[Tango-L] Effective Practice

[Jeff Gaynor]

WHITE 95 R wrote:

>Chris,
>
>Keith is right and your comments are nothing less than a gratuitous put 
>down. Keith is not talking about sex or working on relationships. His 
>comments are valid. Tango movements are like gymnastic movements or like a 
>sport or a even playing an instrument. To gain skill in those things, 
>practice is invaluable. Yes, people do practice those skills by themselves. 
>Even boxers or martial artists practice and train by themselves even though 
>the end results involves another person..... If you have nothing but 
>negative comments or personal attacks to contribute, your participation in 
>these forums is not helpful and frankly, it's rather discouraging and brings 
>nothing but discord and hard feelings. Is that what you want?
>
>  
>
Jumping in here as a trainer, Manuel is quite right. The limiting factor 
in tango, much like music, is neurological. You must repeat patterns a 
great deal to cause growth in the neural pathways until you can 
internalize the movement. This will vary by individual and various 
factors such as background (gymnasts, e.g. will pick it up faster than 
many others), amount of practice and quality of practice. One of the 
most effective things you can do it think thoroughly about whatever 
movement you are doing because we know that this will prep the pathways 
and make the motion easier. For activities that have a large 
conditioning component - which tango thankfully does not - it can be a 
great deal more frustrating since you have to grow new muscle before you 
can train it. One study showed that for largely neurological activities, 
visualization was almost as effective as physical practice. This is why 
a lot of martial arts have passed down such meditation techniques. They 
cannot articulate (in a Western setting) why it works but they know it 
does. The fact that their explanation sounds to our ears like 
mumbo-jumbo does not reduce the effectiveness.

$.02

Jeff G