I was inspired by Sorin's post about how beginners decide between a good dancer and the "good-dancers-that-only-look-good-to-beginners". It inspired me to write on how to dance with a beginner if you're a bit more experienced.
Not so long ago I saw an experienced dancer teaching an absolute beginner how to do a gancho. Now, this is like teaching a child that has never rode a bike to go downhill on a steep, rocky mountain. This person should be liable for any damages that this helpless beginner is going to do. I am not going to go into technicalities on how to lead or follow a gancho because that is NOT the reason why this blog exists. But needless to say that, if you're dancing with a beginner or even a post-beginner, DO NOT lead ganchos or any complex movements that will confuse this poor person.
If you dance with a beginner, walk to the music, keep it simple, make the beginner know how it acutally feels to dance to the music. You'll be doing a great job! A fantastic job! And if you think that dancing with a beginner is boring because they can only do a handful of things then you should (1) re-think why you're dancing and (2) lead SIMPLE things. Walking on the beat, front ochos, back ochos, crosses... These are all things that beginners should be doing and perfecting. Remember, when dancing with a beginner you're being responsible for the education of someone. Would you like to teach 5th grade stuff to someone who has just entered 1st grade?
Monday, August 04, 2008
Dancing with beginners
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11 comments:
Conversely, I'd advise the recent beginner to resist being instructed on the dancefloor. Best decision for my dancing that I've yet made.
Hi mshedgehog:
This actually happened in a practica, where "instructing" in a dance floor is understandable. The problem is that the best way to get out of the beginner stage is to go to praticas but then you have to know who is going to actually be good to develop your dance properly!
Oh man, how much I agree! I always have to resist violent urges when I see that happening... (and it's often by "experienced" leaders who aren't good, too.)
Maybe that should be added to my list on how to identify the clowns, seeing them trying to teach beginners figures.
On keep it simple, I thought that was common sense, but you have a good point, it seems common sense it's at a premium these days, so maybe it does need to be spelled out.
It's tricky because the optimal strategy for improvement is probably not the same for leader and follower.
For a follower I think it's actually better to take a weekly group class with teachers you trust, treat it as technique practice, regardless of the content, ignore most or all of what your fellow students say, and dance socially as much as you can.
If you're leading, free practice is much more important - but you have the problem of finding someone to practice with who can give useful feedback.
But both have the same problem of working out what feedback is useful and what isn't.
Hello there!
Just been kidnapped to spend a week in a beach where there was no internet available so sorry for taking so long with replies...
I understand your point, mshedgehog but I think that any beginner should have as much practice as possible but no more than a class per week. This post is to help beginner followers to be able to have proper tango education from more experienced people. If the beginner follower dances a lot with people that know what they are doing it will be much better than having a weekly class with beginner peers...
And, Kara and Sorin, people who tend to instruct in the dancefloor are usually not that good - it's a way of skewing away from their own mistakes...
As a rank beginner, I'd like to say thank you for this common-sense guidance for experienced leads! While it's true that an experienced leader can make you do things you had no idea you were capable of, and there is something quite exhilarating about that when it works, it often just makes me anxious about what he is going to try next. Anxiety doesn't help me through the rest of the dance.
What I really appreciate is someone who's willing to just take the time to dance with me and sticks with the simple things, which affords me the opportunity to feel what they "should" feel like, and begin to translate them into an unconscious competency. A good walk feels like a sublime dance when you're a beginner! At least it does to me. Not that I don't look forward to being able to do a gancho with style and ease but all in good time... :o)
Hi kendalee, your attitude is perfect! I hope you start getting better dances from the so called "experienced" leaders!
Hello you All,
'A good walk feels like a sublime dance' - you're so right Kendalee - but it's not only true when you're a beginner!!! And the anxiety thing - how right you are - and again, I think it's true for a lot of us, not only at the beginning of our tango journeys. Some leaders who tend to 'do' lots of stuff don't prepare us and rush into things..sometimes this can be exciting but it's very different from the tango where I can relax, trust and completely give myself. lol and enjoy your dancing!!
Hi Claudita, yes, you remind me of an importanto point, keeping it simple is ALWAYS important, even with experienced dancers!!
I'd add another point to your list
(3) Learn to lead the simple things simply....
I like dancing with beginners because the challenge to a more experienced leader is to lead only with what those followers with 1-2-3 weeks in class have been taught the lead is.
Feet, so; shoulders, so;direction, so... and so on :-).
It's like a 'back to basics' lesson opportunity with every new generation of beginners, and one you don't even have to pay for ;-)
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