[Tango-L] self proclaimed teachers

[Don Klein]

A few notes from email discussions with my teacher:
> Instructor:
>
> - Emphasizes the need to harmonize the geometric components of 
> movement for the duration of the dance and within the  available space.
> - Understands that social and artistic tango have different 
> objectives, with the popular genre being the basis for the artistic one.
> - Focuses on the music and the need to sensibly interpret melody and 
> rhythm.
> - Extensively prepares each class.
> - Addresses a specific dance problem or leitmotif in each class.
> - Insists that Argentine tango is hard regardless of your level of skill.
> - Frames the dance within its cultural context and history.
>
>
> Non-instructor (Please, feel free to use these as red flags):
>
> - Uses the usual terminology of "tango for export":
>           - Teaches "Paso basico"
>           - Numbers steps 1, 2,...,8
>           - Offers Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels of 
> instruction.
>           - etc, etc.
> - Improvises each class, or regurgitates the content of videos.
> - Teaches steps and sequences.
> - Does not use specific music as the main focus of the dance, or uses 
> it as the background sound of the day (sometimes, you can barely hear it).
> - Imposes rigid regulation on the way things are done.
> - Insists that once the "technique" is clear, Argentine Tango is easy.
> - Never clarifies what exactly is meant by "The technique". Most 
> students assume that this is some set of movement rules that will 
> reveal themselves in time. Some will spend years trying to figure it out.
> - Argentine Tango can be easily changed with a result that is at least 
> as beautiful. The transformation would be called "Natural," 
> "Eclectic," "Hyper realistic," or something like that.

> I asked an American friend who has a MA degree in dance and who had 
> received a fellowship to study tango in Buenos Aires, why she did not 
> help us by teaching the dance. She responded along these lines: "I 
> know almost anybody who has real interest would be able to learn the 
> dance. However, to be able to teach it, effectively, you have to come 
> from a long tango tradition. I can teach the technique but not the 
> intuition behind it. But this is just a necessary condition; it is not 
> sufficient. You also have to understand music and dance, technically. 
> After all, Argentine Tango, in any of its incarnations, is still a 
> dance form. If as an instructor you don't meet the necessary and 
> sufficient conditions, your teaching approach is bound to be 
> simplistic and you won't be able to retain the typical tango students, 
> who tend to be intellectually motivated people."