[Tango-L] 6 months

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My 2 cents here...

Illinois> Each year we get 1 or 2 young men (in their 20s) who become competent social
Illinois> tango dancers (close embrace) within 6 months. I believe it is possible for

It depends quite a bit on the motivation of the students. In Hungary, learning dancing is at the same level as going to the movies or eating out, which means that many people simply doesn't have any motivation to actually _learn_ tango well or even to use it at a milonga. I have to work very hard to create an environment on my classes that makes people at least curious about a milonga, so they continue dancing after the first few months and practice outside my 90-minutes-per-week tango classes.

Illinois> months. Their repertoire is mosly walking, rock steps (some turning),
Illinois> several variations on the ocho cortado and basic back ochos. 

I'd be out of business, if people learnt only this in half a year (even though wouldn't ever teach colgadas in the first year - counting the average 3-5 hours per week tango involvement). The tango scene in Hungary was dominated by stage dancers during its initial expansion, so people rarely dance simple at the milongas (you can't even try: some women don't even understand if you lead steps less than half a meter...). This makes dancers of beginner-level knowledge feel completely incompetent and drives them towards fancy stuff. A great number of beginners choose to take lessons with stage dancers because they are teaching "more than walks and ochos".

Illinois> you can have dancers with 2-3 years tango experience who still can't walk
Illinois> with grace and balance to the music.

I wish that would be the case. But my experience shows that you can teach a lot of stuff early and still have a good - apparent - level of dancing. These people usually use quite a lot of muscle strength to do what they do, so they aren't too comfortable to dance with, however, from the outside they are quite adept dancers. Since most locals don't know what they are missing, they didn't develop the need for better connection and more subtleness. :(

Cheers,
Aron