Professional teaching
During a recent discussion on Tango-L discussion list, someone offered a very beautiful definition of “absolutely professional teaching“. Here are two points which I personally found very important; full text here
- … prepare their lessons in advance, studying deeply what what they are going to teach and how to transfer their knownledge to the students.
- … treat the students with respect and kindness… As students, we’re all vulnerable… some teachers act as if they were born knowing how to dance, forgetting the fact that to come to a class means to forget our ego by telling other people “I don’t know, please, teach me what you do know, help me”.
Something that all anyone currently teaching Tango or planning to do so should try to aim for, in my opinion.
Everyday cabeceo
To many people who have not had the opportunity to visit Buenos Aires, the cabeceo can be a strange beast. Often, and especially for newcomers to Tango, the cabeceo seems to be just another mysterious tradition, practiced by people in a foreign land and seemingly quite removed from reality. In fact, reading from the discussions on Tango-L, it seems almost like if you have never been to Buenos Aires then you simply won’t get it! For the record, the cabeceo is simply an “invitation and acceptance to dance by exchanging glances”. That is, once this “invitation” is made and a “confirmation” glance has been received, the man approaches the lady and they commence to dance.
However, it occurred to me the other day that, even right here in Singapore, “invitation by eye contact” is something people do very naturally and. surprisingly, quite often. In fact, it is as simple as hailing a taxi.
Don’t believe me?
Practicas in BA
In this month’s issue of El Tangauta, some notable practicas in Buenos Aires have been mentioned:
- Tangocool
- Music: mostly classics from 1930s, perhaps 1 electronic tango, no cortinas;
- Time/place: every Wednesday at Club Villa Malcolm.
- Practicas en Cochabamba
- Music: mostly from Tangos of 40s and earlier, no electronic tango;
- Place: Belgrando Club in San Telmo(?), no admission charges.
- Some of the people who had run this practica in the past include the mythical Pepito Avellaneda, Gustavo Naveira and Mingo and Esther Pugliese.
- Practica X
- Music: Tango nuevo;
- Time: every Tuesday.
- Attended mainly by professional dancers and advanced students.
See here for the online article (scroll down for the English version). For more information about events in Buenos Aires, another useful resource is the Tango portal of the City of Buenos Aires.
Tango in Singapore, 8 years old
As the Tango scene in Singapore heads towards its 8-year anniversary, especially for those of us who have been dancing during much of that period, one can’t help but feel that much still remains to be done to popularise this dance we all enjoy.
After all, compared to other places in Asia which started at a similar time, e.g. Taipei (2000) and Hong Kong (1995), the Argentine Tango community in Singapore has remained relatively small. In fact, rather curiously, the two mentioned places have grown through opposite community dynamics: Taipei has blossomed through excellent teaching and management from a large but close-knit core committee, while the scene in Hong Kong has literally exploded through diversity and offerings from numerous instructors of differing styles. On the other hand, we in Singapore can only lament all the missed opportunities.
What will be the likely scenario for Singapore?