[Tango-L] Don't blame your follower ...keys & Clasico vs. Nuevo

[Tango For Her]

To difuse this a bit ...
   
  How do you make money in tango?  Give what people want!  The trick to filling your classroom AND keep them coming is to keep the attention of the intermediate and advanced leaders.  Any teacher knows that!
   
  Intermediate dancers want to learn tricks and patterns.  (This is only my observation.  This is a genaralization.  This is not meant to offend anyone!)  So, if you are a visiting teacher, you had better be known for teaching "cool moves"!  
   
  America is a capitalist society.  People show up with their money and those with the most interesting *stuff* reap the benefits.
   
  Have you noticed that the largest, most successful classes have the attention of the intemediate leaders?  Look, if you have a beginner class under your belt, where do you go from there?  Do you go to the class of the teacher who is teaching [ technique, patterns, etc ]?  No.  It doesn't matter, as much, what the teacher is teaching.  It matters where you can dance with non-beginners.  I mean to say that it matters less whether the teacher is the better teacher.  It matters more whether you can dance with people who are better than you.  You want to get better at basketball?  Play with people who are better than you.  Etc.  Ummm, and, of course, get a good teacher.
   
  So, again, how do you have success as a teacher of tango classes?  Fill your room!  How do you do that? Create a society!  People come to classes, repeatedly because they feel comfortable.  It's a society.  So, if you are smart, you are going to provide whatever it is that will pay for that room and give you a little extra.  Keep the interest of those intermediate, and advanced-intermediate, leaders!   It is my honest opinion that you keep their attention by giving them something to show off.  Patterns!  (Trust me.  I get bored teaching patterns.  I like to see technique advancement.  Give them darn leaders followers' technique classes!  but, that's beside the point!)
   
  Another point ... Even the women who KNOW that they don't lead ganchos in BsAs still ask me to lead ganchos.  
   
  So, that is my take on what happens in America.  
   
  Anyone care to elaborate on the BsAs milongas where the younger Argentines go?
   
   
  

Tango Society of Central Illinois <tango.society at gmail.com> wrote:
  On 12/17/07, doug at swingfusion.com wrote:
>
> Why are dancers outside Argentina so interested in learning these moves
>
> that are not recognized as acceptable social dancing in Buenos Aires?" If
>
> more people went to Buenos Aires, observed how porten~os dance at the
>
> milongas, perhaps all the workshops outside Argentina teaching ganchos,
>
> boleos, volcadas, colgadas and the like would be empty.
>
> 
>
>
>
> I am extremely confused by your post. Are you suggesting that the only
> dance "real tango" dancers would/should want to learn is "Tango Clasico"?
> Do you think that my knowledge that portenos do not do ganchos, boleos,
> volcadas, colgadas etc. lessens their interest to me and others of the Nuevo
> persuasion? Should we eject Fabian and his ilk from the world of "real
> tango" dancers? I honestly don't get what you are trying to say.
>

There should be no confusion. Tango Nuevo is not danced at milongas in
Buenos Aires. Thus, it is not social Argentine tango. Outside Argentina,
Tango Nuevo is commonly danced socially at milongas. There is a
misrepresentation of tango culture here. if you want to create a new social
tango dance form, at least label it differently (i.e., Tango Nuevo) so that
people know what to expect.

This is not the first time in history tango has been misrepresented in its
migration to another cultural background. This happened about 100 years
again with the creation of ballroom tango. Here we go again.



As to why dancers are interested in these moves, I can only speak for
> myself and my partner. We very much enjoy the athleticism and intellectual
> aspects of these moves. Our connection is, although certainly different
> from that in Milonguero style, at least as strong and enjoyable. What don't
> you get about this?
>


What don't you get about representating tango culture accurately in milongas
outside Argentina?

Social Argentine Tango is not about athleticism or even intellectualism.
Even improvisation is not something that is planned intellectually; it comes
out of you at the moment, without forethought. The music and the floor space
determine the possibilities.

Social Argentine Tango is about connection with partner and music and the
emotion that is aroused in that connection. That is its unique beauty.
However, outside Argentina dancers see tango as steps. Somebody missed the
train.


And contrary to what some on this list appear to believe, these moves are
> not necessarily for show.
>

And they are not suitable for milongas in Buenos Aires. If you change that,
you are redefining the customs of social tango, and it is no longer
genuinely Argentine.

Ron





>
> D.
>
>
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