Unfortunately most of the teachers I’ve seen on the social dance floor are the biggest offenders of bad floor craft and disregard for others. This list includes not only the self-proclaimed local wannabes but also the established teachers who you would think would know better. The question is how could you expect someone to teach proper etiquette when they themselves don’ t practice it?
One of the best teachers I know once told me that for him dancing at a milonga is very difficult. If he executes too many showy figures people would say he’s showing off if he dances too simple people would think he’s boring and wouldn’t want to take lessons from him. Obviously most teachers don’ t think the way he does. How sad. David In a message dated 1/30/2010 7:15:50 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, don...@donnay.net writes: I think any teacher who has been in a community for awhile starts to realize that creating good dancers who are also polite and respectful is essential, or the community will suffer. But sometimes new teachers who come along don't understand this, so will teach some fancy steps or just repeat what they heard in a class somewhere, without regard to how it really applies. This can also apply to some traveling teachers, who may not be as interested in the long term health of the community and won't be around to deal with what they taught. But often this is successful because students may want something "new", rather than that teacher who has experience, or want difficult steps because they have been dancing so long they MUST be able to handle them. So I'll throw it back to the community - be sure to sponsor and recommend those teachers who DO ponder what they want to see on the social dance floor. Lois Donnay Minneapolis > At this point I'll just encourage all teachers to ponder > what they really want to see on the social dance floor, > and then to act accordingly. _______________________________________________ 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