Re: [TANGO-L] Teaching Ballroom and Argentine Tangos

[Tango Guy <tangomundo55 @YAHOO.COM>]

Michael; It would be a nice idea to solicit other Tango-L subscribers' experience and thoughts about Argentine Tango (AT) as taught by Ballroom teachers. These experiences could then be included in your USABDA article.

One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that there are many legitimate Ballroom teachers and dance studios who teach AT well and teach it correctly. One of my own AT teachers is also a Ballroom teacher and dancer as well as being a fine advanced AT dancer. There IS fraudulent teaching of AT that unfairly casts a bad light on legitimate Ballroom teachers and studios. But one needs to be careful of accusing anyone of fraud. There is a style of legitimate BT that gets called "Argentine Tango". It is the standard BT with AT-like steps and figures added. (Perhaps this needs to be called Argentine Style Ballroom Tango or something else less confusing. Any suggestions?) In addition, for a long time, before our own Argentine Tango became popular in the US, regular BT was often called "Argentine Tango" to emphasize the Argentine origin of Tango and not to deceive anyone. There is much confusion between these "Argentine Tangos" and fraudulent-hearted teachers are capitalizing on the
 current popularity of AT and on the confusion of  the general public to make money. Both BT and AT teachers need to make sure their students understand the dangers and the differences so they are protected and not mislead.

Warm Regards
Tango Guy



"Sa, Na-W, Na-C, Na-E, Misc" <tangomaniac @JUNO.COM> wrote:
Barbara Garvey wrote about ballroom teachers who teach Argentine Tango
and wonders about their teaching skills.
I agree with you Barbara. I've seen some ballroom teachers teach AT as if
it was a ballroom dance, NEVER mentioning close embrace or even lining up
buttons to buttons. I laugh at their attempts to teach parada when the
two partners are so far apart. Well, I'm getting my revenge on these
imposters who teach AT.

I've started writing a column for the United States Amateur Ballroom
Dance Association's (USABDA) bi-monthly magazine. My next article is
called "It's Argentine Tango, Stupid" which describes several differences
between American and Argentine Tangos. (The title is a take off of the
Jim Carville's slogan in Bill Clinton's presidential campaign "It's the
economy, stupid.") It will be interesting to see if the editor prints
it.

Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
Counting the days to the NY Tango Festival July 24-27.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
REMINDER: Announcements of Tango events or products should be sent to
Tango-A and not to TANGO-L. To subscribe to Tango-A, send the
command "subscribe Tango-A Firstname Lastname" to LISTSERV @MITVMA.MIT.EDU.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
















---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Send "Where can I Tango in <city>?" requests to Tango-A rather than to
Tango-L, since you can indicate the region. To subscribe to Tango-A,
send "subscribe Tango-A Firstname Lastname" to LISTSERV @MITVMA.MIT.EDU.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------