[Tango-L] Four Layers of Tango Learning

[Carol Shepherd]

I'm coming late to this thread, but I have what is probably an 
interesting observation.

Some people (Nina, as an example) seem to 'feel' things.  They have a 
particular way of taking in and processing information.

Other people (David's son, see below) seem to do better if they have a 
structure so they can analyze things.

Both of these are valid ways of perceiving, processing and 
understanding. Psychologically they are quite different.

In addition to the cognitive difference above (well-recognized in 
Myers-Briggs and other psychological cognitive inventories), there is 
the physiological difference in people's mirror neuron skills.

Mirror neurons govern the ability to 'mimic' something you see in your 
own body kinetics. Some people are very good at learning by watching. 
While they are watching their sympathetic nervous system is rehearsing 
the very same move and learning the technique.  Others don't have quite 
so much of this in their body and they need to "step through" dance 
moves and positions slowly with a partner and "feel" it kinetically to 
understand and remember it.

Once again, it's the way we're made. No one can change it.  It does 
great damage to deprecate someone by saying "just lead!!! it's 
obvious!!!" or something like that.  Great way to discourage people who 
are not made the way you are, to whom it is not obvious.  They just need 
a different way of approaching and digesting the same information.

Good teachers will recognize these basic differences in personal style 
and aptitude and will teach a couple of different way to slice the bread 
to make the same sandwich.

Carol Shepherd

dchester at charter.net wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
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-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
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