[Tango-L] 6 months

[Stephen.P.Brown@dal.frb.org]

I generally accept Tete's perspective that dancing tango is about the 
music not the steps.  Tete's perspective does suggest that it is quite 
possible to learn to dance tango reasonably well in six months.  In fact, 
when Susan and I were teaching on a regular basis about half our beginning 
students in group classes were ready to dance passably at a milonga in 
abut 6-8 weeks of once a week lessons for an hour's duration.

Why don't many students learn to dance in six months?  For many years, 
most of the instruction in Argentine tango has been about mastering step 
patterns.  I don't think the problem is in teaching step patterns per se. 
I think it is in concentrating on teaching step patterns to the exclusion 
of teaching to skills that must come first--such as moving to the music 
and a general understanding of how tango is danced.

Teaching beginning tango as walking and as small elements of movement 
creates the possibility of emphasizing the rhythm of the music.  The 
beginning students can assemble these small movements to dance.

After the students have mastered some basic rhythmic and movement skills, 
learning something about the underlying structure of the tango would be 
helpful.  Along the way, some refinement of movement is good.  After that 
the dancer is well prepared to take lessons from some of the many 
instructors who teach tango as step patterns.  With good quality movement, 
a knowledge of the rhythm and the underlying structure of tango, the 
dancer can actually learn something useful from those who are teaching 
step patterns.  Without that knowledge, all that step patterns become mini 
choreographies.

With best regards,
Steve