As I have been guilty of promulgating this myth I feel I should clarify one or two points.

For the past two years my introductory tango class has been a repeating 8 week cycle. The idea is that the student works through the cycle a couple of times until they are comfortable and confident. On the first pass things are new to them, on the second familiar and by the third they should be getting to grips with tango. It should also be mentioned that there are things that get covered in every class, underlining their importance. The cycle is in no way an exhaustive examination of tango but it does cover enough to establish a good foundation and allow dancers to get around a floor.

To put it simply it’s not that I think someone can learn tango in 8 classes but that there are 8 lessons to be learned. How many times the student needs to receive the lesson before they learn it is up to them.

…and now to digress.

The argument is about needing 8 classes. “The 8-week myth” implies taking one class a week. A student will not learn to tango in 8 weeks at one class a week. Why, because the distance between classes is too much. Muscle memory will not build quick enough. If the student takes two classes a week then they will learn quicker. Muscle memory will develop faster. Do not jump to the conclusion that taking two classes a week will allow you to learn tango in half the time or that taking four classes a week will get you there in a quarter of the time. Humans are not linear systems and the law of diminishing return kicks in rather quickly. At two classes a week the body will not have forgotten the lessons it learned in the previous class and at the same time the brain will have had enough time to absorb their implication.

Of course this is all academic as I am now changing to a one class method.

Week 1: Standing up straight, feet together, moving your weight from your heels to the balls of your feet by drifting your torso forward and back.

Week 2: Close embrace, standing in. Maybe just a little shifting of weight in time with the music.

Week 3: Taking the first step. No more, just repeatedly taking one side step or forward step.

Week 4: Walking.

Week 5: Half time, double time, and check steps.

Week 6: Pivoting her axis.

Six weeks and all you need to remember to tango. Less than Mr Vidort’s eight lessons. Everything else you’ll pick up by observation and experimentation.

Of course it would never work. After being told to wobble their weight for a week there would be a flurry of gathered coats and the sound of a flapping door as people ran down the street to sign up for an unending series of steps that they would forget by the next class.

Geraldine Rojas & Ezequiel Paludi (www.ezequielygeraldin.com) performing at the Tango Fiesta Summer Ball (www.tangofiestadublin.ie)

Yes your initial experiences in tango will take you out of your ‘comfort zone’, possibly both physically and otherwise. The mistake that is made is to presume that that initial discomfort is part of tango. It is not. Tango is fun. Tango is pleasurable. Tango is about pleasing your partner.

So when whoever you are learning from talks about good posture; listen to them. Stand up straight, relax, let your skeleton do the work not your muscles, breath. Then, and only then, embrace your partner. Ask yourself are you comfortable, is your partner comfortable. Even better ask your partner if they’re comfortable. Tango is playtime not work and if you’re making it hard work then you are not doing it right.

Just because…