[Tango-L] Choreography

[Huck Kennedy]

"TangoDC.com" <spatz at tangoDC.com> writes:
> 
> Er, guys... ?
> 
> What's the big deal about syncopation? It's a rather simple
> affair of superimposed patterns...

     Many dancers struggle with this concept from
the musician's world.  If they don't already feel
a bit chagrined about that, no doubt your
dismissively informing them it's just "a rather
simple affair" will hammer it home for them.

> Hasn't everyone cultivated the habit of looking 
> up words and ideas they're not clear about?

     Three points:  First of all, many dancers don't
even realize they need to look up the word, because
misusage in the dance world is so rife that they
don't even suspect they're using the word wrong in
the first place.  Heck, many instructors misuse it,
so how can the students be blamed?  Secondly, even
when they do become aware that there's a problem,
without a musical background, the concept can be
difficult to grasp from just reading a dictionary
definition.

> Given that everyone reading this has Internet access: can't
> you start today?

     And thirdly, you can really be an insufferable
pompous ass at times.  Maybe this plays real well
in person, but at this point, it's already starting
to wear a little thin in print.

> As for your usage of "choreography," Trini, you're perfectly correct. 

     Which is why we hear social tango dancers talking
about their choreography all the time.  Not.  At least other
than in a derogatory fashion.  As in a practica, "let's
mix some variation into this so I can tell you're
really following my lead and not just doing choreography."

> The word, as a technical term in dance, has both the meaning you've been 
> using (general selection of elements) and the one more commonly thought 
> correct by some members of this list (premeditated, rehearsed, and 
> executed program). A quick look at Answers.com or Wikipedia will verify 
> this, 

     It most certainly will not.  The first four entries
of answers.com, to wit, American Heritage, Houghton Mifflin,
Word Tutor espindle, and WordNet, do not mention Trini's
usage at all.  And even the fifth and last entry, Wikipedia,
is a far stretch at best ("the art of making structures in
which movement occurs"--that's vague enough that one could
label almost anything "choreography," including building
a basketball arena, and is thus a garbage definition).

>as will browsing just about any (gasp) book on dance as an art form.

     Do comic books count?  How about Cliff's Notes?

     Could you possibly be more of a condescending,
annoying, sophomoric twit?  Why yes, I suppose you
could go back to reciting fresh bon mots from Oscar
Wilde with each posting.  Oh my God, what have I just
done.

> I really do advise everyone

     Do you now, laddie?

> to look this garbage up Before they start 
> pontificating about "respecting words" and all that.

     Okay, part of that is my bad.  I'd already
responded on the subject of choreography, and the sole
purpose of my responding to Igor's posting about
respecting words was to make the joke about syncopation
(a subject previously fretted over in this forum several
times in the past, but of course you had no way of
knowing that); but on re-reading that post, I see now
that it could easily be misconstrued (well, by the
shallow reader, anyway) to look like I was actually
pontificating ("Take that, Trini, you ignorant slut!")
instead of just using Igor's line as a straight line
with which to lead into my joke.  For that carelessness
I do apologize.  (No, not to you, you oaf, to Trini).
Although I do think it was obvious from my original
response to Trini that I had no desire to pontificate
whatsoever.  That's your department, Jake--and if 
word count is any criterion, you're doing one hell of
a bangup job at it.

Huck