[Tango-L] Embellishment Queens, musicality

[Euroking@aol.com]

Astrid,
 
 
I  really appreciate your comments and insight they are so on point. Two 
points: I  have seen and experienced a Lucianna Valle workshop on adornments and  
embellishments in which musicality was the tying thread in the 90 minutes. She 
 constantly stated that while she was presenting many options her  consistent 
point was 'less is more'.  She divided up the adornments and  embellishments 
into three groups and they all related to specific musical  patterns or 
pauses.  
The  second point is, I could not agree with you more. As I strive to learn  
musicality, and I assure you it is not innate and acquiring it is a long  
road, I spend a lot of time listening. It is only know, after a couple of years  
that I am beginning to move more lyrically, at times, with the music. It is a  
beginning. And it takes practice. But it is worth it for even the little  
breakthroughs.  
I  agree classes, can't teach musicality, but they can introduce and 
reinforce  elements which, with time, will allow you to improve. The foregoing 
workshop  also introduced phrasing, new to a non-musician but helpful in listening 
and  ultimately in dancing. 
just some thoughts,
 
Bill in Seattle
 
 
In a message dated 7/27/2006 11:29:38 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
astrid at ruby.plala.or.jp writes:


I  have yet to see a class where the
> adornments are taught as part of  musicality.

I think, the problem here is that so many people are  looking for a short cut
to tango. The teachers as well as the  students.
I wonder how much of musicality can be taught. Musicality is a  talent that
people either have to begin with, or it is acquired in many,  many hours of
listening to music, and more hours of dancing to it.
It is  easy to teach some step combination to students, or certain adornos  to
women, or at least to pretend to do so.
But the proper application of  what you learned in class can only be
developed by practising. To learn the  tango walk, there is no way around
walking your miles.
To make your body  move in rhythm to the music, the mind and body and mind
have to be trained  in a way so that the body can repsond without delay to
what you are hearing  and to what brain signals direct it to do. In the
beginning, this  connection is not developed properly, the dancer is
struggling with  balance, connection, leading/following, navigation and
trying to get it all  coordinated. Once you have acquired the freedom to move
exactly the way you  want, you can start interpreting the music in more
detail and variation.  But this is a process that takes years, and I think,
no matter how much  explanation and direction is given in classes, in the end
the dancer is on  his/her own to unfold and put to use what he or she
learned. It is the few  seconds at the time when this flow actually happens
in the beginning that  keep people dancing and trying get back into these
moments again and  again.
In the end, a tango with the right partner can be one long esctatic  state of
being in the flow, but these experiences are precious, and it is  not
something you can buy for money in a workshop. And it is not something  you
can take for granted either once it has started  happening.

Astrid



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