Chris, UK wrote: >Actually those teaching tango have first an obligation simply not to >sabotage the natural tendencies of intersocial behaviour from which the >codes arise. A bit more consideration of that can save loads of time spent >issuing milonga etiquette directives... with the added advantage of >actually working.
I agree. Bad teaching can contribute to poor floorcraft and an inability to observe the codes. Tom Stermitz once commented that many people have walked into the first tango lesson completely able to navigate through crowded dance floor. After their first lesson they couldn't. Let's try to get to a few details that might facilitate a natural understanding of the codes: Beginners should be taught the line of dance. Beginners should be taught that tango has pauses. Beginners shouldn't be taught rote figures. How will beginners learn about tandas and cortinas? about the cabeceo? What if you organize a milonga and a number of people who show up dance performance-style tango, not social tango, and virtually none of these people observe the ronda or other aspects of the codes? By the way, I should mention that a milonga that I deejay for regularly is quite devoid of problems that might arise from people failing to observe the codes. Most of the dancers are experienced, and the facility has many of the physical characteristics that Tom Stermitz described as facilitating success. Sometimes early the evening, the density is a bit low, which encourages just a bit of random navigation. With best regards, Steve _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
