The Tangosynthesis Blog
with Graham and Nathalie
A long time ago in a venue far far away...
05 May 2024 - by Graham
Seven years ago today I taught my first ever tango class. I was supposed to be teaching a LeRoc modern jive class in Sevenoaks, but somehow it morphed into tango and... well, the rest is history. Since then we have moved venues a few times, ran our own X/Tango neolongas, watched dancing be made illegal for a year, came back, found our style, and are still going strong. Teaching can be tough sometimes, with lesson preparation, looking for inspiration, wondering if enough people will come to the class, and still having to find something to keep people interested week on week without making things more and more difficult until everyone gets put off. But seeing people having a great time at my classes makes it all worthwhile. It is particularly rewarding when you find something you love doing, and then not only do you get to do it but [read more...]
Three Years of Teaching Dance
19 Sep 2019 - by Graham
It was three years ago today that I opened Jivebeat and taught my first ever dance class. This was not something I’d ever imagined that I would be doing, particularly since I started dancing so much later in life than most of those who end up making a career out of it (I was 42 when I went to my first class), but I knew from the moment I clipped a radio mic to my head and started going through the fundamentals that it was something I was going to enjoy. The story of how I got into dance teaching almost by accident, and how at some point this switched from being all about modern jive to focusing on tango has been told many times before, so I’ll let you read about that elsewhere. But I rarely talk about the ups and downs of running a dance class, and [read more...]
What Makes a Tango Teacher
05 Nov 2017 - by Graham
In my last post I wrote about how I accidentally became a tango teacher and turned Jivebeat from being a Modern Jive club into a Modern Jive and Argentine Tango club. But there has to be more to becoming a tango teacher than standing up and teaching your first class, doesn't there? There must surely be a process to follow or an exam to take? Or is there? Unike LeRoc which has a recognised path to training as a teacher and obtaining a teaching qualification, there is no equivalent qualification available in the UK for Argentine Tango. You can train and qualify as a ballroom tango teacher through the IDTA or other similar bodies, but ballroom tango is not the same as Argentine Tango, and as there are more differences than there are similarities between the two dances a qualification in ballroom tango would be of no real use. [read more...]
The Accidental Tango Teacher
02 Nov 2017 - by Graham
Not many people can say that they became a tango teacher entirely by accident, but that's definitely how it happened in my case. When I first started Jivebeat, I assumed it would always be predominantly about Modern Jive, with maybe a few guest teachers brought in from time to time to demonstrate other dance styles or maybe teach a 'fusion' class. I had qualified as a Modern Jive instructor, and all my efforts were going into developing that style and working out our curriculum. But then one evening in Sevenoaks after a fun but small beginners' class, I asked everyone what they would like to do next. I offered them a more advanced Modern Jive routine, maybe some dips and leans, styling or musicality tops, or perhaps they'd like to try some Argentine Tango. And unanimously they all decided they wanted to try some tango. I had been learning [read more...]
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