[Tango-L] Interesting Tango Listing

[Huck Kennedy]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Michael <tangomaniac at cavtel.net> wrote:
> This is part of an announcement for a tango festival:
>
> Note on Class Subjects -
> At the request of the maestros', no class topics will be announced ahead of time. Instead, all classes will be rated by level only. This is what normally happens in Buenos Aires and the purpose is to give the instructors an opportunity to first observe the particular group in the classroom to determine what would be the best topic to teach. They believe that many factors contribute toward the actual level of dancing and request this courtesy to craft a lesson that adapts to what the students in each class can best perceive.

          This is completely bogus.   Yeah, that probably happens in
Buenos Aires, but for a continuing class that meets regularly, in
which the instructors are very familiar with the strengths and
weaknesses of all the students, not a one-time class comprising
strangers from different communities all over the country.

          Sorry, but if you are spending big bucks to fly to another
city, rent a hotel room, and pay festival fees, you are entitled to
know what the subject of each class is going to be.   Besides, the
idea that instructors can watch a class for one or two tangos and
instantly perceive what dancers need (as though everyone in the class
needed exactly the same thing!) is patent nonsense.

          Let's hope this sorry new trend gets nipped in the bud, pronto.

> I deleted the maestros' names because they aren't important for this message.

          You're right, but anyone interested can Google the first
sentence of the flier's paragraph cited above and find out for
themselves in all of about 20 seconds.

Huck