Dancing with beginners

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?

Beginners I like, beginners I don't

I have written here how I like to dance with beginners. But I should have written SOME beginners. I like to dance with beginners that have a positive approach. When dancing, I want to dance with someone that can connect with me, with my dance. And for as much as it is difficult to do that when you're a beginner, any little bit will please me. And I am not expecting a beginner to do the same as an intermediate or advance dancer. I am expecting a beginner to do simple stuff and to make an effort in order to make it correctly. In essence, when dancing with beginners the attitude counts a lot.
I don't like to dance with other kind of beginners. These usually called themselves advanced and think that time (on itself) dictates your level of mastery. Dancing with them is like dancing with a broomstick. They're just interested in not staying sat (because that is a waste of time and it looks bad). They're not interested in putting anything into the dance. They are not interested into learning, challenging themselves, put a sparkle in the dance. They're just there because they just got used to go to milongas, to pretend they dance tango and to tell their non-tango friends that they're fantastic dancers.
There is the third type of beginners. The ones that are not beginners but that have the attitude of beginners. Those of have been learning for quite some time, have mastered quite a lot of principles but still persevere in the quest to become better. Other people called them advanced. The truly advanced dancer is the one who realises that he/she will always be a beginner.

Dancing with beginners

I remember a few years ago, when I imagined the day that I would be able to invite the best dancers to dance with me. And that day arrived much quicker than I thought! In fact, what i thought it was an event only to be achieved on my "advanced graduation" (whatever that is) it was kind of a non-existent myth. I was only a beginner but it felt so different to dance with my teacher that I was wondering if it was myself leading her. My rustique techniques fitted absolutely well, I became more confident and those dances taught me more than many whole milongas.
And because of that, I think it's only fair to make sure you dance with beginners on a regular basis. To bring them up, teach them, show them what all these tango secrets are all about, give them a taste on what's to come with their dancing. Tango padawan has a very nice post about this, which I totally subscribe. But I find it difficult that some more advanced people in the world of tango never bother to come down of their pedestral to dance with the common people. I have noticed that in most communities is like this. The advanced people in the usual table and all the rest of the crowd dreaming on...
I know that tango is to taught in classes and milongas but you can teach a lot to someone in a milonga without saying a word or uttering an explanation. Just show them the way, so that they can do that in a few years time.

What we would like a beginner-follower to do, or 'not' to do

Together with mshedgehog we have listed the skills that we believe a beginner-follower should have to be sucessful on the dance floor. If you would like to see mshedgehog's opinion on leaders, check it out here.

Assuming that the follower is female and the leader is male:

EMBRACE
We would like her
· Not to look down to the feet.
· Not to tug on to the leader with her left or/and right hands.
· To keep her right arm firm but elastic, giving the leader adequate amount of resistance.
· Not to be afraid of the closeness required in an embrace (don’t worry too much about the presence of the breasts, apparently one in two people have them).
· To try and maintain the chest and hips parallel to those of the leader as much as the dance allows them to.

WALK
We would like her
· To maintain her own weight at all times except when specific movements require her to rely on her partner’s weight or support.
· To try and stay close to the leader and not move away from him unnecessarily.
· To obey the dynamic of the leader and return the energy transmitted by him.
· To stretch her legs back far enough so that the leader can step forward comfortably.
· To try and close both knees and feet together as though they are bound to each other by elastic bands.
· Not to bop up and down.

DANCE
We would like her
· Not to change her weight from right to left or vice versa unless indicated.
· To keep her embellishment to her minimum at this level.
· Not to ‘lead’ the leader by force (the skills for passive leading should come as she improves generally).
· To be aware of the rhythm but should always follow the leader’s dance (as she goes up the levels she will be able to incorporate her own interpretation of music without breaking the equilibrium.)

MISCELLANEOUS
We would like her
· To take care of her body odour but she should not wear too much perfume.
· To minimise the amount of make-up and accessories she wears so that it doesn’t damage the leader’s clothing or disrupt the dance in any way.
· Not to chat constantly during a dance.

*Some individuals do not like their partners to hum while dancing. Personally, I don’t mind it at all. Because firstly, I do it from time to time. Secondly, it lets me know that my partner is enjoying the music, and perhaps, it helps him to dance with the music. I would much rather if he can dance well to the music and hum/sing than if he cannot dance to the music at all.

Never too early

Back to the days when I had regular classes with Ricardo Oria y Jenny Frances I remember lots of people that went religiously to classes and never set a foot in a milonga. I never understood them (I shall mention that I was one of the annoying kids that started learning how to dance in milongas because I had no money for classes... tuh tuh). What’s the point of going endlessly to classes if you don’t go to milongas? They told me with wise square faces, “So that we learn it properly and then, when we go to the milonga, we are good”.

I did try to tell them but they didn’t listen to me. I remember a guy that had been learning tango for two years, he was at intermediate level and a reasonable dancer, of course, in the class. And he went to the milonga. Reality set in very quickly for him. He had nobody to shout him which steps to do, his plans of doing a Pablo Véron impression were crushed the moment he realised he had 10 times less space in a milonga than in a class and i remember him telling me, “I have been learning for two years, for nothing!”

He actually never came to a milonga again but I think he moved out of town (hopefully not because of tango!). So if you’re reading this, my friend whose name I forgot, persevere, don’t give up. And if you’re reading this and starting don’t do as he did. Go to milongas, listen to the music, respect others while dancing and, above all, have fun. Tango without fun isn't worth dancing!