[Tango-L] Leading and following

[Chris, UK]

Alexis wrote

> "dialogue" is easily misinterpreted as a sequence of unilateral 
> (and discrete) communication events.

To clarify, I didn't suggest misinterpretation of the word.

What I'm suggesting is misinterpretation is of the /dance/. Many teachers 
really do have the "notion that tango is a dialog" in the sense of being 
discrete, step-wise. Like a simple step-by-step pattern dance. So for them 
the idea that also the lead/follow is a step-wise dialog fits right in.

It is surely no coincidence that such teachers are almost ones who've 
chosen a teaching method itself based on dialog. They put great faith in 
verbal instruction. In the recent "Technical vs Sensual" debate one wrote:

> The thing is that you have to be able to give very precise
> instructions... you say, then do a 270 with your left foot pointing at
> 7 o'clock and your nose a quarter turn ahead of your hips. ...

> Sorry if you are unable to comprehend precise instructions. Logical 
> thought and verbal precision in teaching are generally appreciated 
> by everybody, 

When I voted this Crackpot Teaching Method of the Year, I got quite a bit 
of privately mailed disagreement from teachers. One kindly sent me some 
seminal research papers written by a teacher who is apparently influential 
in the USA dance education world as a whole. I quote:

 All dance relies heavily on verbal descriptions of kinesthetic feeling,
 verbal description of moves, names for steps, verbal corrections,
 description of emotional or aesthetic qualities. 

In my opinion anyone who uses that view in attempting to understanding 
Argentine Tango is going to suffer many misunderstandings indeed.

Chris