginner woman who enrolled in all the advanced classes
because, "... that way I can dance with all advanced dancers
 and I can improve faster!"
> They tried a 
> subtle approach to  cause him to move into the beginner level and eventually 
> he was asked to leave  that level altogether.
I try to avoid intermediate and advanced classes.  That has
made all the difference for me.
> The organizer in Chicago tried to use "number of years dancing  tango" as a 
> criteria for level placement.  I pointed out to him that this  was not the 
> criteria to use.  Using the "years of dancing" criteria some  local dancers with 
> 10+ years of experience would have been placed in the  advanced level despite 
> the fact that they never progressed out of the basic  beginner level. 
Probably you need a functional definition of the level.  As
in Beginners do nothing well, Advanced Beginners can walk
in the embrace, with the music, do the cruzada, back and
front ochos, and a simple left hand turn of some kind, etc.
> On the 
> other hand, one world class local dancer, teacher,  international performer 
> with only 4 1/2 years of tango experience would barely  have made it into the 
> advanced level.  Natural talent and dedication to the  dance play a bigger role 
> than just the number of years one has danced  tango.
>   
I'm guessing that you are referring to Somer Surgit.  Yeah,
he's excellent.  A nuevo guy, but not a member of the baggy
pants brigade, he actually moves with some grace.
> I suspect that level placement in tango will always present major  problems 
> for organizers, instructors and other dancers.  I recommend that  instructors 
> do not stoop to the lowest level dancer in a class especially where  it is 
> obvious that that person belongs in a lower classification.   
>   
I would suggest that organizers go further and empower
instructors to boot people over their heads into a lower
level class.

Christopher