Qualifications

Caveat: this article applies to the UK only.

Introduction

"As a doctor, I have an obligation to tell the truth. Come to think of it, as a person I have that obligation as well."~ Surgeon General Millicent Griffith, The West Wing

What makes me qualified to be a Tango Teacher? Well, nothing. On the other hand, nothing similarly makes me qualified to be a, you know, person...

Don't get me wrong. I'm very much in favour of tango teachers being able to teach tango well. And I think that many of the tango teachers around do not teach tango well. So I guess firstly, I should take a step back and define what I "teaching tango well" means to me.

To me, you're teaching tango well if your students are progressing in the dance quickly, and are quickly able to dance socially, enjoying the music, the embrace, and dancing safely and comfortably with their partners. So my gut feeling is that tango teachers should be assessed based on their results - their students.

Of course, this is quite difficult to measure or quantify, and almost impossible to test or assess against. Students may not be with you for long, they may / will find other teachers, and they may have other factors which make assessment more difficult. Teachers in a school can be assessed based on the performance of their students, as these teachers are the only source of that learning, and as schools are closed, mandatory-learning environments. Tango teachers, not so much.

In addition, the criteria I've provided are subjective - or at least, are difficult to measure and are open to different interpretations.

So, so much for that then...

What qualifications are available?

In the UK, the only "official" qualification in teaching Argentine Tango offered by any established dance organisation is from the IDTA.

The definition of Argentine Tango from the IDTA reads as follows:

"Argentine Tango
Argentine Tango was born in Buenos Aires and is a raw and authentic dance which, like many Latin dances, explores and tests the relationship between man and woman. In Tango the man and woman are equal and with the movements weaving contact and separation, the dance suggests that either partner may be seduced. In Europe, we have translated the original Argentine Tango into the Ballroom Tango."

Hmmm... well, let's leave that one standing for a second.

They sell an accompanying a book and DVD, entitled "ARGENTINE TANGO - A GUIDE TO BASICS AND BEYOND".

The books are written - and the syllabus has presumably been designed - by Stefanos & Valentina - that's Stefanos Chatzigeorgiou & Valentina Dragatsi. Stefanos and Valentina appear to be based in Greece, so I guess that validates the whole "International" part of "IDTA"...

To avoid turning this article into a review of a syllabus, I'll keep it brief. To me, the ITDA syllabus will not be at all helpful in training Tango teachers, and there are no other established dance-teaching organisations offering anything along these lines.

So effectively, there are no useful "official qualifications" available in the UK.

Well, OK, so what about training?

So much for certificates and qualifications. But what about actual training programmes?

Well, it turns out, similarly, there's a dearth of tango teacher training programmes available. Which is not really surprising - there's no overall "organisation" in the UK, and so any such training would have to be run by individual teachers. And why would you want to train up potential competitors?

That said, there are a few possibilities - for example, Cambridge Tango offer a "Teacher shadowing" programme. Similarly, the El Corte school in Holland offers a "Teacher training week" every couple of years.

But effectively, opportunities are few and far between in this area also.

So how do teachers learn to teach?

So, no qualifications. No training. How on Earth does anyone ever learn to teach Tango?

Well, it's a tricky one. If you look at the CV of a typical tango teacher, you'll find out a lot of information on:

  • How long they've been dancing
  • Who they studied under
  • Where they've performed / toured

(I did a spoof version of this approach here, if you'd like a laugh)

Which is all well and good to explain why they're great dancers.

However, what you're unlikely to ever find is any information about where and when they've been trained as teachers. And as we've now seen, this is because - by and large - they simply haven't been trained as teachers in any formal manner.

Of course, that doesn't make them bad teachers. Or good teachers, for that matter. It simply means that most tango teachers are teaching purely based on their personal experience, opinions and skillset. Sometimes, they may outline their philosophy - or even describe their learning structure and class topics. But those will almost always be simply personal approaches.

Well that's a bit rubbish, isn't it?

When you tell people all this, they are often disappointed. After all, would you want your child to be taught Maths by someone who could add up really quickly and stylishly, but who had no formal teacher qualifications or experience?

Well, no. But...

Firstly, when learning any topic, I would at minimum want a teacher to have some level of competence in that topic, and to be able to both demonstrate and exercise that talent as required as part of the teaching process. You can't explain a topic if you don't understand it, and if you can't demonstrate how to do it yourself, you can't expect your students to learn how to do it. This is especially relevant in the area of physical movement, of course. So being able to dance - at least to a competent level - is a good prerequisite to have.

Secondly, Argentine Tango is a living dance - like other current social dances, it constantly evolves and changes, and adapts over time. There is a valid argument to be made that too much standardisation / codification / formalisation of the dance (which would be inevitable if you want to develop a standard learning structure) will reduce this flexibility, and stifle innovation. I'm not saying I agree with that argument - personally I think there's a nice middle ground available - but it's certainly a valid point of view.

Thirdly, it's not school, it's a social activity. And a competitive one at that - there are plenty of different Tango teachers around, each with different styles. There is, again, an argument to say that a student might want to "dance X's style".

All that said, there's really no reason why teachers should not be able to describe and publicize what they teach and the style in which they teach it. And they, for the most part, do not do this.

Me, me, it's all about ME!

So, to get back to me for a second, I have no qualifications to teach tango. Neither does any other tango teacher, really.

But I have a Syllabus , and I have class notes for each week. I'll develop further with my learning structure, and my students should be able to see what they learnt, and the context for the topics, for the classes they do each week.

Which, I think, is a good start.