Why especially beginners need the best Tango teachers

Asking around in tango schools, one quite often finds that the beginners' courses are not held by the most experienced tango teachers but by their "assistants". These are often advanced level students of the tango school who have been around for some time and now try themselves as teachers.
Of course they teach "only" the beginners, because "for that you do not yet have to be so experienced in Tango...".
This is a big mistake.

What is important in Argentine Tango

Many things can go wrong in a beginners' class for Argentine Tango. This will decide whether a participant is frustrated and will stop dancing after a short time, or whether the foundation is laid to really enjoy the dance.

To learn the basics well is even more important in Argentine Tango than in dancing ballroom or salsa.
In the latter you have a pattern of steps that can be learned quite fast. However whether you can really dance just following these patterns is a different question, even in ballroom or salsa.

Argentine Tango is an improvised dance and fixed patterns of steps are not important, at least not for the majority of the dancers who see dancing as their hobby. Only if you plan a professional tango show you need to develop a well-defined choreography.
Therefore it is not enough to let beginners learn step sequences. They are not at all helpful in "real Tango life" when you dance on the dancefloor with many other couples around.

It is much more important to learn the communication between the partners, the inner and outer posture, the ability to listen to the music and to move in harmony with all the other couples on the dance floor .

To get all this across to a beginner so he or she can understand it, a Tango teacher needs lots of experience. He must have dealt extensively with the peculiarities of Tango Argentino and he must be able to grasp what each individual student needs. - Not an easy task at all.

Beginners should not be taught by less experienced junior tango teachers, but by the best. This of course does not mean that intermediate or advanced level tango dancers do not need a good teacher. But who has once learned the essential base of Argentine Tango from a good teacher, will be able to judge the quality of a tango teacher. He or she can quickly assess whether a lesson is really helpful, or whether it is better to switch to another teacher.

What makes a good tango teacher ?

Wolfgang Sandt has made it his mission to teach beginners the basics of Argentine Tango so that each of his students after a short time can move safely and with confidence on the dance floor. He reduces the tango to its basic elements, which are fast to learn and can be danced easily and with fun. His main objective is a harmonious and stress-free dancing, not only when practicing in the classroom but also in "real Tango life ", i.e. on the dance floor, in line with all the other couples.

Many of the participants in Wolfgang Sandt's workshops already dance in a public dance event (so called Milonga) on the evening of their first day of classes. They are surprised and pleased that this really works. And they do not have to hide from the other dancers with longer dancing experience, even if they are not perfect yet of course.

This is a tremendously liberating experience. It strengthens their confidence in their own abilities. Dancing Tango and having fun become synonymous from the very beginning.

Tango Holidays for beginners and improvers at La Rogaia

Wolfgang Sandt regularly teaches Tango classes at Villa La Rogaia in Umbria.

Here are the dates for the courses 2014:

June 14 to 21 : Tango course for absolute beginners
June 21 to 28 : Tango course for improvers
September 27 to October 4 : Tango course for improvers
October 25 to November 1 : Tango course for improvers

All courses are also suitable for dancers who want to refresh their basic skills in Argentine Tango.

Since there are only a few availabilities left in the above mentioned weeks, we recommend to sign up as soon as possible.

P. S. A tango holiday for a week (or even two) has the inestimable advantage that you can dedicate yourself completely to dancing. You will have three hours of lessons per day and in the evening you can practice what you have learned.

During a Tango holiday you have plenty of  time and will learn faster and more intensly in a relaxed atmosphere, in contrast to evening classes at home once a week, where you might have forgotten the week after what you learned the week before.