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

[Christopher L. Everett]

Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
> This is somehat true, Christopher.  You've studied
> authentic movement, correct? 
No, I haven't.  I do pay attention to what's going on with
my body, especially as I walk, because I'm working on my
posture.  But as I have watched more than one modern dancer
become tango teacher mess up every single one of their
students, I'm quite leary of introducing ideas from other
disciplines into tango.
>  Getting good quality of
> movement in real life is the same between the genders but
> adding in leading/following for tango brings in
> differences.
>
> There exists a preponderance of different movements between
> the different genders.  For example, men don't walk
> backwards nearly as much as women.  The technique for that
> is different between the genders (men do not extend their
> back leg as much).
Extending the leg backwards more than a little bit forces
the body to lean forward and put weight on both feet to
keep from falling over.  Big no-no.  Aside from wearing
heels taller than they are stable on (endemic to tango
everywhere), excess leg extension is the major reason
women hang off men's shoulders.

The place to get the extra distance a woman needs to match
the longer stride of men (aside from men taking somewhat
shorter steps) is the push off from the trailing leg.  A
bigger push-off allows her to reach back more without
losing equilibrium, just like stepping forward.  But short
men leading tall women would step backwards the same way.

It is instructive that Mimi taught both men and women how
to walk walk forwards and backwards using the same exercises.
To do them without falling over, you had to stand on one
foot securely and use your knees and hips and the muscles
of the inner thigh.
>   Regarding spinal movement, for men,
> it's more bottom-up, whereas with women, it is more
> top-down.
Haven't much looked at that.  I can think of several
places where the twist has to go top down for me,
though.
>   There are also a lot of things men can do so
> that the woman can be comfortable, such as making the chest
> convex or concave.  Obviously, women do not need to change
> the convexity or concavity of their chests to accommodate a
> step (as far as I know, anyway, aside than colgadas).
I have a problem with the word "comfort".  All too often,
"comfort" means what we are used to doing, not what is
correct.

When Roberto made me lift my sternum, I started getting
an ache behind my right shoulder blade.  When he got me
to use my left hand where it needed to be, my left shoulder
got sore.  Eventually, the new posture and hand position
will become second nature, but until then it will be
"uncomfortable".

In any case, if a woman has good posture, she needs no
accommodations.  Moreover, these adjustments can take the
man out of a place of optimal posture himself.  Dancing
with a lot of women who require the same accommodation
will only make the accommodation a matter of habit.
> Knowing these details for their roles are what makes good
> dancers...well...good.
I used to think I knew what was good. 
> Trini de Pittsburgh
>
>
> --- "Christopher L. Everett" <ceverett at ceverett.com> wrote:
>
>> Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
>>> As has been discussed before, women do need training. 
>> I am
>>> currently teaching a women's technique class that
>> focuses
>>> on the quality of movement.  Yesterday, we were working
>> on
>>> the spinal movement regarding the pivot (which
>> minimizes
>>> using muscle to pivot) and it opened a lot of eyes.  I
>>> heard several times from women about how it was
>> something
>>> they hadn't thought of before.
>>>   
>> To this I must relate an episode from my BA experience.
>>
>> Afteer taking Mimi Santapa's technique class several
>> times
>> a week for about 4 weeks, I was in a private with Roberto
>> Dentone when he had occasion to show me what a woman
>> had to feel during a giro.  He led me through the giro a
>> few
>> times, and then he exclaimed,that I was a perfect
>> follower
>> for him, except I was a bit too fat (and of course a
>> guy).
>>
>> The poiint is that, there is no "women's technique" or
>> "men's
>> technique", there is only technique.  The history of
>> tango,
>> especially how men learned during the Golden Age should
>> make
>> that very clear, yes?
>>
>> I am pretty much dead set against the false distinction
>> of
>> gender related technique.  The biomechnics are identical,
>> and teaching women to move differently from men, means
>> that someone isn't moving right.
>>
>> Christopher
>>
>
>
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> Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance. 
> http://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm
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