2-3 Inverness Mews,
Bayswater,
London,
W2 3JQ
0871 971 3791
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Las Estrellas Tango Club and Studio
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Sadly I have to agree with the previous reviewers as it seems nothing much has changed there. In his own way the teacher can be a sweet man who certainly has many years tango experience. However I got tired of his teaching methods that ultimately delayed my progress.
I am a busy woman and I don't have the patience to be told to go back to my own country if I wanted to dance like that; have orders and criticism barked at me while dancing in front of the whole class as a beginner; and have him sit there having his dinner/wine/coffee while I've paid good money for his time to teach tango.
I have since voted with my feet and progressed much further in tango with the other tango teachers in London who take a far more professional approach.
I have been dancing for over 1 year and I like to take drop-in classes at different schools for new techniques and experiences. In terms of tango, I am still considered as 'green' but I have danced enough to differentiate the good and the bad, and this place was by far the worst school I have been to.
For the 1st half of the 'intermediate' class, the instructor showed us some basic steps and just told us to get on with it while he sat aside chatting to a female student. After about 15 min, he started dancing with her while ignored us completely. This went on for a long time and I was losing my patience because I did not expect this in an 'intermediate ' level class.
Finally, he stopped us and started to pick on random female students to dance with him. He would correct each one in front of the class until she got it right, meanwhile, we just sat and watched.
The last 1/2 hour was even more of a torture because he just rambled on about his ex-students and then demonstrated on his own. Again, we just sat, listened and watched.
The night was boring, boring and boring! There was no structure to the class and he didn't teach us any new movements or techniques. He only concentrated on correcting the female students while they were far better than some of the guys there.
I think the instructor needs to get out of his cave and see what is going on in schools around town. For an extra 2 or 5 pounds, I could get much better lesson elsewhere with teachers who are more dynamic and committed ... Like the previous reviewer, I would not go back to there again!
The instructor does not make learning to tango fun. There's a mandatory £40 payment for the first 4 lessons and you're locked in.
Many people I saw in the first class never returned for another. I managed to attend three beginner classes. The sessions start when the instructor arrives 10-15 minutes late upon his assumption that students will be late.
The rest of the class consists of him talking about the concepts of tango in the centre of the circle of participants as they try not to fall asleep on their feet.
Periodically he picks a female student, holds them in a close embrace and gets her to follow his moves.
He will then correct her in front of the entire class over and over and over until she gets is 'almost' right and he lets go back to her place in the circle.
Having never taken dance lessons, it's hard to get your body to understand what the instructor is trying to get you to do.
And with no practice, being asked to perform in front of everybody, then repeatedly corrected brings even more anxiety than having to public speak in an auditorium of people.
To add to this, I'm not sure why the men in the class bother turning up. Their feet must be tired from standing for the whole class, watching the girls get criticised one after the other for the whole two hours.
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