How do you organise a good Tango class

[stewart38]

Once again those who attended the beginners Tango at Camber were left disappointed.

Ive been to many weekenders and not yet attended what i would call a well organised well taught Tango class

Why is that ?

No other type of dance seem to have the problem Tango encounters

Is it just because Tango has specialised teachers who have never taught more then 12 people at once ?

[spindr]

Once again those who attended the beginners Tango at Camber were left disappointed.

Ive been to many weekenders and not yet attended what i would call a well organised well taught Tango class

Why is that ?

Well, it could be any of a number of factors...
...at the very least the fact that the milonga should be danced in an anticlockwise circle makes it different from most of the other dances at weekenders...
...there also seemed to be a communication problem, both in terms of the teacher's comments, and in the class's willingness to listen...
...plus, the jargon in different dance forms doesn't immediately match that for jive, certainly in tango you're more like to hear:
"create an axis", "project your energy" and "express an intention" which are all valid ideas -- but need an element of patience in "translating" them.


No other type of dance seem to have the problem Tango encounters

Is it just because Tango has specialised teachers who have never taught more then 12 people at once ?

Nah, I've seen it taught successfully to 100+ absolute beginners by Bob and Maggie (www.tangobythethames.com) at Anne's dance at Twyford last year -- and Tracie (www.tracieslatinclub.co.uk) or Steve and Debbie (www.tangouk.co.uk) would probably teach a great class -- there's usually 70+ dancers at their classes. Plus, Tracie's used to large salsa classes, and Steve's an excellent DJ.

SpinDr.

[David Bailey]

It may be just that Tango's a bloody difficult dance to do, basically - it has a much steeper learning curve than most other dances, I believe.

And if we're talking about a bunch of bleary-eyed hungover sleepless weekender-ites, their concentration levels for new concepts could be, well, less than stellar. :whistle:

[David Bailey]

OK, having thought about this a bit, and having seen a few good classes, here's my wishlist of An Ideal Tango Class:


No complex move sequences or names. Ever.
No Basic 8. Ever.
Step names only: "Forward", "Backward", "Side", "Pivot", "Turn", "Flick", "Cross" and maybe "Decoration" - that's enough for at least the first 2 years of learning I think.
Regular rotation, at least once every 10 minutes, and preferably more.
Putting in enough form to keep beginners happy, and enough technique to teach people how to dance (yes, that's the tricky bit).
Clear and easily-understood explanations. In English.
Milonga (or "freestyle") sessions after each class, for at least an hour, where the teachers dance with the beginners.


Anything else?

(I've a whole other list of What Not To Do In a Tango Class, but that's another thread...)

[JonD]

wishlist of An Ideal Tango Class
Good points!

I thought Ivan did well at Southport. I think that his use of a "move" - the "basic 8" made the class more familiar to most MJers. He didn't overcomplicate by trying to teach the lead for the cross (yikes) but kept it simple and talked about the main concepts. The main failing was that he didn't move people around very much - seeing a group of ladies standing out prompted me to join the class and I then moved myself around a couple of times.

To be honest, I really don't think that you can effectively teach AT to very large groups. There's the "progressive dance" element which makes teaching in rows a nonsense for anything other than a basic figure and the dance is damn difficult to master; you need direct feedback from the teacher on lead/follow/posture/movement before you begin to get the feel for it. (Ivan danced with me several times during our group private class and gave me really useful tips on the "intensity" of my lead and very fine points of timing - those aren't things anyone watching would see). The largest class I've been in, other than at MJ weekenders, would have been about 50 people. That was OK for basic concepts but no good for anything more complex.

One of the biggest problems is that a fair number of people in classes at weekenders, or MJ classes in general, just don't pay attention to the teacher - they neither listen or watch! I was appalled both in Ivan's class and the WCS beginner class that Robert and Deborah did. (I watched the WCS from the back and there were loads of people chattering away who didn't even attempt a triple step. I understand that the lack of respect meant Deborah got "all New York" at one of the improver classes). It must be so frustrating for the teacher and for people moving around who actually want to learn.

[ducasi]

I don't think the AT class at Southport was especially useful myself – though I don't really blame the teachers or organisers for it.

The biggest problem I had when practicing with my partner was the other people around me practicing at the same time – but at a different part of the basic 8, so I was constantly either stepping back into someone busy stepping forward, or forward into someone trying to step back.

Oh well...

[David Bailey]

I don't think the AT class at Southport was especially useful myself – though I don't really blame the teachers or organisers for it.
Yes - I think it was the best that could be expected given the numbers - you couldn't expect 150 people to walk around in a big circle, and so the only thing they could teach in rows was a simple pattern.

Row discipline / management and rotation could have been better, I agree.