yes, we all need it, especially under this sort of climate. Hope luck will come to all of us in 2009.

I'm kinda late to this discussion so I won't get involved. But I did notice a number of interesting comments about local teachers, such as Coleman's opinion that ...

"perhaps we need even more local teachers who can help together. I am sure more than a handful of existing-dancers-not-already-teachers can do this too. This allows tango to reach wider and deeper. The more local teachers for beginngers and improvers the better."

Coleman, I'm sure you're right. After all, how hard can it be? I'm sure just about anyone can teach Tango - right?

Cheers,
Keith

Thanks Keith

You are correct. Teaching beginners are not hard at all. In fact it is more like introducing them to the wonderful world of tango dance and music and to open their eyes. In fact many of us may be able to take them on a bit to keep them in tango, and that is probably as far as local teachers can do and nothing more. That's where argentinean couple should come in.

coleman

Thanks Coleman, but you misunderstand me. My post included a large dose of English sarcasm and wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. Actually, I don’t agree that teaching beginners is at all easy; in fact I find it difficult and challenging. But I’m reminded of something I learned a long time ago – the less you understand something, the simpler and easier it appears to be. Conversely, the more you learn and understand, the more you come to realise how complex the simplest thing can be. A classic example is the Tango Walk, which is the very first thing that beginners will try to learn. A saying in Argentina is that the walk is the first thing you learn in Tango and it will also be the last thing you learn. Unfortunately, if beginners don’t start off with an understanding of the correct basic technique, with a good lead and follow basis, they will continue to struggle with more complex figures that will follow. Another saying from Argentina – ‘figures are easy; walking is hard’. So the instructors teaching beginners have the most difficult job of all, which might be why some teachers shy away from it. It’s quite easy to teach improver/intermediate dancers a new figure, provided the students are well grounded in the basics. If Argentinean visitors really want to make a difference in Hong Kong, they should concentrate on improving basic technique, rather than teaching a bunch of fancy figures. Just my opinion.

Hi Keith,

oh dear, of course i was fully awared of your english sarcasm though i tried to downplay it in my reply. Also, I always find some truth in people's sarcasm and such is the case.

Quoted from yours: "...If Argentinean visitors really want to make a difference in Hong Kong, they should concentrate on improving basic technique, rather than teaching a bunch of fancy figures....". I agree with this exactly and this why I proposed to have argentinean here for a few months or one year. I know how those argentinean work in this short visit like what we have been experiencing in the last 2 years. If one only have 2 weeks to stay and to show off their star quality, who would spend time on teaching the basic and the most fundamental to "bore" the community enough and to kill their chance to be invited the second time? The only choice they have is to teach many fancy figures as possible to impress you and make sure you have fun and then they will be asked to come back the next year.

When Matias and Kara were here for two separate visits of respectively 1 month and 6 weeks around 2004 and 2005, I took a total of 8 hours private (with hingsight, i wish i had taken more)with them just on walking alone, nothing else, this shows how much I realise how important the fundamental really is, though the effect of these intensive privates class only started to come in my body 1 or 2 years later. That is also why in almost 99% of my Guided Practica at Helena May, Fiona and I only teach the most fundamental stuff like walking, embrace, breathing, and even pausing (yes, nothing else). We don't teach fancy steps like "your leg around her neck, her leg around your back plus a 360 degree gancho with boleo" sort of stuff. May be we bored enough people already. Sometimes i do feel most people did not realise how important the fundamental the simple things are. If you want to do "your leg around her neck, her leg around your back, plus a 360 degree gancho with boleo" sort of thing one day, you must sort out your walking and balance right in your early tango life.

And if i am to take on the 3 months argentinean vistors project next year as TT has already approached me on this, I would definitely work closer with the teachers to focus more on the ground buiding work, a whole new type of syllabus and other things.

That's exactly why we want them here for 4 months, 6 months or even 1 year, and definitely nothing as short as 2 or 3 weeks.

Thanks for bringing this up.

excellent, Keith! Walking with Energy----that's what HK tango need! I still remember when I took Javia's class in Tai Pei Tango Festival, I was partnered by Gustavo, it's just simple walk, but with strong energy and musicality, I enjoyed it so much that I would never never forget it!
I discussed about it with Damian y Nancy in Shang Hai and Nancy said, maybe those students don't want to learn because it's so boring compared with fancy figures, especially those leaders with 1 or 3 years experience. It reminds me that when I start tango last year, many leaders want to show off those fancy figures at Practica, when something went wrong, then they start to teach about how to follow. I had no confidence at all until back to HK from my Tango trip in Europe.
Yes, we are lucky as we could dance every night if we want to, but, without energy and musicality, it's a cheap exercise to me :)