[Tango-L] Define: Tango Moment

[Yale Tango Club]

Ghosh. I am just trying to convey something to a non-tango person who *by definition* can't know what a tango moment is, and no amount of shutting up can make a dent in this ignorance. Yes I could tell them to take up tango but that is not the point. Maybe they don't desire to know desperately enough to spend hundreds of hours trying to find out.
  Somebody mentioned that a tango moment doesn't necessarily last just a moment. That is true. If lucky, they can last hours or as long as you can stay on your feet.
  Tine

Huck Kennedy <huck at eninet.eas.asu.edu> wrote:
  Michael McDonald writes:
> 
> If you can "define it", it's not a tango moment.
> At least that's my humble opinion. :-)

Bingo. As a Scouser I once knew said about
something similar, "Those who know don't tell, and
those who tell don't know."

Even though tango had yet to be invented at the
time, Fyodor Tyutchev may have expressed the futility
of trying to describe tango (and other spiritual)
moments best in his poem "Silentium!" (written in
Russian but with this Latin title). Actually, not
only does this poem express this futility, it also
beautifully implies that one should probably QUIT
GABBING AND STFU WHILE DANCING TANGO IF ONE EVER
HOPES TO HAVE A TANGO MOMENT THANKYOUVERYMUCH. :-)

I offer two of the better translations I've seen,
the first of which is by Vladimir Nabokov:

Silentium!

Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal
the way you dream, the things you feel,
Deep in your spirit let them rise
akin to stars in crystal skies
that set before the night is blurred:
delight in them and speak no word.

How can a heart expression find?
How should another know your mind?
Will he discern what quickens you?
A thought once uttered is untrue.
Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred:
drink at the source and speak no word.

Live in your inner self alone
within your soul a world has grown,
the magic of veiled thoughts that might
be blinded by the outer light,
drowned in the noise of day, unheard...
take in their song and speak no word.

[end]

And another translation by Anatoly Liberman:

Silentium!

Speak not, lie deep, do not reveal
Things that you wish or things you feel;
Within your soul's protected mine
Let them ascend and then decline
Like silent stars in heaven bleak:
Admire their sheen--but do not speak.

How can a heart be put in words?
By others--how can one be heard?
Will people know what you live by?
A thought expressed becomes a lie.
Don't muddy springs that are unique:
Drink from their depth--but do not speak.

Live only in yourself encased;
Your soul contains a world of chaste,
Mysterious thoughts, which outside noise
Robs of their magic and destroys;
The rays of morning make them weak--
Enjoy their song--but do not speak!...

[end]

Huck
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