[Tango-L] Four Layers of Tango Learning

['Mash]

I think you have to bring back the masculinity of the dance. That you can practice Tango without having all that sensuality (male female connection.) 

I get this all the time when I take lessons and there are not enough girls. I do hate it when four guys end up dancing by themselves due to their aversion to dancing with another man. 

The best way I have seen it encouraged is when during practise the men and women are split to go over detailed moves. The teacher will take a guy and lead the move for us to see. It all depends on the approach, if the teacher does this in a masculine way, say in terms of more direct and less "gentle hands" the students get used to seeing this done. 

I mentioned this before in a previous post about how taken I was when watching Godoy's "Tango Emocion" and the men only scene. 

The problem is the stereotype of ballroom dancing. That it is all a bit "showy" and men with men just look, well a bit "showy." It is perception, if you as teachers can show that men are allowed to be men, and encouraged to be strong, "aggressive" and masculine then I see men taking the time to learn with other men.

side note:
I am busy looking around for a male only couple I found the other day on the web. I have lost the bookmark but these guys were amazing to watch. Very inspiring!

'Mash
London,UK

"May we be cautious in our perfection lest we lose the ability to dance."
  

On Mon, Jul 23, 2007 at 01:08:52PM +1000, Gary Barnes wrote:
> One of the most successful tango intro sessions I have seen was at a  
> 'men's dance festival'.  Most of the participants at the festival  
> were kids, but there was also a bunch of adults, mostly their parents.
> 
> This class was all men, maybe about one third gay, the kids were all  
> busy doing hiphop and ballet --  I'm not sure which of these made the  
> difference.  The whole atmosphere in the workshop was enormously less  
> fraught than the typical mixed tango intro class, even though many of  
> the men were not dance-interested -- they were mostly 'just' dads of  
> boys who were into dance, looking for something to do while their  
> kids were doing classes.
> 
> In 90 minutes, we got further than many mixed classes do after 3 or 4  
> sessions.
> 
> But, I find it enormously difficult to convince men of the value of  
> practising with other men - let alone attending men-only classes or  
> practices, or the extreme of attending a men-only intro session.  The  
> closest most will come is them dancing with a woman, and me next to  
> them, body to body, and leading them to lead the woman -- with this,  
> they at least get some sense of what the woman might feel like when  
> he leads her, and the quality of movement this needs from him.
> 
> So, anyone with ideas as to how to get this to happen - for new men,  
> not those already dancing?
> 
> Having women learn tango, at a beginner level, is relatively easy  
> once you have enough good leaders who are willing to help (or 'dance  
> with bad dancers' as some would put it).   But with men, its a  
> different kettle of fish.
> 
> Gary
> 
> 
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