[Tango-L] Women's technique

[Keith]

 Hi Sean,

 There you go again with your new-fangled teaching techniques. I think my beginner students understand ... "twist at the
 waist". I don't think they'd understand ... "disassociate the hips and ribs and to sense the positions of their ribs and hips. And
 your students have to develop that sense before you actually teach them the Ocho? Wow, with that kind of dedication, I'm not
 surprised your students can walk, do rock steps and Ochos - and all within 6-months.

 Sean, you sound like my advanced-level Ballroom instructor. I certainly hope teaching Tango isn't going in that direction, where
 the dancers are concentrating so much on technique that they lose the joy of dancing.

 Keith, HK


 On Tue Jul 17  4:26 , "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)"  sent:

>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.
>
>Sean