[Tango-L] Sense of dance

[Jonathan Thornton]

On 7/5/06, Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:

For men it is different. There is no one to make them dance. They supposed
> to make the dance themselves for their partner. Some women can give them
> hints, but men must be very sensitive, observant, and well developed in
> many
> ways to learn right on the dance floor. Generally speaking, they should
> already have the sense of dance. Then they will be able to find how to
> apply
> it to tango. If not - they should seek for the sense of dance where it is
> taught and developed - professional dancing schools, or may be somewhere
> else, I do not know..


Igor,

I'll see if I can find a way to put this into words. Women can inspire men
from their own internal power expressed in a very feminine way.

My first experience of cabeceo had nothing to do with tango. I was a
teenager and it was a small afternoon dance at a summer camp. I was standing
with some guys trying to feel comfortable by hiding out in the group. Did I
feel her eyes on me? Or did I just notice the intent way she looked at me. I
think I looked away and yet had to look once again. I don't even know why
but I found myself walking across the floor. I stood in front of her and she
looked at me. I was embarrassed and ill at ease. I had no idea what to do.
Maybe she looked at the dance floor, I don't recall. It was that I couldn't
think of anything else to do once I was there but to ask her to dance. My
very rudimentary swing steps were entirely forgettable. The point to the
story was I did the walking and the asking, but who really initiated this
whole interaction?

Chinese wisdom says at the heart of yang is yin and at the heart of yin is
yang. At the core of aggressive male yang orientation is this receptivity
that calls it into action. At the core of receptive female yin orientation
is this intention which can galvanize action.

When a woman uses her yang center power to call forth while at the same time
being receptive to the man and a man uses his yin receptive center to
respond with yang expression one can experience a reciprocal balanced
completeness. It's definitely two way communication. The man just doesn't
create the dance for the woman nor does the woman passively follow the man.
Their style and way of contributing is different but the responsibility for
the creation is mutual. They both contribute and both benefit and sometimes
the dance becomes more than merely the sum of their contributions. It
becomes something greater than their individuality.

This is an awkward attempt to convey something but it's the clearest I've
ever been able to put it, though I'm afraid that is not saying much.

Jonathan Thornton


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-- 
"The tango can be debated, and we have debates over it,
but it still encloses, as does all that which is truthful, a secret."
Jorge Luis Borges