03/03/2017
Studio Traditions Part 1 - Mark Hoeben
I'll never forget first learning Tango from Mark in 2002/3 when I was still dancing in Cape Town City Ballet. How wonderful were those classes and Milongas that were held in "The Valve". (…and what happened to that extraordinary venue...? It was probably one of the most beautiful in the city!)The world of Tango held a special allure seen against the daily technical focus in the classic sense that marks the day of a ballet dancer. In Tango there was something warmer, something more "human" and a little nostalgic that drew me. I also remember how hard I found it to change from "Ballet mode" to Tango class. But Mark and Ina Wichterich (who also taught us at UCT School of Dance as Contemporary Guest Teacher at that stage) enchanted me. I remember Mark emphasizing the organic movement, the authenticity and the focus on connection and it made me remember why I fell in love with dance in the first place: because of the FEELING it gave me when the music played and you started moving. It was a world away from the world of Professional Ballet and I loved it.
I remember Mark's insistence on having us walk, walk walk and walk and how it sometimes frustrated me because I didn't understand back then that he was instilling the fundamental basis in us the same way that Mr. Miyagi did in “The Karate Kid”. This is something that Mark was - and still is! - unyieldingly pedantic about and it is something that is extremely valuable, but also something that some people (still) don't understand about his method. It is also, incidentally, a trait that I have come to accept as the mark of genius in many of my best teachers across all disciplines over the years.
Mark has always actually been an accomplished actor. He started dancing Tango in London as a development from standard Ballroom & Latin, which he also used to teach. He describes himself during his own early Tango years as "an actor searching for essence" because he felt somewhat disillusioned with the rigidity and schmaltzy quality that he felt was often a characteristic of the Ballroom world. I will always remember Mark saying, "They may find Argentine harder, but at least they're not just doing steps - they're dancing!". (Not to take anything away from Ballroom dancing, which I also still teach.). I remember him speaking of people missing contact in contemporary society and finding it again in Tango. And I remember him saying the following, which to this day I find to be true in my own studio:
"The people who are willing to walk are the people who will stay."
I guess that Mark was the guy who made me fall in love with Tango. He was the first to lead me down that rabbit hole. I’ll always be appreciative of that.
