Interesting situation. Some people arrive at a tango as couples, and some arrive as singles. The singles may be unhappy with the limited number of partners in the class if the couples don't participate in the rotation. There may also be a gender imbalance, which will fall more heavily on the singles if the couples don't participate in the rotation. The instructor knows that rotation can help with learning, but rotation also helps alleviate some of the problems the instructor may face with the singles in the class.
Why might the couples be less interested in rotation? 1) They don't know enough about tango to know that rotation helps with learning. 2) They don't know the people with whom they will be rotating, and find the idea of dancing in a close embrace with a stranger to be uncomfortable. 3) They feel threatened by seeing their own partner dancing with someone else. 4) They will share in any gender imbalance even though they didn't help create it. 5) They view some/many/most of the singles as less desirable dance partners. (Why are the singles without a partner?) 6) They don't see everyone as equally skilled in dancing, and either don't want to embarass themselves by dancing poorly with someone who isn't a close friend or don't want to waste their time dancing someone isn't as skilled. 7) Some people arrive at tango classes with bad breath, body odors, or wearing heavy cologne or perfume, and some people may not wish to be exposed to such scents or have such scents transferred to themselves. Sticking with one's own partner means that all those issues have already been worked out. An instructor's rush to force rotation--rather than simply to encourage it--can actually create an environment that is actually unfriendly/hostile to couples. Tango is an intimate dance, and intimacy is voluntary. Instructors need to respect the voluntary nature of intimacy if they are to they are to convey a real sense of tango. With best regards, Steve (de Tejas) _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
