How to benefit from Tango Workshops?
In everyone’s tango path comes a moment to take the tango workshops with Masters. Professionals who dedicated their lives to dance on the highest possible level. They have clear ideas about technique and style and are very inspiring. Such workshops usually take place on the weekends and consist of 5 classes, each on a different topic. That’s plenty of new ideas, challenging tango sequences, and technical details. How to approach such events to benefit from them the most? I talked about it with Lorena Tarantino and Gianpiero Galdi in a webinar about tango best practices, and here is what we came up with.
1. Attitude
First, check your attitude before you arrive at the dance studio. Make sure you’re open to working on things that are challenging and don’t judge yourself. We all are at a certain point in our path for some reason, and it’s ok to be where you are.
2. Ask questions
Don’t be shy! If you didn’t understand what the teacher just said, ask questions. When you didn’t see the exercise well, ask the teacher to show it again.
3. Take all you can learn today.
Don’t worry if the exercise didn’t work the first time or wasn’t as flawless as you expected. Accept that there will be mistakes on the way and that during a workshop, you’ll hear three kinds of information or tasks. First, that will be easy for you to copy. The second group of exercises will be more challenging, but with some practice, you can achieve it. And the third type of technical elements or concepts is just not for today. Very likely, in the future, you will hear about it again, maybe with similar words, maybe in a different way. You can be confident that one day you will learn it.
4. Make your hands dirty with the stuff.
Even if teachers show complex material, accept that falling into the ground is better than not trying. Taking workshops is often about going out of your comfort zone. Be bold! Don’t be afraid to try even if you feel that you’re far from achieving it quickly. Trying 100% and falling will teach you much more than starting at the 10% engagement in what you’re doing and increasing each time by 5%.
What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.
Confucius
5. Keep calm and have fun
It should be pleasant. It should be an entertaining process. If it’s just a hobby or if it’s a, even if it’s a professional thing, it’s crucial to have fun while learning!
6. Memorize the new knowledge
There are a few methods to prevent forgetting newly learned skills, concepts, or exercises.
- The first that comes to your mind is to record the workshop summary. And yes, it’s great to record the video from the class, but it’s a passive way in which your brain is not processing any information. Only your camera 🙂
- So next time, just after the workshops, sit with your partner and ‘teach’ him or her the things you just learned. Show the movements, describe them in your own words, and correct your partner. Use as many of the ideas and exercises as you remember. Ask your partner to do the same. Together you have bigger chances to repeat the content of the workshops.
- Write down all the new ideas in your tango book. Use drawings, metaphors, associations, sensations, and everything that comes to mind. When, after some time, you will look into it, your memory will replay much more of the details than you think.
7. Practice!
The best way to profit from the workshops or private classes is to practice shortly after. Do it because you still remember a lot, and the concepts are fresh in your head. If you can team up with another couple who participated in the workshops, that’s even better. Simple 🙂
At Tango Flow we took the learning from this talk. After the November Workshops with Lorena and Gianpiero there will be a possibility to practice the new learning during POP UP! PRKTK under the Aneta’s guidance. If you want to get some more tips on practicing check this post with 9 tips to practice like a master.
