If this was a good experience, you were lucky.  Many are not lucky enough to find Tango teachers that inspire, and a great many potentially good dancers give up in their early days.  There are things to avoid and ways to improve your learning of this beautiful dance, and hopefully you’ll find what works for you.

Finding a Teacher
Learning Tango is challenging for everyone, and some teachers may be great dancers but simply don’t have the necessary skills in coaching adults, or adapting to individuals’ learning styles.

Remember – learning tango means exposing yourself to being a beginner. Some may find this extremely difficult. Many will have been, or still are professional working people, used to having responsibilities of their own, anything from taxi-drivers to consultants. Some, as we frequently come across, may even be teachers in their own professional field.

There will be challenges, so don’t under-estimate just how difficult this can be.

There are specific skills for teaching adults tango, many of whom will be older and retired. What they will all have in common is their differing ways of learning, processing and assimilating information, body movements etc. Some may even have physical difficulties in movement or hampered by medication.

Do ask around and do some research to find the best place. Going to a community just because it’s close to home may not be the best choice.

Who Teaches the Teacher?
Certificates don’t exist. There are no exams. Some may undertake training from people who give their seal of approval, others migrate into teaching – all with good intentions.

As there is no barrier of entry, no official recognition or standardised way of teaching, what is often taught is going to be largely based on their personal learning experience of tango.

So, there will be many teachers, and many teaching this dance in a variety of ways. It’s important to begin your Tango journey by finding teachers who work for you.

Coaching tango requires a different mind-set and skills compared to those of an instructor or teacher.   A vital skill is managing individuals’ learning preferences and processes as well as the class as a whole.  This does take knowledge & skill.

For those aspiring to become coaches contact us for more details – here

Tango is a difficult dance in the beginning for both leaders and followers, but you don’t want that difficulty made more complicated by working at a pace that’s too fast, or with too much new information all in one go. It’s best to learn in small chunks, so long choreographed sequences are not a good idea – especially in the early days.

If you’ve been beguiled by ‘Strictly’, Tango Shows, or Demonstrations on social media, remember that these are performances to be watched. Tango that is suitable for dancing at social events is much simpler, and suitable for all ages. We would recommend the Salon-style as the best place to start.

Quite often teachers cram too much into their class in the mis-guided belief that they are giving more value. If all you’re doing is choreographed sequences, in other words “the-move-of-the-week”, invariably at a quick pace with too much content, it’s not your fault if you can’t to keep up, or are getting overloaded. This often results in you being overwhelmed and under taught, with little focus on technique. Worse is ending up feeling that you’ll never get the hang of it, you’re too slow or cannot grasp the dance.  Losing confidence is a common reason people give up – not a good way to learn Tango.  Ask them to slow down or find someone else.

I’ve attended quite a few workshops and classes as a leader, and I can honestly say the emphasis is mainly to show the steps, but not how to lead them.   This has to change.

Without integrating the lead as well as the steps, it’s difficult even remembering what you’ve just been taught, let alone how you connect and communicate with your partner.

It’s far harder for any leader to learn tango, so it’s crucial that valuable time is spent on leaders to improve the quality of leaders.

It’s very important to avoid the trap of choreographed moves. Social dancing of tango is an improvised dance. You need a collection of single elements which you learn individually, then learn how to combine them in an innovative way.  It’s the only way not to get stuck in a cycle of sequences.

Don’t stay if you feel you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of routines – find someone else!

Mixed level classes – these can cause you additional problems.  Some teachers say ‘just come along and join in’. ‘Drop in’ or mixed level classes can be difficult for new starters.

Your needs as a beginner are hugely different to those dancers already familiar with tango, and you may find it difficult to develop the necessary skills and technique in mixed classes. It can also damage your confidence to be thrown in the deep end.

Beware also of well-intentioned dancers who try to “teach” you moves on the hoof. These individuals do not have any of the essential technical work or experience to do this. If in doubt decline elegantly.

Private Lesson – a good idea is to invest in a private lesson with one or two potential teachers. This could enable you to become familiar with the basic foundation techniques before joining in their existing weekly class. Also you’ll get to see if they coach you in way that suits you. More about private lessons – here

Most good teachers have a first programme of several weeks which are dedicated to learning the foundation elements. The time will be spent learning either leading / following in the embrace. Working on posture, balance, axis, connection, starting, stopping, walking, side steps, weight change, cut step, and varying these steps in an innovative way so they are immediately available to you. You need to get used to navigating around the floor and the other dancers. And becoming familiar with a variety of tango music.

There’s quite a lot to cover so don’t expect miracles overnight. Other elements will then be added, so be patient – making progress in tango is often a mixture of static periods then breakthroughs. The learning curve can be unpredictable.

Practice – the single biggest factor in making progress – and by a long way – is PRACTICE! Do this on your own at home. You do not need a partner. Both leaders and followers need to learn their individual skills – individually!

You cannot expect to get very far in Tango with just one hour once a week. Even a few minutes a day will help fix things in your mind and muscle memory ready for the next lesson.

You do need a certain level of commitment to get started and to be a good learner – remember, teachers have limited time in class, so practice your technique on your own at home.

Some communities have practice time at the end of the evening, so take advantage of that time to start getting it into your muscle memory. Teachers will often do a recap of the class at the end – many students video this on their phones to help them with their daily practice.

Where to Practice – there are also Guided Prácticas and Prácticas which are an ideal supplement to your classwork. But use them to practise – not just as informal social dances. More about those – here

Once you begin to grasp the basic foundations and want to move on, your mixed weekly class may be holding you back.  Some teachers have a second class where you can progress and move on from the basic foundation elements.  This is worth researching.

Finally, practice wisely.  You need to concentrate and pay attention to what you’re doing.  You may have heard that Practice makes Perfect?  Well actually it doesn’t!  Practice makes permanent.  What you do repeatedly is what your body learns and remembers.

To dance Tango well you may need to change some things about how you walk, move, your posture etc. If you just keep doing what you’ve always done, don’t expect to get different results.  Something has to change!

Private Lessons – if you would like our help with contact me – here

Remember
good foundation skills are the pre-requisite to becoming a good dancer – there are no short cuts

“We don’t teach tango – We teach People tango”