Arts and Entertainment | Dance
Tango Finally Finds Its Comfort Zone at Columbia
By Catherine Rice • March 3, 2009 at 9:01 AM
By Catherine Rice • March 3, 2009 at 9:01 AM
If you don't like to dance, then you're probably the perfect candidate for Robin Thomas's Thursday night tango classes in 304 Barnard Hall.
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Robin Thomas has been teaching Argentine tango at universities around the country for years with weekly classes at Princeton and Yale. He began the classes at Columbia only two years ago, and they've since grown to accommodate beginners in a class at 8 p.m., intermediate dancers at 9 p.m., and a practica (practice) session at 10 p.m. in which anyone can experiment with newly learned steps.
Thomas works to make tango more accessible by breaking down steps in a non-stressful environment. Using the philosophy of the "five essential steps," Thomas gets his students to focus more on connecting with their partners and the music rather than worrying about sequences. "You don't need to do very much because tango is more about connection and entertaining your partner with musicality rather than doing complicated patterns that you've memorized," he said. Therefore, the stereotypical image of dancers working to impress audiences with intensely prepared technical steps does not apply.
The class is structured so that during the warm-up exercises, steps are broken down into simpler elements and practiced individually. The dancers stand all together in the beginning in a more open embrace. Then, later on, the dancers work in pairs, and there is a more closed embrace that defines the connection between the two partners. Thomas's teaching partner, Kyra Mares, described this connection between partners as very special and unique with a lot of "unspoken communication."
Thomas also believes that Argentine tango lends itself particularly well to accessibility by virtue of its organic quality. "There is a connection in Argentine tango that I don't feel in other dances ... There's a lot of improvisation and creativity, and an almost unlimited number of possibilities for what you can do," Thomas said. The dancers work to enjoy moving with each other and with the music in a natural way rather than trying to compete in a more specialized atmosphere. "I don't know how to dance, but I know how to tango," Mares said.
The tango classes represent a way of teaching and learning that can only occur in the unique environment of the University. Thomas and Mares enjoy teaching students because the students are both quick to learn and sociable. "We try to make it funny, make people laugh. You don't have to be a dancer, we aim it towards something that everybody can do," Mares said. This is especially true of the practica, which gives dancers the opportunity to experiment with steps they've learned in class while working with more experienced dancers that may not attend the classes but will attend the practica. It also allows Thomas and Mares to give students personal attention, helping them with particular moves without having to follow a schedule.
There is the sense between Thomas and Mares that tango dancers live in an alternate world, a place that is removed from the trivialities and weariness of everyday life and reality. It is for this reason that Thomas enjoys teaching students at Barnard and Columbia—because he believes that students don't live in the real world, and he finds it easier to connect with them when teaching. Mares, on the other hand, tries to bring tango "down-to-earth" by "simplifying it and making connections with everyday life things. These people are in the real world and they're coming into our world, and it's hard to understand what we're talking about."
Whatever world the teachers and students live in, the tango community at Columbia is one that is established and one that is determined to have a good time. In the practica, Thomas and Mares get to put some names to the faces that they've been teaching during classes. "We see all these faces every day, and we like to sit down and figure out what they do. It's great to get to know our students," Mares said.
Thomas and Mares simply hope that their emphasis on teaching young people will foster a growth in the tango community on Columbia's campus as well as at other universities and in the greater New York City area. "I've been teaching at Columbia for two years, and I feel as though we're just getting at the beginning. It's just about to begin growing a lot."
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