[Tango-L] Flaming women at classes

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Hi 'Mash,

Trini, here.  Cut yourself some slack.  While you're still
learning vocabulary, you're not going to be able to focus
as much on listening to your partner.  That's why your
teacher made your partner look so good - he doesn't need to
think about the steps and can just focus on her.  With
practice the same thing will happen with you.  Just take a
beginning woman with 0 months experience for a simple walk
onto the dance floor and you'll see.

You're right about women progressing more quickly because
they are danced with by guys who already know what they are
doing.  But beginning guys can also progress more quickly
by dancing with women who really know what they are doing. 
It is hard for beginners to work with other beginners. 
When tango was at its peak, beginners learned with
experienced dancers (mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles,
etc.), not with other beginners.  This is why there is so
much debate about how to teach tango to beginners en masse.
 It's relatively new territory.

So I would encourage you to ask good women dancers to
dance.  And if you've only been dancing for 2 months, many
women dancers will be inclined to say yes.  Take advantage
of this "honeymoon" period!  I often prefer dancing with a
beginner with a limited vocabulary than someone who's
trying these fancy steps because he's with an experienced
dancer.  You can always ask your teacher which women are
likely to say yes to you.  If you ask a woman, and she says
no, don't take it personally.  At your level, chances are
her saying no has nothing to do with you.   (But I wouldn't
recommend asking at a festival.)

A really good tanguera can make you feel as if you can do
anything.  You'll find yourself to be less clumsy, more
fluid, and, perhaps, even more inspired.  With a good
tanguera, even a novice can be inspired to lead an ocho or
imitate what he sees on the dance floor.  

Something you may want to do is take privates with a female
instructor if there's a good one in your area.  Not to be
sexist, but one of the issues for beginning men is getting
a practice partner.  So for an hour, you'll get both a
teacher and a good practice partner.

And any couple who supposedly breaks up over disparate
dance skills in tango had other issues.

Happy learning,
Trini de Pittsburgh


--- 'Mash <mashdot at toshine.net> wrote:

> I saw the most interesting thing last Friday at class. 
> I was dancing with a woman who had been doing about a
> month less they I have. We danced together as the average
> 2 month educated, twice a week dancers would. There was
> some skill but still a little awkward, unbalanced and
> missing fluidity at times.
> 
> But when the teacher danced with her she looked like she
> had been dancing for a year. It was the fact that he knew
> how to lift and shift her weight. It was him guiding her
> and letting her body follow, to be completely honest she
> looked like she was hardly doing anything to taxing
> herself.
> 
> I came away with mixed emotions, one being surprised
> about how much the man does actually control and two,
> feeling a little ego bruised. They fact that she danced
> pretty badly with me, but danced incredibly with him was
> a bit of a shock. I took it very personally.
> 
> I wonder though and I don't mean to offend anyone with
> this. But from seeing this I think that women appear to
> progress quicker then men because they are lead. I mean
> you could take a complete novice and get her to do a
> beautiful ocho just by leading it well. You can't take a
> complete novice and get him to lead a beautiful ocho.
> 
> Also I have heard of couples (relationship) breaking up
> due to the woman feeling better dancing with a more
> experienced dancer, even though the two of them had
> started tango at the same time. I think it was because
> women feel like they dance well far quicker then men do.
> I see this in Milongas, women who have only just started
> dancing (like 2 months) go to milonga without fear. Men
> on the other hand would not set foot in a milonga in till
> they felt confident enough. 
> 
> 'Mash
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Start Original Message -----
> Sent: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:27:21 -0700
> From: "Igor Polk" <ipolk at virtuar.com>
> To: <stermitz at tango.org>
> Subject: [Tango-L] Flaming women at classes
> > What to do? How to discourage women from criticizing?
> Of course, they
> > progress much faster than men.
> 
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> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
> 






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