Dancing in Context, Part I

Like personal engagements with many forms of art, deciding whether to learn about the history of Argentine Tango depends largely on what type of relationship one wants with the dance. One need not be an expert on the difference in time signature or tempo between valses and milongas or on the effects of the anti-Peronist political coup on the popularity and accessibility of tango music and social dancing, for example, to be attracted to and enjoy taking tango classes or dancing socially or to spectating dance or musical performances. And it would be reductive to argue that knowing this information equates to more proficient dancing. This does not mean, however, that there is little value in historical and contextual investigation. In fact, I argue that knowing about the historical and rhetorical context of any part of our lives better equips us to articulate the reasons for our life choices. And this is exactly the point. Having access to knowledge can help us establish, however tentatively, what kind of relationship we want with the dance, what kind of students and teachers and dancers we are and want to be, and what tango adds to our lives. This, of course, can change as our dancing experiences and dancing relationships change, and it is within this adventure that the beauty of the art lies.

Creating a framework for how to think about my involvement with Argentine Tango has become particularly useful to me as I continue to study and dance. For example, thinking about tango as social expression has helped me ground my study as anti-competitive. This may seem a bit counterintuitive. One might think that emphasizing the social interactions--meeting new people, connecting with friends and enemies, developing dancing and community relationships--encourages dancers to compare abilities and styles in a competitive manner. And perhaps, for some, it does. But what is useful for me here is thinking about the way people danced in Argentina during what is referred to as the Golden Age of Tango, roughly mid-1930's to mid-1950's. Although the cultural memory of Argentine Tango is at times uncertain (like many other discussions of "what really happened" in any culture's history), it is generally understood that dancing tango during this time was the most common form of social expression; that is, going out to milongas is just what people did. Various styles of dancing and music developed, accessible and specialized, and they were shared and mystified, but they existed and drew people to dance and socialize nightly. Although we are in a very different cultural moment now in the United States, understanding tango with this frame--as one method to express sociality--takes the pressure off me to compete with other dancers and, most simply and most importantly, makes dancing and learning more fun.

Understanding this social context has also helped me better determine with what type of teacher I want to study. I want to learn with instructors who emphasize physical technique and vocabulary that are useful in a social and improvised environment instead of those who load up students with memorized steps that ignore the pragmatics of dancing with different partners outside of that particular class. Although I may have been able to figure this out on my own, my formal knowledge has certainly complemented the inexpressible feelings I have in my gut about what constitutes a "good" learning experience from a "weird" one, and it gives me a context for decisions based on those experiences.

I first wanted to learn to dance Argentine Tango out of curiosity. I became romantically involved with a dance teacher, and I wanted to know more about what his life was like--as much as I could as a beginning student. This wasn't very long ago, and I continue to study as a beginning learner, having already satiated my inquiry into my steady's line of work. I realize this story isn't very interesting, but what I think is worth discussing are the reasons one continues to study Argentine Tango despite its physical and sociocultural inaccessibility. Understanding a bit about our relationships with tango through learning about its history is perhaps one avenue into feeling encouraged and motivated to continue learning and, eventually, to finding our own voices.

About the Author: Ms. Roach is an avid dancer in the Seattle Tango community. She also teaches tango through the The 8th Style School of Tango. Learn more about tango lessons by visiting www.the8thstyle.com.

Beginning Teacher Policy

The philosophy behind The 8th Style’s policy of hiring beginning level dancers as beginning level teachers is something we’ve arrived at over long consideration and years of experience. It is not without controversy, however.

In the world of tango it is often a source of debate as to what exactly qualifies someone as a teacher, as there are no clear parameters defining this, nor are there any institutions that are unanimously accepted as having the authority to certify dancers as teachers. As it goes, the most important factor in becoming a tango teacher is simply wanting to do so. Wanting to teach tango is also a critical factor in our next topic of inquiry, which is: what makes a tango teacher a “good” tango teacher?

To answer this we must first figure out what we mean by a “good” tango teacher. Most would agree that “good” would mean effective in teaching people how to dance. But what kind of people? What kind of dance? Some teachers are great at teaching sophisticated combinations for dancers who already have their basics down. Some teachers excel with choreography and communicating the nuances of performance style tango. Some think like engineers, and bring analytical types right along. There are milonguero geniuses; there are salon geniuses. There are those who are able to teach anyone just about anything, few though they may be, and even more rare still are those who are both extraordinary dancers as well as extraordinary teachers. Some teachers are great at teaching beginners.

The key lies in “will”. A heartfelt passion for teaching a particular type of person a particular type of tango will inevitably evolve into an excellence in that arena. But would anyone teach if they didn’t really want to? Seemingly, no, yet it happens so frequently in the world of tango that one has to wonder why. Most likely, all teachers start out enthusiastic, and some remain so, but something that so easily becomes your entire community and often a major or sole source of income is bound to transform from a invigorating hobby to a dire necessity. And time roles on. Beginners continue to pour through classes, the same concepts are taught week after week, year after year, and the teacher’s enthusiasm wanes to scarcity. Perhaps they find themselves giving brilliant performances, and lackluster, formulaic classes. This is not an uncommon thing in the tango world.

So who makes an effective teacher for beginners? Sometimes veteran tango stars of the stage make excellent beginning teachers and otherwise. Rumor has it from multiple sources that Pablo Veron gives an excellent introductory class, rare though the occurrence may be. Eva and Patricio, fresh out of Forever Tango, gave remarkable beginner’s technique during their tenure in Seattle. More than anything we must remember that absolute beginners are not tango dancers. To become tango dancers they need inspiration more than anything, and it’s a fine line between inspiring and scaring students away with the complexity and sophistication of the dance. A teacher who dances well using material simple enough that it may be just within reach of the student’s comprehension will have no trouble creating inspiration given the presence of the most important and infectious qualifier: a passion for the material and the process of teaching it. And so we come back to the aforementioned enthusiasm.

From this we can determine that dancers who have been dancing for a period of time long enough to develop clean, simple vocabulary that they know inside and out, but not so long that become burned out, jaded, or detached from there own early development in tango, and who are excited to pass what they’ve learn on to others who are less experienced, are the ideal candidates to teach absolute beginners. Some people remain engaged and connected to their early roots in tango even after years and even decades, but they are so few that if we only studied with them, no one would learn tango. The 2004 estimate of Seattle’s population was 572, 600. A few hundred dance tango. Anyone who would like to see the local tango scene grow in skill level would have to concede that the talent pool needs to grow. Besides, the more people involved in tango, the more fun, with bigger venues, more people to dance with, and whole a lot of energy in the scene.

The more beginning teachers the better, as long as they meet the above criteria, and have a clear, effective system that gives the students the skills they came to learn. This is what we’re going for at The 8th Style. Good teachers, good dancers, and a thriving tango community for everyone to enjoy.

About the Author: Jaimes Friedgen is a renowned tango dancer and founder of The 8th Style School of Tango. Learn more about tango lessons and Seattle Tango by visiting www.the8thstyle.com.