[Tango-L] 6 months

[Konstantin Zahariev]

Dear Steve,

Great post, thank you.

Konstantin
Victoria, Canada

On 7/18/07, Stephen.P.Brown at dal.frb.org <Stephen.P.Brown at dal.frb.org> wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>
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