[Tango-L] Four Layers of Tango Learning

[dchester@charter.net]

If you want to stay with the bicycle analogy, I recall years back (when teaching my son how to ride a bicycle), explaining things to him was far more effective than having him watch me ride a bike.  It also didn't take months for him to figure it out.

This would lead me to conclude that either properly explaning things is useful, or comparing tango to riding a bike is not a good analogy.

Regards,

David


> ------------------------------
> 
> From: "Chris, UK" <tl2 at chrisjj.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Four Layers of Tango Learning
> To: Tango-L at mit.edu
> Cc: tl2 at chrisjj.com
> Message-ID: <memo.20070723015934.3500e at HIDEchrisjj.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Manuel wrote:
> 
> > it's very hard to make someone else feels what one feels when
> > leading.
> 
> It's very easy. You get them to follow.
> 
> > It's a liitle bit like ... trying to explain to somebody how to ride a
> > bicycle.....
> 
> It sure is. One wouldn't expect anyone to learn to ride a bike through 
> explanation rather than direct experience of riding, so why would one 
> expect different for tango?
> 
> > I've tried all sorts of stratagems to impart the "leading" technique
> > to beginning men dancers (and a few women as well).
> 
> What happened when you tried getting them to follow?
> 
> > I'm continually saying to the leaders ...
> 
> ... without continually speaking to them.
> 
> > The devil is in the details. How do you lead something? Is it with your 
> > hands? Is it with your chest?.... It is with the totality of your body
> 
> Not enough. It's with the totality of your body and hers too.
> 
> --
> Chris