[Tango-L] Women's technique

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- Keith <keith at tangohk.com> wrote:

"The purpose of the exercise is just to keep the hands
against the wall while doing the turns. In that way the
body stays facing the wall while the hips rotate, i.e. you
twist at the waist. The problem with beginners practicing
Ochos without the wall is that they tend to turn the
complete body, including shoulders."

Keith is right that most beginners will turn as a block if
they are asked by an inadequate teacher to do ochos in the
middle of the floor. We don't use the exercise to teach the
ocho as a step. We use to help the students learn to
disassociate the ribs from the hips. The problem with
providing the wall crutch is that the students will
invariably use their arms to restrain their ribs while
their hips turn. They don't have to lean on the wall to do
this. It only requires a very light touch with the
fingertips, and tension in the arms, shoulders and back to
restrain the ribs. That tension is disastrous when the
student tries to do ochos with a partner.

Keith's error is in thinking and teaching that
disassociation is created when "you twist at the waist".
Movement of the body occurs at joints. There is no waist
joint. Disassociation of the hips and ribs is only possible
by twisting the spine, particularly the lumbar spine. This
is not a pointless semantic distinction. When you think of
twisting the spine instead of the waist, it becomes
immediately apparent that creating tension in the back is
counterproductive.

Good teaching becomes an exercise in problem solving. A
problem with having beginning students execute ochos in the
middle of the floor is that they tend to turn as a block.
Having them execute ochos against a wall solves the
turning-as-a-block problem, but it defeats the purpose of
the exercise, and it creates worse problems. Our solution
is to use exercises that teach the students to disassociate
the hips and ribs and to sense the positions of their ribs
and hips. (When they start, most students can't feel the
difference between turning as a block and spiraling.) Once
they develop that sense, we introduce the ocho exercise. We
might introduce the ocho exercise later than some teachers,
but I am sure our students become proficient much more
quickly than students who got a "head start" by working
with a wall.

I suspect that a lot of tango teachers don't put much
effort into learning how to teach. They use the same
methods that they think their teachers used. The problem
with that, as Keith pointed out, is that they were "not
paying enough attention to what the teacher wanted you to
do – not unusual in beginner students." 

If teaching your students as well as you were taught is
good enough for you, maybe teaching isn't your calling.
Some dancers (Salas and Gavito at least) are held as sacred
by the community, because they have defined the highest
level of dancing tango. IMHO, there are not yet any
teachers who qualify for deification. The art of teaching
tango is still in its infancy.

Sean





       
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