Dilemma of having visiting instructors
Some comments I read recently on Facebook got me thinking.
Why do people persist in bringing in foreign instructors once the tango community has reached a semi-sustainable size? I mean, isn’t the role of providing instructions largely met by local instructors**?
Secondly, for a businesses, schools, etc., bringing in overseas instructors makes perfect business sense as it helps to maintain members’ interests. However, for people not having vested interests, why bother doing it when there is a (somewhat higher and unnecessary) financial risk with every venture?
From my experience of having been involved in hosting and financing periodic visits by overseas instructors to Singapore for the past three years, my foremost reason is that such instructors bring a fresh set of ideas. However, we also need to be realistic to how much of an effect this can have. Visit by world-famous instructors generally create a surge in interest, however they can’t shape the community in the long run. That job is left to the local teachers. Unfortunately if these same local teachers are unwilling or unable to propagate such new ideas – by participating in the workshops as a minimum requirement – then the influence from each overseas instructor can be lost in a relatively short time.
**To the extent that people can move proficiently in local milongas.
Passing of milongueros
Last week saw the passing of two icons in the tango world, “Tete” Pedro Rusconi (74) and Osvaldo Zotto (46). Since I don’t know either personally, I won’t try to add to the great number of tributes that are already out there.
However, the following as reported by Jantango are excerpts from a letter distributed in the milongas by Tete on his birthday four years ago, and they pretty much sum up the man.
I believe that many are disguising tango as something that it isn’t. Tango is music, and it doesn’t begin with steps. We shouldn’t commit the mistake of not teaching how to walk different musical rhythms to recognize each orchestra. Many who are teaching have to learn how to dance tango first, then give everything in order not to cheat their students or damage their reputation as teachers.
Tango isn’t a business, although many see it as such. Tango is part of our lives, part of our grandparents, fathers, mothers, brothers, and friends. It is our life. We shouldn’t fool ourselves, and we have to return to regain it. We are losing tango when we don’t respect it.
And to the tango community in Europe and the rest of the world, I give my counsel: I would like you to open your eyes to learn to dance; and to the organizers of workshops and the teachers, with all my affection, I want you to know that when you organize something, try to bring the best dancers and teachers to teach as tango ought to be taught. Without the music, the cadence, posture, and balance, the steps are nothing and for that we need authentic masters and teachers.
The pioneers
A recent dinner conversation gradually led to a discussion about community-wide learning curves in tango.
One of the observations made was that, during the informative years, some communities were simply more fortunate in having good instructors early on. Playing devil’s advocate, I then suggested that perhaps it was not such a bad idea for a community to have gone through the full spectrum of experiencing the “mediocre” as well as the good/excellent instructors!? My rationale was that for the people who managed to discover the appropriate ways of dancing, given their experiences, hopefully they can better relate to the problems that newbies typically face. Naturally this is especially useful if the same experienced dancers end up being local teachers.
Happy 2010!
With the end of the so-called noughties, what will 2010 bring to the tango scene in Singapore?
For a start, it seems that the trend which began since late 2008 is set to continue. Now that there are more venues offering Argentine tango (classes, practicas and milongas) – although, curiously, the number of instructors has not increased compared to the same time last year – it’s actually possible to tango close to every night of the week (see schedule here). Again, a natural question to ask is whether this is a sustainable situation?
I am of the belief that availability of choices will provide further catalyst for next stage of growth in our tango community, as mentioned in a previous post written close to two and a half years ago. If the expected expansion in the tango community has not taken place after 10 years, then it’s time for more people to get involved in promoting and popularising the dance. Clearly only by reaching out to more people will it be possible to “awaken” their hidden tango obsession. And with more participants will it make sense to talk about an ecosystem of milongas, classes, workshops, accessories, etc. It goes without saying that everyone in the loop needs to get their act together in order to establish a “brand presence”.