[Tango-L] Four Layers of Tango Learning

Thu Jul 26 16:50:43 EDT 2007

On mirror neurons and "learning by watching":

Apparently according to latest research mirror neuron effects are 
stronger if you have previously learned a movement similar to the 
movement pictured, and weaker to non-existent if you have not yet 
learned the movement.

This article supports my claim that only certain people are going to be 
able to "learn by watching," and that it is NOT a 'basic skill that all 
people have, a natural talent.'

It may be so for YOU...but not for everybody, and especially not for 
beginners to dancing.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01-resup.html

"Research Update
Daniel Glaser's Latest Study With Ballet and Capoeira Dancers

If you're skilled at a physical activity like ballet, the part of your 
brain that controls movement activates differently than the same part in 
the brain of someone who's not skilled in that activity. That's what 
researchers at the University of College London (UCL) have found in a 
fascinating new study. The study has implications for helping injured 
athletes continue to train without moving a muscle, and perhaps even 
helping stroke victims regain lost movement.

In the UCL study, dancers from London's Royal Ballet and experts in 
capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts form, were asked to watch short 
videos of either ballet or capoeira dancers performing brief dance 
moves. While watching the videos, the dancers were lying perfectly still 
in an MRI scanner. A control group of non-dancers also participated in 
the study, which was published in the December 2004 online edition of 
Cerebral Cortex.

The researchers found that areas of the brain collectively known as the 
"mirror neuron system" showed more activity when a dancer saw movements 
he had been trained perform than when he observed movements he hadn't 
been trained to perform. (All the dancers in the study were male.) The 
mirror system in the non-dancers showed appreciably less activity while 
watching the videos than either of the dancers' mirror systems, and the 
response it had was the same whether it was watching ballet or capoeira.

Earlier studies with monkeys revealed that brain cells called mirror 
neurons respond both when we do something, like pick up an object, and 
when we simply watch someone else do it. It was known that these neurons 
fire when we perform an action, but it came as a surprise that the same 
cells also fired when we only saw that action being performed. The new 
study went a step further by showing that such a system operates 
differently depending on what you are physically expert at doing."

Anna Zelenina wrote:
> Carol,
> 
> I think learning by watching is a basic skill that ALL people have, it's a natural talent, like the learning by doing ;). 
> "observational learning plays an important role in aquiring motor skills throughout the human lifespan".
> As detailed in the Dec. 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, 
> found that when a person watches someone else perform a task with the intention of later replicating the observed performance, motor areas of the brain are activated in a fashion similar to that with accompanies actual movement. 
> (see Journal of Neuroscience, December 2006 "Modulation of Neural Activity during Ovservational Learning of Actions and Their Sequential ORders", pdf available on the website).
> The important part is the /intention/ of replicating. 
> 
> Observational learning is common, but it seems that the skill is better developed in countries 
> were people more often practice this, they are more trained to learn by observation. 
> The dance teaching in countries like Argentina or Cuba develops observation skills: 
> people dance with you and they also  teach you sequences by dancing and having you watch.
> People learn a lot just by observing others in the milonga. And it works.
> In Germany, for instance, many dance teachers like to disseminate movements and to teach the dance step by step,  
> giving verbal explanations of the movements etc. People get used to being served the disseminated dance, 
> and they won't digest it if it's not divided in pieces. But that doesn't mean it's the way they are made 
> and that they could not change that. Everything can change. 
> Todo cambia. Cambia el modo de pensar, cambia todo en este mundo ;)
> 
> Anna
> 
>> 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
>> Arborlaw PLC
>> Ann Arbor MI USA
>> 734 668 4646 v  734 786 1241 f
>> http://arborlaw.com
>>
>> "legal solutions for 21st century businesses"
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> 
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-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor MI USA
734 668 4646 v  734 786 1241 f
http://arborlaw.com

"legal solutions for 21st century businesses"