[Tango-L] Can we please just dance?

[TangoDC.com]

Good points, Andy. I'm behind you all the way.

And to clarify where my own posts are coming from: I'm not _speculating_ 
here about, e.g., syncopating rests, or syncopating the dance Against 
the music, or the partners against each other. I'm using language to 
describe what my body does (and my partners' do) on the dance floor. 
Discussion and research, for me, have the nature of backtracking, so I 
can fit proper terms to the concrete events that go on night after 
night. And with proper terms found, I often see new ways to develop.

I assume others do this as well, and aren't Just speculating. Not that 
speculation has no value, of course. Theory and practice feed each 
other. That's why artists talk shop about pigments and bristles. Or used 
to, anyway...

As for "cadencia," that's a term with a long history in many 
languages... Initially, I believe it described a kind of proto-rhyme 
with a foregrounded rhythm, used at the end of prose paragraphs in Roman 
rhetoric, and managed well by, e.g., Cicero... thus its current usage 
(as "cadenza") to describe the resolution of musical passages, or things 
drawing to a close generally. Etymologically, it has to do with 
"falling." Since the Ending of things tend to intensify shape (e.g., the 
rhymes at the ends of verse lines, highlighted especially at the ends of 
stanzas or poems), "cadence" has come to have a broad meaning as well, 
as in speech, referring to clearly shaped rhythm or other effect, 
without the connotation of closure.

In tango, I'm aware of one less-than-usual usage of "cadencia"... The 
standing-still weight-shifts that many dancers commence a song with, to 
get connected, to mark rhythm, etc. I frequently teach my students to 
use this at the beginning of a dance to sync up with each other, and 
also to recover the connection when things go wrong. Also in case they 
run out of room on the floor. But primarily to get connected and key in 
to the rhythm. I translate the term, in this context, loosely as "rhythm 
finder." It's also a nice way to let them explore rhythmic effects like 
syncopation, cutting the beat, and whatever else they can think of.

I'm far from certain that this meaning of "cadencia" is a widely used 
term, however. I may even be using it incorrectly. But it makes sense, 
so I continue using it. I can't recall where I picked it up. Other views 
would be very much welcomed.

Jake Spatz
Washington, DC

p.s. As for avoiding "upbeat" and "downbeat" (and "backbeat," for that 
matter)... I personally don't rely on them, because my basic approach 
involves so much syncopation, I can't keep track of up and down anymore. 
I used to play bass that way too, like many an amateur drawn to funk, or 
influenced by the rhythmically adventurous indie rock bands in DC, many 
of whom screw around with odd meters as well as off rhythms. Especially 
Hoover... (Amazon has samples of their excellent album "The Lurid 
Traversal of Route 7," in case anyone has Extra free time, and is into 
post-punk indie bands... try tapping your hand to it, regularly, and 
you'll hear syncopation all over the place. Especially in "Electrolux," 
whose odd meter makes the entire musical phrase syncopate with your hand 
the second time it's played. It's "ba-Yum" writ large.)


Andy Ungureanu wrote:
> Deby Novitz schrieb:
>   
>> Arrghhh all this arguing about syncopation, doubletime, triple time, 
>> makes me crazy.  Vals is the most difficult of the rhythms to dance 
>> simply because it changes rhythms and is not consistent.  Once you learn 
>> to understand the music (which does not mean learning dictionary 
>> meanings of words used to describe beats or rhythms) your body should 
>> naturally move to the music with the change of the cadencia.
>>   
>>     
> If you understand the music you can explain it. If you want to explain 
> it, you need words. Even when you demonstrate something with the help of 
> an instrument you need words to name it. Musicians have no problem with 
> names, the dancers have problems because they don't know the names and 
> don't care to learn them correctly.
> What you mean is like learning to swim without instructor. There are 
> gifted people who can feel the music, others learn to feel it after 
> years, some will never learn it. But almost everybody learn it quicker 
> if they get a good explanation.
> By the way, could you explain what argentines mean by "cadencia"? I 
> suspect they mean the phrase, or simply rhythm like in "Silueta portena" 
> 'marcas compases de cadencias melodiosas de una milonga juguetona y 
> callejera.' while "cadence" has a well defined meaning in music theory 
> which does not fit to the way it is used here.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
>
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