[Tango-L] Observtions of a partictular workshop.

[Brick Robbins]

I recently attended a weekend workshop series being taught by a famous
show dancer.

When he started the series, he watched the class dance, then started
teaching fundamentals of social tango at a level that was appropriate
for the class. I thought "great! this will be good."

As the weekend progressed, it became pretty obvious that many of the
students in the class were not interested in what he was teaching, and
wanted his flashy show stuff. He's a very good entertainer, and I
watched him shift his teaching to fulfill the desires of the majority
of the class.

I watched him keep trying to come back back to fundamentals, and
watched the class keep losing interest, till he changed approach.

By the time the weekend was over, he was teaching lots of  very
difficult showy stuff that most of the students in the class would
never be able to do well, but they loved trying.

So..... Was this a poor teacher, or a great entertainer & businessman
giving the audience what they wanted?

I certainly learned a lot from watching him teach.

IMHO there are teachers who perform as a way to advertise, and
performers who teach as way to make money.

Disclaimer: This is simply my observation, and I may be totally wrong.