sericson0

How do I lead?

The question most frequently asked to tango teachers is, “How do I lead this?” Trying to not disappoint, we come up with an assortment of plausible-sounding answers. Lead with your chest, with the tone of your embrace, with the pressure in your fingers. Use your hips, your disassociation, the floor, your intention, your axis. Focus on your connection, on your breath…use and focus on everything! But is asking how to lead is the wrong question?

The solution is often not a matter of how but a matter of when. Leading has many connotations, but its fundamental meaning is simply to be before. At its core, leading is a matter of timing. When we lead early enough, we can have a clear lead without using much force. Changing the timing of a lead is often sufficient to change a move from not working to working every time.

Do we have a clear idea of what we are leading? Or did we have a vague muddled idea and then hope for the best? Good tango followers are the closest anyone gets to mind readers. A clear image of a movement is enough for them to understand—a clear what becomes the how.

What is the setup and geometry of the step? Where precisely do we step and does our partner step? Is there enough room for the move to fit? Often, when a student asks “How do I lead this,” the real question is, “How do I force this movement to fit even though the geometry is incorrect?” We can give tips, tricks, and hacks on how to force the move to work anyways, and the student may even then leave feeling they learned something valuable. Or we can take the time to explain where to step such that the movement fits in the first place.

The why of a lead is how the movement captures a particular section of the music, completes a melodic phrase, fits within a thematic idea, or refers back to a previous sequence. A movements with a clear why is infinitely easier to interpret and follow than a nonsensical movement without context. The why is at least as important as the how, for he who has a why to lead can use almost any how.

It can be uncomfortable to focus on questions other than how. How is what students ask us about, and answering it makes us sound wise. Changing the question to when, what, where, or why makes us sound like we are dodging the question and don’t know. But here is my truth. I don’t know how my body signals a lead, and my best guess is that it is many things at once. I focus very little on how exactly the lead is signaled. Instead, I focus on when, making sure I lead early enough; I focus on what, having clear mental images and making clear choices about what I am leading; I focus on where, studying the geometry of the movements; and I focus on why, trying to choose movements that fit within the music and the thematic ideas we develop. The when, what, where, and why are how I lead.

By sericson0, ago

Where Everything’s Made Up and the Points Don’t Matter

My tango games started from the first embrace. They began with the simple game of ‘Let’s find out!’. ‘If I step forward with my left foot, will I step on my partner? Let’s find out!’ ‘Will they be willing to dance with me even though I don’t know anything? Let’s find out!’ ‘Will I want to keep doing this dance? Let’s find out!’

I soon moved on to the Argentine version of a Chinese finger trap. ‘I got myself into these front ochos, surely I can figure out how to get myself out damn it!’ Each puzzle solved opened a door to ten more. First it was ‘can you remember these eight steps.’ Which turned into eight individual steps linking together in any order I wanted. ‘But can you do it in the reverse order?’  ‘How about on the other side?’ ‘But how about you lead doing the follower steps and they follow doing the leader steps?’ ‘But can you lead the reverse roles on the other side in reverse order?’  

I always had an appreciation for the sequence-based games. Show me a weird twirling whirling wrap and I’ll be entertained for hours. How many steps can I remember at once, and how quickly can I remember them? Class sequences are scored like golf. Each time you see the sequence is a stroke. Can you remember the full sequence in under par, or will you just putt along to a double bogey? You raise the stakes by putting the new move in at the milonga. How about double down and use a move you just learned in a performance?    

As I progressed in the dance, the games progressed too. ‘Can I dance with someone?’ turned into ‘can I dance every tanda?’ Which morphed into ‘can I dance every tanda with only people I really want to dance with?’ An unfortunate twist came when someone asked if I wanted a second tanda. Game on! Now it was ‘how many second tandas can I get?’ This complicates the rules for scoring far too much. Four or more two-tanda partners in a night, friggen’ Yahtzee! Someone says thank you a little too quickly after the last song ends, best take some lessons noob. But how much is one tanda each night worth compared to two tandas one night but then no tandas the next night? One tanda the first night and two the next night feels great, but somehow two the first night and one the next night feels like game over, you lose. If I can’t keep track of the points, then how can I tell if I am progressing? And if I don’t know if I am progressing, then how can I judge my self-worth?

I eventually discovered that at tango events seems to be music playing in the background. I never noticed it before, but as long as they keep playing it I may as well play some games which incorporate it. I played Red Light Green Light with the end of the phrase and the start of the next. I tried coloring between the lines to the different shades of the music. Did you know there are even rhythms other than the half notes? I started playing Pokémon with the syncopations: ‘gotta catch em all.’ Sometimes I would study a few songs at a time playing on repeat for a few days until I could tap each rhythm and follow each instrument. The easy part is getting the music in there, the hard part is how to get my body to send it back out.

The game I now play is to find the games within the game. Each game has its own rules, but the rules are made up anyways so it’s ok to break them. The games change throughout the night, vary by partner and by tanda, and several games are played within one song. Each has its own way to get points, and choosing the right game at the right time gives a turbo boost, but points don’t matter either so don’t worry too much about trying to get a high score.

Maybe I start with a ‘snuggly embrace’ game. No points for steps, but points for how nice it feels and bonus if you can breathe together to the music. Maybe move on to tango target practice. Fifty cents gets you three steps for the full phrase, so choose your targets wisely. Place all three at well-timed moments in the music and you win the big fluffy teddy bear. I start to switch between walking and turns (you can be the Bouba to my Kiki). I leave open the space for the ‘catch the piano fills’ games too. Just single player mode for the moment, but maybe I’ll join for a coop adventure later in the song.

We change to a ‘build your own sequence’ real-time strategy. What you build changes for each level of the game. Maybe this level only allows cross-system sacadas, or maybe the level does not allow the lead to take any steps. Maybe the sequence is already built from the last workshop you took but the game is fitting it into the teeny tiny space available. Maybe it is a custom level of your own creation.

The points don’t matter, but there are a few combos that can rack up the score. Well-placed repetitions score highly. Extra if you bring in compositional ideas like augmentation, diminution, ornamentation, retrograde, among others. Complex moves should be saved for the right moment. A hard move in the wrong place counts for little but stick the landing with a really cool move at the right time and it’s tens across the board. Unlock the 2x tricky bonus if you finish your flourish and the switch back to the snuggly embrace game at the same time the musical theme repeats. How do we choose the game to play? Everyone has a few they especially like, whether they know they are playing or not. The music has a voice in the choice. Our partner even more so. Sometimes I pick the game. Sometimes my partner chooses. Sometimes we come up with the game together. Next time we dance I wonder what games we will create?

By sericson0, ago

Tango Relativity: Finding your Reference Frame

We express ourselves in dance through movement and stillness. Having clear descriptions of motion supports our growth as dancers and dance instructors. Since Einstein, physicists have realized that all motion is relative, and its description depends on the frame of reference. When it comes to dance, what are the reference frames we can describe movement relative to?

There are three reference frames we can speak from. We can speak of movement relative to 1) the space, 2) our partner, and 3) another part of our body. When we take a sidestep together, our hands move relative to space but stay fixed relative to our partner and our torso. While pivoting, we may have our hips move relative to our torso while our torso stays fixed in space. Each frame of reference provides unique insights, and understanding a movement relative to all three reference points provides a fuller understanding of the dance.

Most movements have an invariance, where one of the reference frames remains fixed throughout the motion. Finding the invariance is especially useful for understanding a movement. It is much easier to keep something fixed than to know how much to move, especially when the size of step or rotation changes. Often, the invariance is in the embrace, providing an oasis of calm for our partner as we move in space. A volcada, for example, has the invariance in our own body where we keep our own alignment while tilting. With dynamics such as compressions and elastic movements, we tend to keep a point fixed in space that our partners and ourselves both move relative to.  

The three reference points help us communicate better, both as a teacher and as a student. Seemingly contradictory advice is often actually the same advice from different reference frames. Our arms sometimes have to move more in space to be able to provide a still embrace relative to our partner. One teacher may tell us to move our arms more, and another tells us to move our arms less, but they are both giving the same feedback just from different reference frames.

Feedback from our partner is often about what they are feeling, which coincides with how we are moving relative to their body. When a teacher shows us a new move, the advice is often how we move our body relative to ourselves. Comments from outside observers tend to be about how we move in space. Each type of feedback gives a new perspective. Seek out information from all three reference frames and then combine them to a fuller understanding of the dance.  

By sericson0, ago

Project, Push, Plant, Pull, and Possibly Pivot

What are the components of a step in tango? Of course there are many ways to step, and no person will move the same as another. And it would be too much to even enumerate the intricate joint and muscle movements that occur when we move, to say nothing of understanding or teaching such nuances. But is there a general high-level framework we can use to think about our movements to help teach and understand the broader concepts involved? Something that could help us be able to be more comfortable, connected, and creative, and minimize loss of balance and disconnection?

Here is a framework I have been teaching and using in my own dance which I find useful and seems to produce positive results in our students. I call it the 5 P’s of tango movement. Movements are broken into five sub-components:

  1. Project – extend the free leg while maintaining balance on the standing leg.
  2. Push – muscles of the standing leg propel us beyond our projection.
  3. Plant – free leg stops moving and provides a counter-force to control our movement
  4. Pull – muscles of the new standing leg work to pull our axis towards it  
  5. Possibly Pivot – depending on the next movement, we may pivot before the next projection

These components are of course not concepts I developed, instead drawing heavily on the knowledge of teachers and colleagues who have studied the dance more deeply than myself and have been generous to share their insights. I only hope that this specific framing of project, push, plant, pull, and possibly pivot can provide some small addition to the understanding of tango movement and teaching pedagogy.

The five P’s help us understand the pieces of movements that can practice to gain control over, and helps us diagnose challenges we often encounter in the dance. One common challenge occurs is when we push without any projection. When done unintentionally, this results in making both ourselves and our partner feel rushed. Another common challenge is maintaining balance throughout the step. This is largely a matter of planting and pulling to control the transfer of weight. If you find yourself losing balance in your steps, consider focusing your attention on planting the free leg and then using it to pull yourself onto the new axis.

We often struggle maintaining balance when pivoting. This usually occurs because we do not separate the pulling and pivoting portions. Though it may sound counterintuitive, if you find yourself losing balance in pivots, try delaying when you start pivoting so that you have more time to complete the pull. Similarly, delaying when we start the next projection helps us succeed in movements such as back sacadas.

Much of the time we perform all five in the stated order, but removing one component or changing the order can give new variations and flavors to the dance. A lapiz, for example, can be thought of as adding a pivot after a projection. We can also give each P a different amount of time or intensity. A small amount of pulling will bring our axis over the new leg while additional pulling will bring our new free leg to collection. Giving some components more or less weight results in different styles and effects. In general, gaining control over each P and being able to fluidly connect them provides a great deal of control and possibilities for creativity.

By sericson0, ago

Basics are not Just for Beginners: A taxonomy of tango classes

I recently took a series of workshops with Jonathan and Clarisa. The Friday classes were a “Seminar on the Basics” while the Saturday and Sunday classes covered the more advanced topic of changes of dynamics. Something I found interesting was, while the Saturday and Sunday classes were completely booked, noticeably less people attended Friday. Talking with some people about this, they mentioned they thought a class focusing on basics was meant for more beginner dancers, so they waited to take the advanced seminars. Is a basics class a beginner class, or are they different? What are the different types of classes and who are they for? And what does class level mean?

Here is a taxonomy I developed which I find useful for both understanding the different types of classes and for when I design my own classes. Classes can be broken down into topics, where a topic denotes a move, technique point, musical concept, drill, or really any distinct component. Topics can be simple or complex, with complex topics being more challenging to do successfully. Classes can cover a few simple topics, many simple topics, a few complex topics, or many complex topics.

A back sacada is more complex than an ocho because there are more potential points of failure with a back sacada than with leading or following an ocho. But this does not mean one is easier than the other. What separates simple from complex topics is less the challenge on the high end and more of the chance of failure on the low end. We can make even the simplest step very challenging by adding enough detail. In fact, perhaps the most impressive thing someone can do in tango is a simple movement with exquisite detail. The fidelity that each topic is covered is another dimension of classes. Walking may be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other (low fidelity). It can also be very high fidelity with posture, connection, muscles, joint mechanics, and timing. Thus, we have a taxonomy of eight potential types of classes, as shown in the table below.  

 Low FidelityHigh Fidelity
Few simple topicsBeginner ClassFundamentals Class
Many simple topicsIntermediate ClassX
Few complex topicsXAdvanced Class
Many complex topicsMaster ClassX

Beginner classes cover the basics, going over a few simple topics in light detail to give new dancers a chance for success. Fundamentals classes similarly covers basics but do so in high fidelity. Beginner classes are not fundamentals classes and fundamentals are not just for beginners. Unfortunately, tango commonly combines beginner and fundamentals classes, leading to new dancers feeling overwhelmed and more experienced dancers having critical gaps in their knowledge base.

Intermediate classes teach how to string sequences together and layer topics such as navigation and musicality to the movements. The challenge comes not from the individual steps or details, more from the combination of factors. Advanced classes actually cover less topics but cover more difficult topics in more detail. Master classes combine complex topics to show new possibilities, highlight areas for improvement, and help break out of old patterns. The different classes serve different purposes, and the level of a class does not coincide with the level of dancer that should take the class. Someone dancing for less than a year can get a lot of benefit from an intermediate or advanced class, and fundamentals classes are valuable at all stages of development.

So, what do the big X marks in the table represent? In the movie The Prince’s Bride, the protagonist is imprisoned in ‘The Pit of Despair’, a torture chamber where his lifeforce is slowly sucked away. This seems a rather fitting description of a bad tango class. The three X’s mark tango class pits of despair to be avoided at all cost.

We have two guides which indicate where the pits of despair lie. The first is the ratio of walking to talking. Take the class time spent doing divided by the class time where the teacher is talking. If the walking-to-talking ratio is below one, there is a good chance the class is falling into a pit of despair. The second guide is the success ratio, which is the number of times students succeed divided by the number of times they. A low success ratio leads to frustration and scares students away from the topic.    

Classes are like maps in that there is a limited amount of information which can be presented. You can’t show a large area in detail on a map; nor can you teach many topics in high fidelity. If you try, then you end up talking more than doing and you end up torturing more than teaching. Complex topics also need sufficient detail for a decent success ratio. You can gloss over a lot of the nuances of a sidestep and still have beginner dancers successfully lead and follow one. Gloss over the details while teaching leader ganchos and your students are in for a different experience. Master classes can get away with teaching complex topics in low fidelity because they assume the students already have some level of mastery of the individual elements.

Something interesting about the Jonathan and Clarissa workshops was that the Friday class on the basics ended up being the most useful. As we can now see, they were not beginner classes, but fundamentals classes, which laid the structure for the rest of the weekend.

By sericson0, ago

Bricks and Branches: Considering our Analogies of Learning

Analogies structure how we understand the world, mapping what we know onto what we want to discover. An apt analogy guides our path forward and highlights pitfalls to avoid, while an inappropriate analogy leaves us lost. What analogies do we use to conceptualize learning? And are they apt or do they mislead us?

We liken learning to constructing a skyscraper. Teachers give us “a solid foundation” and we “build from the ground up.” We discuss “levels” of difficulty and “levels” of proficiency. While the skyscraper analogy is common, it is inappropriate. My thesis is that a more apt analogy is that our learning and development can be best compared with how a tree grows.

Skyscraper construction starts at the foundation and builds upwards. The foundation needs to be rock solid before adding on top of it or the whole structure will be unstable. A flaw in one level requires everything above to be torn down and rebuilt. Once a level is built, you move on to the next floor. Levels also have a hierarchy, with each new floor considered more prestigious than the ones below it.

The skyscraper analogy to learning implies movements and concepts are either 1) at our current level, 2) above us (too hard), or 3) below us (too easy). Under the skyscraper analogy, if a student wants to learn a back sacada but doesn’t have a perfect pivot, then we tell them they need to wait until they have a more solid foundation. Once we can do boleos and ganchos, then a class on walking and ochos is clearly too low of a level for us. When we take a private and the instructor points out a flaw in our technique, then we are devastated because we have to tear everything down and start from square one. Viewing learning like constructing a building means we don’t practice concepts and movements that are at a level we think is above us, and we don’t revisit concepts and movements that are below us.  

Contrast this with how a tree grows. A small seed that sprouts into a sapling, spreading its roots, trunk, branches, and leaves. Growth occurs simultaneously downwards, outwards, and upwards. Even the smallest sapling has leaves reaching towards the sun, and even the largest oak continues growing roots. Each year the trunk adds a new ring, and every part of the tree is equally important to its health and growth.

Embracing the tree analogy guides us in a different direction to how we approach learning. Novel and complex movements feed our creativity while also motivating us to continue growing our roots and trunk (our fundamentals). We think of lessons less in terms of levels and more in terms of what new tree ring it adds to our dance. Imperfections are not a cause to tear down and restart, but instead signal for new branches that we can begin developing. Instead of avoiding feedback and what it tells us about our level, we seek information because it is the nutrients that allow our flowers to blossom. The learning process is no longer an imposing inanimate object but is instead an organic and ever-growing living thing.

By sericson0, ago

Pollock’s Paradas: Abstraction as a means to lead more by leading less

I overheard a debate on leading quick side-steps:

“You lead them by rising up on your toes and pick your heels off the floor.” Said one

“I say It’s all about lifting your partner with your embrace.” Replied another

“No no no! It’s about rocking side to side to lead the weight changes!” Interjected a third

How to communicate with our partner in tango (as in life) is often a mystery. We look for clues and come up with all sorts of hypotheses. “Maybe I use my hand like a rudder on their back to lead pivots?” Or “let me try signaling the direction by leaning—tilt forwards to walk forward, tilt back to walk backwards.” Our teachers give us clues, and eventually we construct a theory of how the movements in our body signal leads to our partner. Good leaders are considered the ones who have clearer, subtler, and more comfortable signals.

The most common question asked in any tango class is “What do I do to lead this step?” This is a question of what the mechanics of communication are. Let us call the approach of translating body movements into leads the mechanical approach to leading. I do X, so you do Y. I turn my chest, so you pivot. I push the floor, so you step backwards. I place my leg here, so you do the gancho. But is this the correct approach? I want to share a concept I believe opens many new possibilities for communication and results in a calmer, clearer, more creative, and more comfortable lead.

The concept is what I call the abstract approach to leading. To ‘abstract’ something is to distill its essence by removing certain details to clarify other parts. We distill our lead to the essence of what clearly conveys the information while removing unnecessary details. We abstract our communication from our movement mechanics so that we can separate the lead from our own movement.

Say you want to lead three quick side-steps to catch a piano fill in the music (to take a specific example so that we can abstract concretely). Leading mechanically requires you to communicate the following: small side, collect, change weight, small side, collect, change weight, small side, pause. That is an awful lot to get across, especially in a short amount of time. No wonder there is so much confusion around how to communicate such movements. Instead of leading each movement, you can take a more abstract approach. Maybe lead the concept ‘quick sidesteps’ instead of leading each movement. Or you can lead the direction and instrument—piano, side. This communicates the same concept more succinctly.

By getting at the essence of communication, we can lead complex movements and concepts with simple movements in our own body. Using our arms to manipulate our partner into positions is replaced with transmitting an image of the effect. Asking for a larger step or bigger boleo by making a big movement in our own body to send more force into our partner is replaced with calmly conveying our interest in a change in intensity. When we abstract our lead, we reduce the amount of information that needs to be conveyed. The pivots, collections, and steps of the turn are replaced with a simple direction (turning clockwise or counterclockwise). Leading the timing of each step is replaced with signaling an instrument for the phrase. There is only so much bandwidth with which to communicate, so conveying the same information more succinctly allows us to communicate more.

A great way to practice leading abstractly is to lead the turn (forward, side, back, side, forward) and changes of direction without using your arms. You signal the direction and trust your partner to take care of the specifics of the timing, steps, pivots, and collections. The direction to go is the essence of what your partner needs. They spend a lot of time practicing their turn, so trying to lead each step tends to only get in their way. Pay special note of whether you move your arms when you change direction with a front or back ocho. Most people do, but it is largely unnecessary. Here you see the difference between leading mechanically and leading abstractly. With the former you move your partner with your arms to lead the pivot; with the latter, you ask for a change in direction and trust your partner to pivot.

Something else to practice is to see if you can convey images and concepts instead of steps. Instead of trying to figure out what in your body you need to do to lead a boleo, visualize what a nice boleo would look like and feel like. See the image as if you were a third person looking at your partnership from the outside. Many people find that once you have a clear image of what you are going for, then the information gets conveyed to their partner as if by magic. When our mind is clear, our body somehow knows how to efficiently convey information and we do not need nearly as much movement as we think we do to communicate clearly. You can also try conveying a musical phrase or instrument. A simple exercise is to be in an embrace and try conveying an instrument without taking any steps. Once your partner thinks they know which instrument you chose, they say it verbally. Then switch and see if you can feel which instrument they choose. The same game can be played for things like size of step, linear versus circular, energy, and emotions. We can convey a lot more than just steps through the embrace, and communicating with these more abstract concepts often makes the movements much easier to lead.    While I have discussed abstraction from the perspective of leading, the same concept applies to following. Moving our partner is backleading, but communicating ideas and intentions is co-creating. Communicating more abstractly also allows multiple ways to communicate the same ideas. This means the communication can change from partner to partner and can even change within the song. Leading abstractly can free us to do and experience more in the dance. Instead of trying to lead every detail, we just lead what is necessary for our partner to understand. We distill our lead to what is really needed to convey information instead of what is needed to move our partner. This allows space to feel more, observe more, and allows us have a true conversation with our partner.                                     

By sericson0, ago

Mirror Images

We signal our role through the embrace we take,

Leader’s left hand meets follower’s right.

Asymmetry, when partners face, gives explicit display to implicit norms.

The rules of our role go unnoticed and things unnoticed go unquestioned.   

Mirrors on the wall to show us how we look,

A decoration seldom appreciated by social dancers.

But mirrors don’t just show who we are; they reveal who we could be.

We see the same moves, the same you, but with an important change.

The embrace flips as though the roles were switched.

We think the way things are is the way things should be.

But this switch happens naturally,

An image of life’s many possibilities.

By sericson0, ago

Building Better Learning Environments

During a conversation with some fellow dancers, my friend Mitra Martin said something which I believe gets at the heart of the learning and teaching process. She said, “The job of a teacher is not to teach, but to create an environment where learning occurs.” Passing along information through instruction is a vital part of learning, but it is only one part of the broader learning environment. Even the best instruction will fall on deaf ears if the learning environment does not allow knowledge to be translated into skills. How do we create effective learning environments in tango?

We can look to other dance forms for inspiration. When I first started dancing, I was fortunate to try many different dance styles and see how each created the learning environments. At one end of the spectrum lies ballet classes, which leverage uniformity to promote learning. Everyone in class does the same movements, and many of the exercises repeat from class to class. This allows everyone to apply the same feedback given by the instructor, and information can be layered across classes to build proficiency. At the opposite end of the spectrum is breakdancing, which leverages individuality. Everyone discovers their unique style and then can share their discoveries with each other and ask for feedback, fostering a culture of collaboration. Dance forms such as ballroom, salsa, or modern dance also have their own approaches to creating learning environments. Each approach has its benefits and requirements to be effective.

At its best, the tango approach to learning combines positive aspects from several different styles. We have classes and seminars to provide a structured progression like ballet classes but can also have sharing and discussion during prácticas like in breakdancing. We have lessons and partner practice like in ballroom, along with the community support and learning like in other social dances. Of course, this is tango at its best. Unfortunately, it is too often the case that the tango learning environment ends up being an ineffective combination of seminars without structure, prácticas without practice, and community without communication.

Consider the pre-milonga class. The community spends good money on good instructors, but the instructors come in without knowledge about the number and level of students, and the students have no control over the difficulty of the class. Instructors often change week to week, meaning the teaching approach can vary dramatically, the feedback can be contradictory, and errors of understanding or retention go uncorrected. If that were not enough, the students do not even have time to practice the material they learn before going directly into the milonga. Festival classes often face these same challenges but also have the added factors of larger classes and sleep deprivation.

Organizers are balancing many aspects of tango that, such as making an event social, showcasing art and artistry, creating an event people come to, and making an event which is profitable and sustainable. It is little wonder that the learning environment occasionally gets neglected. We can’t put the full burden of creating effective learning environments on the organizers and instructors. It is the responsibility of the entire community to create and maintain healthy learning environments.

So, what are some steps a community can take to create better learning environments? It helps to first realize that there are actually multiple spaces that need to be created and coordinated to create an effective learning environment. Learning progresses fastest when there is a good balance between learning, practicing, and doing.[1] In general, practice spaces get the least attention. The simple addition of open floor times and guided prácticas can make a big difference by providing a space for actual practice to occur. At a festival, for example, replacing one of the Sunday class slots with a guided practice would probably be the most valuable use of the teachers’ and participants’ time and energy, because it would give everyone the chance to try out all the new material they have learned over the weekend and correct mistakes while they are still fresh. If, as a community, we value open floor space and guided practices and are willing to pay for them instead of just paying for the flashy classes and workshops, then I am sure organizers would be more than willing to provide such spaces. The different spaces do not need to be part of the same event or held at the same time. A big, generally missed, opportunity for learning comes after a community hosts a workshop or festival. If the community organizes review time in the subsequent weeks for participants to go over, practice, and discuss what they learned, maybe even with the guidance of local instructors, then it can substantially increase the level of retention and understanding.  It is the maestros who hold the workshop, but it is the full community that holdsds together the structures that allow learning from the workshop to occur.

Another important factor to remember is that the needs of a novice are different from the needs of an advanced dancer.[2] Ideally, different environments can be created to address the needs of dancers at different levels. Novice dancers learn well from structured, progressive classes from a consistent instructor whereas intermediate dancers often benefit from being exposed to many different concepts, teachers, and styles. The needs again shift when students transition to an advanced level where they require more mentorship along with goals to continue developing their skills. Opportunities to teach (or assist teaching) and perform are essential for advanced dancers to support their continued growth. At all levels, it is helpful to have a cohort of fellow dancers with whom to train and collaborate.

A final consideration is that not all spaces need to be learning spaces. We sometimes jam learning into places where it would be better to simply focus on connection and enjoyment. Instead of holding a pre-milonga class just because “it is what has always been done,” a community could instead have a pre-milonga cocktail hour to create a space for people to connect socially before the dancing begins.[3] Clear distinctions between learning spaces and enjoyment spaces allow for more focus when it is time to learn, and more fun when it is time to enjoy.

[1] You can read more of my thoughts on the topic of the various types of spaces here: https://tangotopics.org/prepare-your-tango-kitchen/

[2] You can read more of my thoughts on how training needs vary with level here: https://tangotopics.org/teacher-trainer-mentor/

[3] Shoutout to the organizers have started doing creative events such as having a potluck, or wine and cheese tasting before the milonga.  

By sericson0, ago