[Tango-L] What Does It Take to Dance Tango?

[astrid]

> I believe it is harder for a woman to get good at tango than a man, for
> all the reasons that Astrid mentioned. So ladies, if you are taking
> lessons from someone who has never learned to follow - reconsider!!
>
???
May I add that the man also needs to develiop a dancer's body? Ok, he does
not have to learn to move on those shoes that can at times feel like
something out of a Margaret Atwood novel before you get used to them, but
the man, for all I know, needs even more:
- a dancer's body
- musicality
- knowledge of the male moves
- knowledge of the female moves and how to lead them in relation to his own
- navigation skills
- knowledge how to adjust his embrace and his lead to different bodies and
different dancers

I can't lead, I can only follow. Naturally, there are plenty of men around
know think they know how to walk, how to lead and how to do steps and
believe themselves great dancers. And if something doesn't work, they blame
it all on the follower. And get another one who keeps her mouth shut about
their mistakes.

A good rule of thumb I learned from a porten~a: "If I want to know whether a
man is a good dancer, I look at the face of the woman he is dancing with."

And a reminder to all those who are very confident of their opinions
regarding the non existent necessity of lessons, the stupidity and greed of
teachers, the gullible and neurotic behaviour of those who take lessons and
so on- keep in mind that Socrates's most fanous words are: "I know that I
know nothing."

Frankly
Astrid