Lois: Part of dancing well is having awareness. Your community did that man a great favor by opening his eyes even though ignorance is bliss. To paraphrase Colonel Nathan Jessep in the movie "A Few Good Men," "He couldn't handle the truth." How he dealt with the revelation is his problem. There's nothing you can do about it. The man at least went outside his comfort zone and danced with strangers.
The only thing that will convince a man to improve - - is when women stop dancing with him. As long as women continue to dance with a poor leader "because they don't want to hurt his feelings," he has no motivation (nor clue) to improve. As long as workshops give people what they WANT instead of what they NEED, the problem you described will continue. I remember a friend and I taking a private lesson with a well known NY teacher and dancer. We wanted to learn the latest fad- Volcadas. Before she would teach the figure, the teacher wanted to see me lead a calesitra. She wanted to ensure I knew how to support a woman's weight when she is slightly off axis. The Argentines only use about seven figures to dance. That was a wake up call when I visited BA. Michael Going home to New York after 35+ years _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
