[Tango-L] Tango without music?

[Tom Stermitz]

On Apr 25, 2011, at 8:14 PM, jan bares wrote:
> Martin, Tom,
> Sorry, have to disagree. You have a student whose total  
> concentration is on “which foot first and where do I place it? And  
> then, where does my other foot go?” It does not matter how well the  
> instructor explains the music, the music at this point is a  
> distraction or at best the student just tunes it out. We could not  
> get a better testimony than that from Huck who is a musician. The  
> student needs to be comfortable enough with the movement to be able  
> to allocate at least a part of his attention to the music. The  
> instructor can judge the student’s progress and leave the music for  
> the time when it can be appreciated. Even when the student loves the  
> music and it “makes him move” a short NON-music time is needed to  
> get his movements under control. And then comes the leading – how to  
> control her feet? Same issues.
> ...
> Jan
>

@ Jan

I have 15 years of teaching experience informing me that it is both  
possible, useful and necessary to teach music and movement at the same  
time. I have much experience informing me that without teaching music  
with movement at the beginning, you get people who "DO tango steps"  
but "don't DANCE tango". From the teacher perspective, without music  
and movement together, student retention is low because people do not  
feel like they are dancing; if things just don't "feel right" they  
have low confidence, and very low achievement of the material.

Maybe you need to try checking out several different teachers with  
different methods from your experience.

And, What the heck do you mean by people having the problem: “which  
foot first and where do I place it? And then, where does my other foot  
go?”. Have you actually seen this? I mean, beyond the first ten  
seconds of class? For sure, get a different teacher who bypasses that  
concern.


@ David

> Unless you’re from another planet every one of you have  had a tango  
> lesson
> group or private
> First the instructors will dance the  figure their going to teach
> Now the men and women get split up usually  facing each other from  
> across
> the room
> WITHOUT MUSIC the instructors will  walk through the figure for both  
> the
> men and the women

In planet Denver, I have never seen this instructional method, and in  
15 years have never used this method. Okay, to be honest there are a  
couple of specific figures that need different explanations for men  
and women, which are easier to manage by separating the couple for a  
moment, but not at the beginning level. In general, tango requires  
intense lead-follow skills so there is no value in separating the  
partners.

I have heard this is common in ballroom, but I don't have direct  
experience there.


Tom Stermitz
c: 303-725-5963
http://www.tango.org
Denver, CO 80207