Friday, April 22, 2016

You Don't Learn To Dance In Class

I had just finished teaching a drop-in beginner class to a group of 14 students. The music for the milonga was playing, and  one couple from the class started to change their shoes. I encouraged them to stay a bit and dance. One of them replied "We want to get good first".

This reflects a major fallacy among a lot of tango students - that they can learn to dance in a class.

You cannot learn to dance in a class. Classes give you tools for dancing - tools that you can then use to learn to actually dance. But classes do not teach you to dance. Neither, in spite of what many dance teachers tell you, do private lessons.

You learn to dance by getting out on the dance floor and putting to use all those tools and concepts you have been learning in classes and private lessons. Until you do that, you have not begun to learn to dance.

This is even more true for Tango than for most partner dances, given the improvisational nature of the dance. Almost anyone can learn choreography in a class. But improvisation can only be learned on the dance floor.

Beginners who start dancing socially from day one become good dancers much more quickly than those who wait. Don't be afraid of developing bad habits. Bad habits can be corrected.  And don't be afraid of what other people think. The ones who matter will respect your determination to learn.

So get out on the floor and dance - it really is the only way to learn.

A brief note to experienced members of a tango community. Encourage your beginners! A tango community that does not grow eventually dies.



Rules For a Crowded Dance Floor

Dancing Tango on a crowded dance floor can be a sublime experience of  communal bliss - or a nightmare of bumps, kicks, and confusion. To promote the former and avoid the latter, here are some rules for a crowded dance floor.

LEADERS:

1. When you enter the dance floor, wait for a break in the flow of traffic. Make eye contact with the approaching leader so you know he sees you. Merge into the flow of the dance like a driver mergimg onto the highway - smoothly, with no sudden stops.

2: Travel counterclockwise, in the line of dance. Avoid stepping backwards.

3. Be aware of the flow of traffic. On a crowded dance floor dancers travel as a group, starting and stopping together. Maintain a consistent distance between you and the couple ahead of you,

4. A crowded dance floor will have multiple lanes of dancers - an outer lane, one or two middle lanes, and an inner lane. Stay in your lane. The more crowded the dance floor is, the less you should consider passing or changing lanes.

5. Keep your dancing small and simple. Enjoy the music and the connection, and save the fancy steps for a less crowded venue.

FOLLOWERS

1. Be aware of your surroundings. Do not dance with your eyes closed unless you know your leader can be totally trusted to follow the above rules, and the overall level of dancing is high. Do not step into another couple just because your leader leads it. This is your dance too.

2. Keep your feet on the floor, and your heels down.  Those stilettos are a pair of weapons attached to your shoes. Polite people do not aim weapons at others.


EVERYONE: a crowded dance floor is not a good place to show off your fancy moves. So don't. Keep it small, keep it simple, be polite to the other people on the floor, and you will come to appreciate the trancendental experience of immersing yourself in the dance.