The embrace
Having a good embrace is the key to being able to dance well in close embrace. Sounds like tautology, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised at the number of people who were unaware of this and still “imagined” that they were dancing in close embrace, but that’s another story…
Here are some nice writings on the embrace, from people who had the opportunity to stay in Buenos Aires for extended periods of time: one from a leader’s and two from followers’ perspective. Incidentally, all three articles mentioned the style of Javier and Andrea who will be in Singapore next week!
Very worthwhile reading!
How long for newbies
Got into a conversation recently lamenting the fact there it’s very difficult to bring in new people – and guys in particular – to our Tango community. One of the main point, it seems, is that Tango, when compared with, say, salsa, is a difficult dance and so people drop out because of the lack of “instant gratification”. That is, people tend to drop out because it takes too long for them to reach a level where they can enjoy Tango!? A gross generalisation, perhaps, but there is probably some element of truth in there? Perhaps it is happening right in your community?
To a certain extent I’d have to agree with the assessment above. However, since people join Tango for various reasons, with pursuit of excellence being but one of many, I believe it is also fair to say that most people during their initial brush with Tango just want to have fun, and preferably with like-minded people. In fact, in my opinion, it is rather the exception to find people who are very serious and dedicated from the word go, except perhaps for people from competitive dance background, e.g. ballroom/dancesport.
Teach what you know well
A quick search on the internet can reveal many dance schools (not just Tango by the way) offering all kinds of classes and seminars with exotic-sounding topics. For the unsuspecting student – mostly the relatively new people initiated into the dance – such options are mind-boggling.
Personally, I follow a simple rule-of-thumb:
If a teacher can’t dance something on a regular basis, most likely he/she will not be able to do a good job of teaching it, no matter how good the teaching credentials.
The analogy is very much like having someone “cramming” by reviewing videos or secret manuals and then rolling up to the class half an hour later to regurgitate some rote-learned skills AND expect to get paid!?!? I mean, I’d rather look at those videos myself and save some trouble… 🙂
Cross-cultural(?) lead
Something of a different flavour this time. Leading can be a really tricky business… 🙂