[Tango-L] Beginner to Intermediate

[Lois Donnay]

The worst thing about this is that it forces the students to become
teachers, when they didn't bargain for it. This is like a friend coming
to you midway through a movie and asking you to tell them what's going
on. I hate that! 

I remember this happening once when I was assisting at a workshop billed
for Beginner/Intermediate. The organizer rushed in with a gentleman a
half hour after the class has started and told him "Here - she'll take
care of you". Hmmm, I thought - half hour late and I guess I'm supposed
to bring him up to speed. But I was really surprised when he told me he
always wanted to learn to dance and when he saw a class going on in his
hotel he decided to try it. He asked me "this is a rhumba class, right?"
I told him it was tango, and he started to leave, but I told him to hang
on, the women were quite generous and would help him. I showed him the
practice hold and told him to just walk, when the organizer's partner
came up to us. I thought maybe he was going to offer to take over, but
he said "This is a class - those are the teachers. What do you think
you're doing?" I guess he was accusing me of teaching in class.

So I guess I should have let him leave, but the other organizer would
have been upset with me for losing her money. Sometimes you can't win!

Lois Donnay
Minneapolis, MN 

-----Original Message-----
From: Club~Tango*La Dolce Vita~ [mailto:dani at tango-la-dolce-vita.eu] 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 6:25 AM
To: brian at danceoftheheart.com; Christopher L. Everett; tango-l at mit.edu
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Beginner to Intermediate

Ciao Brian / List,
 
Yes, I've experienced the same problem at CITA. I remember a few years
ago I changed partners only to be stuck with a real numptie. The woman
was (and she admitted it) a beginner! This was an 'advanced' class! A
year or so later, a similar situation occurred when 'Masterclasses' and
'Professional Classes' were introduced. There were people enrolled for
these levels who hardly knew the basics! It was awful to be stuck with
one.