[Tango-L] Geraldine and Ezequiel

[Myk Dowling]

Ok, given the clear posting of the relevant rules, I will be more 
specific about my experience of Geraldin Rojas & Ezequiel Paludi's 
workshops at the Aus International Tango Fest.

I am Myk Dowling, and I am part of the Canberra tango community. I am 
not a Tango instructor, though I do date one.

I attended two workshops by Geraldin and Ezequiel. The first workshop was:

Techniques for Men & Women (Geraldin Rojas and Ezequiel Paludi)

Techniques to be explored include: axis, posture, pivot, articulations 
(knees, shoulders, and ankles) ideal to make adornments for men and women

Recommended Level: Available to all levels

What actually happened in the class was: The demonstrated a sequence, 
then vaguely indicated that we should partner up and reproduce it. Now, 
one of the reasons I like Tango is that I don't need to memorise long 
sequences, and I had no idea which particular move they were expecting 
us to attempt. After a minute or so of everybody dancing pretty much 
randomly, they stopped the music and demonstrated a particular move, 
then got us to attempt that particular move. After another minute or so, 
they picked a couple to show how they were doing, and then vaguely asked 
us all if we thought the couple had done the move correctly. This pretty 
much set the scene for the rest of the class - Show a bit of move, get 
everyone to try, pick on a couple who were struggling and then not 
clearly describe what they were doing wrong (or even really if they were 
doing wrong). At no time did they discuss technique in general, but were 
very dismissive of milonguero-style dancing (performing comically bad 
examples as if to say that elegant dancing Milonguero-style was 
impossible) Other than that, it was very difficult to tell what they 
were suggesting that people ought to do, as opposed to what they were 
suggesting people should not do. Anything I learned from the class, I 
learned in spite of their explanations, not because of them. I also 
fopund their smoochiness towards each other highly unprofessional, and 
Ezequiel's posturing and strutting annoying.

Although billed as "All levels", I would not say it was in any way 
accessible to beginner dancers.

The other workshop was:
Class 10: Milonga (Geraldin Rojas and Ezequiel Paludi)

Techniques to be explored include: turns, sacadas and boleos

Recommended Level: Intermediate

Okay, an Intermediate level class. This was supposedly a milonga class, 
but they were unable or unwilling to clearly define the difference 
between tango and milonga, were again teaching a sequence, and spent 
absolutely no time out of an hour and a half talking about how the moves 
they were showing us were supposed to work with the music. The sequences 
didn't seem particularly suited to milonga any more than to tango (or 
even vals).  A 90 minute class that ground to a halt for an infuriating 
half-hour spent incoherently trying to get some point across. It was 
something about hip disassociation and leading with intention, but they 
never really made it clear. Half an hour spent talking and smooching and 
prancing about, doing such highly exaggerated versions of alternate 
walks that we were never really sure what was supposed to be the better 
option and which the worse. Half an hour where none of us participants 
were dancing to show whether or not we had grasped their point.

In general, their teaching method seemed almost non-existent. They were 
almost attempting a socratic-style "teach by asking questions", but 
their response to every answer was either non-committal sidestepping or 
rejection, and they rarely gave their own answer to the question. They 
almost used a demonstration/copy/correct method, except they replaced 
"correct" with "vague harangue". Their demonstrations sometimes 
contradicted their rare declarative statements.

Geraldin's lack of English only hampered matters, especially since 
Ezeqiel seemed unable to adequately translate the comments she did make. 
(I was told by a Spanish-speaking fellow student that what she was 
saying was not any clearer than Ezequiel's explanations, anyway.)

The two classes (especially the half-hour incomprehensible lecture and 
prance session in the middle of the milonga workshop) were enough to 
make me decide that I wasn't going to go back for the vals class that I 
had paid for. Unfortunately, there was no other class I could swap into 
for just the session I missed, due to scheduling limitations.

Myk,
in Canberra