[Tango-L] On group classes ...

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

On 1/26/07, tango at bostonphotographs.com <tango at bostonphotographs.com > wrote:

> Lately I've been taking less and less group classes because I'm getting
> increasingly frustrated with the experiences I'm having in the class. Here
> are my sources of frustration.
>
> 1) skill level
>
> it seems to me everyone is grossly overestimating their level.

> As a result of wildly different skill set, either the teacher is lowering
> the difficulty of the class to the lower common denominator which will
> make it boring, or they don't and I don't have anyone to practice with and
> it's frustrating.

> 2) gender imbalance
> for whatever reason nearly all the classes I've even attended are "leader
>  heavy".

> 3) the switching partners nightmare
>
> I wholeheartedly agree that people should dance with as many people they
> can to refine their leading/following skills, but ...


> Now here are some suggestions on how to address some of these issues :
>
> 1) Registration required with payment in advance
>
> The teacher should accept registrations in such a way that the
> leader/follower ratio is always 1/1. Asking for payment in advance would
> increase the chance the attendance is better. Also, it will allow the
>  teacher to build on elements taught in prior classes.

As tango instructors, we COULD run our tango classes like dance
academies and require advance enrollment to balance gender ratio. It
would be nice if it worked that way. It assumes demand is high and
space is limited. More  likely, we are trying to recruit as many
people as possible to fill our classes and build our communities.

Most of us are teaching a social dance for recreation. People are
relaxed about it; it's a diversion from the 9-to-5 and they don't want
restrictions. I don't think that's bad. We want tango to be fun. If we
get too strict about it, we won't have students, and no one will have
fun.

On the other hand, I think this could be feasible for advanced
classes. I've tried it with some workshops given by visiting
instructors but people still show up at class time anyway without
pre-registering. I don't want to turn someone away who cares enough to
to learn to pay xx$ for a class or workshop. It hasn't ever destroyed
gender ratio.

The instructor might also examine why the classes have a biased gender
ratio. Are women not attending because all the focus is on the
leader's role?  As instructors we tend to place blame on leaders for
mistakes, but this can create a tango culture where women are
overconfident and men lack confidence, which leads to bad partnership
in general. Both leader and follower are responsible for a good tango.


> 2) Pre-vetting students.
>
> The teacher should not accept students who's level is not at the level
> required for the class. Period. They should rather encourage those to
> attend a lower level class if available. They should judge the people's
> level by dancing with them, not by how many years have passed since their
> first lesson.

We COULD have a series of examinations and grant diplomas that are a
pre-requisite for attending the next higher level class.

Actually, I do recommend students take a lower level class if that is
appropriate. Or sometimes I invite them to attend a lower level class
while they take the higher level class.

If a class focuses on technique rather than buliding a rich catalogue
of executable figures, even students taking a class at an
inappropriately high level will benefit.

There are always surprises. Students do not learn at a constant rate.

Instructors could have advanced classes by invitation only. At that
level, the instructor knows who is ready for the material. At lower
levels, there are always surprises (in both directions).


> 3) Have a system for changing partners.

If you form a line of dance and have students dance in a line-of-dance
(instead of executing figures 'wherever') and teach them not to pass
each other (contrary to standard milonga protocol), you could dance
for a complete song and then rotate to the next partner and then every
leader will dance with every follower at least once.


> 4) DO ask people to change partners but not every 2 minutes and more often
> then every 15 minutes.

How about every 2:30 - 3:30, i.e., the length of a song? Besides
giving couples practice at dancing a whole song, It spreads the
ability differences around more evenly and gives people a chance to
construct a dance and navigate (assuming a line-of-dance is enforced).
The length of a tanda (about 8-12 minutes) is probably too long.  It
could get people stuck with poor partner matches.


> 5) Less lecturing and more practice time
>
> It seems like most teachers like to hear themselves talk, so in a lot of
> cases I spend up to 60% of the class time listening to the same thing 5
> times. Say what you have to say succinctly, have people start working on
> it and then go individually and address the issues they have.

Yes, practice is good. Instructors need to be precise and concise in
their communication.  However, instructors DO need to communicate.


> 6) Dealing with unequal skill level
>
> Do not slow down the class if a few people cannot keep up, move along, we
> ALL paid for the class, I have no reason to subsidize the training of the
> few that can't hack it. Spend equal time with all the students, just
> because some can do better then most doesn't mean that they don't need
> input. If they were perfect they wouldn't attend the class.

Yes, don't 'dumb down' the class to the lowest level. However, don't
teach at a level more advanced than most people can learn. I think
it's worthwhile to teach mostly to the middle half of the class. They
are ones who will benefit most.

There is a common ground - technique. Everyone can improve technique.
Also musicality. There are some people who can't remember steps who
have great musicality. (There are an even larger number of step mavins
who lack musicality.)

Be kind. You CAN dance 2:30 with just about anyone. If you let
students dance instead of talking, you have time to pull aside
students with more problems and address them.

Instructors should also dance with students during the class. They can
address some issues while dancing. These should be technique issues
rather than 'where to put you foot next' issues. 'Where to put your
foot next' can be addressed out of the line-of-dance.

>From experience, I find that those who complain the most are those who
most overestimate their ability. Humility is good ... even for
instructors. Learning tango is a lifelong experience.

Ron
Urbana IL