Seems like there's a confusion between two separate issues.
The first issue is the supposed prohibition
against teaching at milongas. I thought I made my point clear, that avoiding
disturbing other dancers is the primary responsibility, and
any teaching/coaching you can do that doesn't disturb others is OK IMO.
That said, it's obvious that it's a thin line, and you can't do very much,
maybe 5-10 seconds of explanation, without risking violation of the primary
rule, but as
always, it's very situational, depending mostly on how crowded the
floor is, i.e. how close other dancers are to you that might be bothered
by talking. What I'm saying is that teaching at milongas is not a bad thing per
se, but it's very difficult to do very much without violating the Primary rule,
that being not disturbing other dancers.
Trini I applaud your being a champion to the timid beginners who are
uncomfortably set upon by self-proclaimed experts. I assure you I'm as
concerned as you are about building the community and retaining new dancers.
This however is a completley separate issue from the first one, and I think you
can risk over-generalizing. Lots of new followers are anxious to learn whatever
they can from whoever they can. It's not too different from a common festival
phenomenon, during which you take classes with lots of different teachers and
often get flatly contradictory advice from them. It's up to the student to sort
out what works for them, what's really foundational technique and what are
merely stylistic differences.
I completely agree that making a new dancer uncomfortable with criticism is
abhorrent. And that's certainly not what I was doing, and frankly, since you
weren't there, you're hardly in a position to say otherwise. In the case in
point, I assure you I enjoyed my dance with her, and I let her know it, and her
enthusiasm to dance with me at subsequent events tells me that she enjoyed it
too. Isn't that the bottom line?
J
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