Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
--- Chris, UK [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: TFH wrote of his two pet teaching peeves: Find ways to teach them to have their left foot step in front of them rather than off to the left. They ALL do it! STOP THEM! That's common hereabouts in segregated class pupils. The guy is going left to avoid kicking the girl's foot. Which he's not yet moved because actually he hasn't learned to lead. Guys: spend 1hr with a good leader. Sure. But, thatÂ’s taking the responsibility away from the teachers! Teachers, when you see 3 leaders in your class stepping off to the left, stop the class, point it out, show them how to correct it and continue with your steadfast gameplan. === Someone, PLEASE, tell me why s many teachers teach young followers to s-s-s-s-stretch their leg out, really far, in a backstep!!! Same again. The guy hasn't learned to lead her to stretch, and this teacher 'fixes' /her/ the only way he knows. This breaks the connection so neither guy or girl can find the natural solution themselves. There IS a solution! Teachers, when you teach about straightening the knee in the backstep, also, teach it with a short step. They are NOT being taught this! === Is that the only way to teach them to have a straight knee and a beautiful leg? Can't they have it with a shorter backstep They sure can. Girls: ignore teacher. Guys: spend 1hr with a good leader. Instead, Girls, ask your teacher about straightening your leg during a short backstep. Make your teachers earn their money! === NEITHER of them knows how to fix that awful feeling of having absolutely no connection. Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! Girls: spend 1hr with a good leader. Guys: spend 1hr with a good leader. Almost every teacher that I have seen lets those things go! The teacher has no choice. These dysfunctions are inevitable consequences of the class teahcing model that couples non-dancers with non-dancers. Teachers do have a choice! When you see a number of people doing a certain thing wrong, stop the class, point it out, show them the correct way, and continue the class. Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
Bravo, Astrid. I have been having this problem for years and could not exactly pinpoint why my lower back was in so much pain from dancing with certain people. Thanks CS Astrid wrote: Hmmm, I'm always trying to get further outside on my left especially when in close embrace. Is this my problem? No, you are not alone. A lot of men do this, and let me tell you, the further left you go, the more uncomfortable it gets for the woman. Especially if you turn the right side of her body at an angle to you. It means, she has to walk while constantly having her back twisted into an unnatural angle. Lasrt time I danced with a Japanese tango teacher who took this to such an extreme that he looked like he would have almost prefered to dance behind me. Why do guys do this? Can you be a little more descriptive? Certainly walking to the cross, one has to do this...is this wrong at some times? when? Is it a matter of an inch or two? thanks -- Carol Ruth Shepherd Arborlaw PLC Ann Arbor MI USA 734 668 4646 v 734 786 1241 f Arborlaw - a legal blog for entrepreneurs and small business http://arborlaw.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
I share your two pet peeves (three if you think about it): - How to walk in a straight line. - How not to step on her feet. How not to get stepped on. - How to walk to the cross without going too far outside. (part 2) WALKING IN A STRAIGHT LINE As your body moves forward, your foot should land under your center of balance. If she is in front of you, then you are also stepping under her center of balance. This is true by stupid definition: It is called walking without falling over. But, there is a real reason why leaders have difficulty with balance and walking in a straight line. He is trying to avoid stepping on her, and compensates by moving his feet to either side. On the follower's side, she tries to overstep backwards to get her feet out of the way. Solutions: Leader needs to move forward in a natural side walk stride. A purposeful, upright, bold stride of the leader helps everything: Land heel-ball, end with the weight transfer with his hips, heart and head over the ball of the foot. This keeps his posture forward, upright and on balance. The follower's connection to his body moves her backward, and her feet can naturally float to catch her body. Landing on the ball of the foot is a stylistic treatment, that is a direct contradiction of 20 or 40 years of daily walking. Maybe it's desirable for some versions of tango (stage, for example), but for regular social dancing it is so much better to work with normal, natural movements. If you teach a class of beginners to lead with the toes or ball of the foot, you will produce a class of guys worried about their feet and mincing across the room instead of moving their bodies boldly. WALKING BACKWARDS GRACEFULLY Walking naturally backwards means that the ACTIVE leg is the supporting leg, the one that pushes her body through space, and the FLOATING leg stretches downwards and back, rather than reaching. Reaching and engaging the butt muscles, digs into her SI joints. The recently popular, culo alegre style of arching the lower back makes this much worse. Maybe the 20-year old ballerina is not yet injured, but for normal women, the wear and tear on the back is really harmful. Consider also that pregnancy loosens a woman's joints, and has a specific impact on the SI joints. There is a simple way to address this: Keep your heels downward, almost grazing the floor. A gently straight leg comes from keeping a soft butt, stretching the inner thigh, psoas and lower tummy, and stretching the achilles. Quick survey: How many women have sore backs after a workshop weekend? - Do you reach back or stretch downwards? - Is your butt soft or tight muscles? - Are you trying to take big steps? - How's your core support? - Is your belly-button pulled toward your backbone? - Is your heel pointed downward? Secondly, reaching way back, away from the leader disconnects the woman's leg from herself. She is guessing how long the stride will be, rather than matching the float of her leg to his forward movement. The most connected strides come when the leader's and follower's legs match speed and distance. One of the best exercises I have to discover this is for the follower to almost brush his thigh as it comes forward. If she can slow down her float to match his tempo, she will always be out of his way, and never out of connection, both internal and with him. Tom Stermitz http://www.tango.org Denver, CO 80207 ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
I share your two pet peeves (three if you think about it): - How to walk in a straight line. - How not to step on her feet. How not to get stepped on. - How to walk to the cross without going too far outside. These are real issues for all newcomers to dance, and it is understandable that it would take some effort to resolve them. Teachers can and should figure out how to speed the learning process and correct bad technique earlier on. Sensible body mechanics are often compromised by stylistic ideas, which can even lead to injury. The followers back and SI joint is a weak point. First, to sympathize with the newcomer to tango: - The new leader is really afraid of stepping on her, so he typically overcompensates. - Walking backwards gracefully is difficult and certainly much more unfamiliar than walking forward. - Spiraling movements (moving outside to the left of her) are much harder to do than walking straight forward - He sees the teacher's movement, but has a tendency to exaggerate it. (Part 1) SPIRALING AND WALKING OUTSIDE (TO THE CROSS) My pet peeve is leaders who over-lead the cross. They walk way outside and their movement shouts: I'M GOING TO CROSS N!. That habituates the followers to gross, even grotesquely exaggerated movements. I know. It is popular to teach that he should lead her cross with a spiral. I prefer leading the cross mostly with the axis. I think of the leader FOLLOWING her with his spiral as he walks outside, leading the cross with the axis shifting slightly diagonal, and then un- spiraling to follow her as she moves to the cross. Again, sympathy for the beginner is important. Walking in a straight line is much easier than rotational movements: spiraling, pivoting and ochos. Walking to the cross introduces two difficult things at once: walking off to the side which has to be coordinated with a spiraling movement. The beginner visually picks it up the teacher's movement, but then exaggerates it when they try to replicate it. My solution is to keep the walk to the cross much more gentle, more linear and with less twisting. On Jan 17, 2008, at 6:27 PM, Tango For Her wrote: But, I have a few pet peeves about a lot of tango teachers. Look. You want your beginning leaders and intermediate leaders to stop knocking their followers off balance? Find ways to teach them to have their left foot step in front of them rather than off to the left. They ALL do it! STOP THEM! Why go on with your classes if you are going to keep letting them step slightly off to the left with their left foot? ... Someone, PLEASE, tell me why s many teachers teach young followers to s-s-s-s-stretch their leg out, really far, in a backstep!!! Is that the only way to teach them to have a straight knee and a beautiful leg? Can't they have it with a shorter backstep like, say, in the same county? ... Whew I'm okay. Now. Tom Stermitz http://www.tango.org Denver, CO 80207 ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
Someone wrote to me: keep his left foot in(one of the biggest problems out there that teachers really don't fix in most classes!) and having the follower take a smaller back step than all those teachers out there LOVE to teach so that they wouldn't separate from their young leaders. Are you refering to the cross ??? Not necessarily. No. Teachers spend a lot of time teaching beginning leaders how to walk and go to the cross. They spend a lot of time teaching followers to extend their leg, in doing a backstep. But, I have a few pet peeves about a lot of tango teachers. Look. You want your beginning leaders and intermediate leaders to stop knocking their followers off balance? Find ways to teach them to have their left foot step in front of them rather than off to the left. They ALL do it! STOP THEM! Why go on with your classes if you are going to keep letting them step slightly off to the left with their left foot? 1. It puts their follower off balance. 2. It creates confusion between a front step and a side step or an ocho. If I was a young follower, I'd go nuts! It's so easy to fix and it's one of the biggest reasons for confusion! Someone, PLEASE, tell me why s many teachers teach young followers to s-s-s-s-stretch their leg out, really far, in a backstep!!! Is that the only way to teach them to have a straight knee and a beautiful leg? Can't they have it with a shorter backstep like, say, in the same county? What if their young leader leads a 12 step and they step into the next county? NEITHER of them knows how to fix that awful feeling of having absolutely no connection. Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! It's sooo easy to fix Sorry, everyone! Those two, and a few others, drive me nuts! Almost every teacher that I have seen lets those things go! They are a couple of the BIGGEST reasons for confusion! Whew I'm okay. Now. Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
Hmmm, I'm always trying to get further outside on my left especially when in close embrace. Is this my problem? Can you be a little more descriptive? Certainly walking to the cross, one has to do this...is this wrong at some times? when? Is it a matter of an inch or two? thanks - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
First, if the lead is for a small step, the follower should take a small step. If the leader's frame is weak and doesn't communicate the size of the step, that's the leader's fault. Second, I don't know how far is far for a back step. The woman shouldn't step so far it would cause her hips to turn away from the leader. The leader has to feel how far the woman is stepping backward. An alternative way of looking at stepping backward is to move the leg backward from the hip. If you move the foot first, there will be a popping at the knee as the foot extends. I'm not sure teachers are signalling for the size of the step but more for HOW to reach backward from the hip. If the leader leads a small step, the woman should still reach backward from the hip and straighten the leg based on the size of the step that is lead. The leg should be straightened before the woman steps on it. Michael Ditkoff Washington, DC Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays Greyhound from the swift completion of its schedule to New York on Saturday. I'd rather be dancing Argentine Tango - Original Message - From: Tango For Her [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tango-L Tango-L@mit.edu Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 8:27 PM Subject: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves Someone wrote to me: They spend a lot of time teaching followers to extend their leg, in doing a backstep. Someone, PLEASE, tell me why s many teachers teach young followers to s-s-s-s-stretch their leg out, really far, in a backstep!!! ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves
Hmmm, I'm always trying to get further outside on my left especially when in close embrace. Is this my problem? No, you are not alone. A lot of men do this, and let me tell you, the further left you go, the more uncomfortable it gets for the woman. Especially if you turn the right side of her body at an angle to you. It means, she has to walk while constantly having her back twisted into an unnatural angle. Lasrt time I danced with a Japanese tango teacher who took this to such an extreme that he looked like he would have almost prefered to dance behind me. Why do guys do this? Can you be a little more descriptive? Certainly walking to the cross, one has to do this...is this wrong at some times? when? Is it a matter of an inch or two? thanks - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
