I completely changed my curriculum when I went to learn a new dance. I tried Lindy, but the concepts were too random. I tried West Coast swing (basically the same as Lindy, only slower and straightened out). Same concepts as Lindy, but the instructional methdology was much more directed and clear.
At the basic level, WCS is taught as a set of 6 or 8 "basic" patterns that fit the music as a 6 or 8 count moves. A leader can attend a month of classes and pick up most of these patterns one by one, and immediately start dancing. Yes, he's wooden, and yes, he's just repeating patterns. 2 or 6 months later (or maybe never), a "miracle occurs", and the man is dancing intuitively, changing off the different patterns without thinking, swapping in and out new moves, and ready to start learning more stuff. So, I changed from an analytical approach: walking, turns, cross- footed theory, to a small-element approach. I also changed to a more directed approach: Here's the music, here are 8 or 10 short sequences that fit the music. If you have memorized 3 or 4 moves, you are already qualified to get up and dance. Yes, their wooden. Yes, 2 or 6 (or never) months later a miracle occurs.... But, as they say in Perl, there is more than one way to do it, that is, tango is also a Pathologically Eclectic Rubish Lister. On May 2, 2008, at 6:58 AM, Paul Shrivastava wrote: > As a life long academic also involved in building educational > institutions let me throw in my 2-cents into this conversation. I > have > reviewed all the formal "syllabuses" that I could find online (about > 20) > and outlines of about 50 workshops by all sorts of Tango teachers from > US and BA. The lack of uniformity and standards is apparent event > to a > casual observer. > > Tango to me is simultaneously a dance, a music and a culture. Just > learning the steps without knowing the emotional and cultural and > intellectual meanings behind the dance, is like learning to bake > cakes > from a ready-made mix, instead of using basic ingredients. You may > still get a cake out of it, but it is not the same. > > Most Tango teaching today focuses on steps, some teacher/workshops pay > some attention musicality and emotionality. But, there as no > standards. > ... > Paul _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
