Re: [TANGO-L] Detecting sham and incompetent Teachers

[Bruce Stephens <bruce @CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>]

Tango Guy <tangomundo55 @YAHOO.COM> writes:

[...]

> I have attempted to create an exhaustive list but if I have left
> anything out, please let me know. All helpful comments and critiques
> are welcome and requests for clarifications will be honored.

You didn't mention (or barely mentioned) social dancing.  Good tango
teachers ought to dance socially, and ought to emphasize the necessity
of dancing socially, including dancing at events run by competing
teachers.

Similarly, good teachers will (in places where this happens) keep an
eye on which teachers are visiting and recommend the good ones.

[...]

> 9)A teacher doesn't name techniques, figures and steps that are
> being taught. (Terms and names are best given in Spanish because a
> foreign language is freer of the non-tango related connotations and
> associations then ones own native language has.)  If a teacher
> doesn't know the names of what he is teaching, one needs to wonder
> how much the teacher actually knows.

On the other hand, one shouldn't rely too much on names.  Many things
just don't seem to have names, and some have a variety of names.  (One
teacher explained that all figures have a name: they're all called
"this one", as in "have you seen this one?".)

[...]