[Tango-L] Cabaceo, again

Sat Jun 24 15:07:00 EDT 2006

Dani writes:

> People talk about "learning it"...?????! Learning WHAT?!... learning 
> to do what we all do naturally and amthropologically every day of our 
> lives? 

Yup. Sad, or what?

Rather like evening classes in making love. Where the only required 
qualification for successful teaching is the ability to persuade others 
that they need the lessons.

You'd think that need too would have died out by natural selection, 
wouldn't you? ;)

Yet spatz at tangoDC.com writs:

> Even if all us teachers did our best to teach the cabaceo, it would 
> still be two years or so before you'd see the impact on the social 
> scene. I'll do my part as often as I can.

If the social scene is so resistant to what all you teachers are trying 
their best to feed it, surely that indicates something about the 
appropriateness of how you are teaching and what you are teaching.

Please do not tell me this isn't stark staringly obvious.

Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* Re: [Tango-L] Cabaceo, again
*From:* Club~Tango*La Dolce Vita~ <dani at tango-la-dolce-vita.eu>
*To:* David Hodgson <DHodgson at tango777.com>, Tango L list <Tango-L at mit.edu>
*Date:* Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:00:00 +0100 (BST)

Perfectly right, David. I'm glad someone has sense.

  I'm sick to death of hearing all the bleating about this 'Cabaceo' nonsense.

  People talk about "learning it"...?????! Learning WHAT?!... learning to do what we all do naturally and amthropologically every day of our lives? i.e. giving a nonchalent acknowledgement of an acquaintance's presence as we happen (often subconsciously) to raise our eyebrows and/or giving a slight nod of the head on noticing them casually walking by on the other side of the street...??? Come on, this is all we're talking about.

  There is no secret weapon of tango destruction at work here.

  Stop making a big ridiculous fuss over what amounts to exactly... and I mean EXACTLY... the same as casual non-verbal acknowledgement.

  Give it a break, eh?

  Dani
  http://www.tango-la-dolce-vita.eu

David Hodgson <DHodgson at tango777.com> wrote:
  Look this is not rocket science, it is easy and as simple as this. Why try
to map this out.

I am a Lead.
You are a Follow.
We dance together in Tango.
What is there to figure out.

D~

-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
TangoDC.com
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 9:09 PM
To: tango-L at mit.edu
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Cabaceo, again

JK,

Even if all us teachers did our best to teach the cabaceo, it would 
still be two years or so before you'd see the impact on the social 
scene. I'll do my part as often as I can. But I really suggest you get 
craftier on your end of the equation, if you want things to improve.

Here's a gambit I haven't tried, but will next time I'm out of town...

1.
ME: "Hi, are you a local?"
HER: "No, I'm from out of town."
ME: "Me too, let's dance."

2.
ME: "Hi, are you a local?"
HIM: "Yeah."
ME: "Listen, I'm from Denver, and don't know any of the women here. I'm 
also a shy bastard. If I want to dance close embrace, who's good and 
will give me a shot?"
HIM: "I often wonder that myself."
ME: "Come on, give me a hand, dude."
HIM: "That one there in the sequins."
ME: "What about open embrace?"
HIM: "Look pal, this ain't Providence."
ME: "Yeah... well, thanks then."

3.
ME: "Hey, nice mustache."
HER: "I beg your pardon?"
ME: "Uh... uh... Didn't I meet you in Denver?"
HER: "Never been."
ME: "Ah. My mistake. I made a mistake, see; I thought you were someone 
else, ha ha. Halloween thing, you know. Inside joke. SO, uh, you dance 
open?"
HER: "Fuck off."
ME: "Right, so... close?"
HER: "Psssh..."

4.
ME: "Great sequins."
HER: "Thanks."
ME: "You like this song?"
HER: "I could."
ME: "Shall we?"
HER: "You can ask."
ME: "I'm looking you in the eye..."
HER: "I'm looking you back..."
ME: "Wanna dance?"

5.
ME: "Hey, I like your cortinas."
DJ: "Thanks."
ME: "Do you ever dance while you're DJing, or should I resist the 
temptation to talk you into it?"
DJ: "No, I just danced. But check back in a tanda or two."

Shy is shy, sure. But are you generally shy, or is it just a dancing 
thing? You might be better off making small talk with bystanders and 
such folk, rather than just sitting and waiting. If the locals see 
you're engaged and personable, they might notice you more. Try to put on 
your dance shoes where people can see you, if the event's in a bar or 
other public venue, so the locals know you're a dancer. Do whatever else 
you can to non-verbally tell people you want to dance. I mean, shit-- 
you know it's gonna be a challenge, so come up with some solutions. The 
cabaceo's just one way to do it.

Hope that helps while we've got the new batch of dancers learning to 
shoot their glances--

Jake Spatz
Washington, DC

Tango Mail wrote:
> Yet again, let's talk about the eye game.
>
> I was recently out of town, and experienced something that I've
experienced before in other cities and in Canada.
> People don't know the eye game! 
>
> I am a slightly shy person who is a little insecure about his own dancing,
appearance, etc. 
> I try to avoid the dreaded "walk" at any costs (When you walk to a woman
to ask them to dance and they decline, 
> and you have to walk back; usually you'll see most men plop down beside
that woman to talk to them as making 
> it appear talking was the reason they went over in the first place, to
save face). 
> As a result I end up only dancing with those who accept my cabaceo or that
I know from before. 
> I remember few years back when I went to NY and ended up sitting for 3
hours, before someone I knew from
> Denver showed up, and then I danced the rest of the night not sitting
down.
>
> A little bit back I visited L.A. and went to two milongas; El Adoquin and
El Encuentro. I probably would have sat down 
> even longer than I did on Friday, had an unescorted woman not sat down at
my table (place was crowded despite the
> heat and lack of A/C). But after her, it was still a little difficult to
get dances, since I refused to walk across a room to someone. Meanwhile
local guys walked up to a woman a whipped them onto the floor not so much as
asking if 
> they wanted to dance. I was asked to dance way more often than I got to
ask a woman. 
> There were many follows there that I kept looking at and trying to catch
their eye, but to no avail. 
> They either glue their eyes to the floor or when they see you looking
toward them, quickly look the other way. 
> And I know some of these women would have wanted to dance with me since
some of them were the ones asking me, 
> by walking up to me to ask.
> Saturday was better since I knew Jaimes, the visiting teacher and DJ, and
one of the local women from Denver.
> So on Sat I was on the floor right after I got my shoes on. But later on
it was same problem as Friday. I got asked more
> than I did, and again there were a few follows I did not get to dance with
that I really wanted to dance with.
>
> What I propose is that community leaders and teachers talk about what
cabaceo is. People don't necessarily have
> to do it on a regular bases, but that all would know what it means if
someone is staring at you and nodding toward
> the dance floor; especially if the person doing it is not known to you.
This isn't an American dance and when someone
> stares at someone it isn't to judge how they're clothed (unless that
judged is on the floor, then they're free-range
> chicken to be critized and complemented all you want, as is often done,
for their shoes, dance style, clothing, 
> even hair style. Good O'le gossip). 
> Even at home and in Denver I get 90% of my dances using cabaceo. It was
someone extremely brilliant and assuredly a shy person who came up with
asking for dances using eye contact and I wish more people would use it /
understand it. 
> Yeah-yeah you can always say get off yer arse and walk up to someone, but
the person saying that doesn't 
> necessarily have any insecurities and is probably not a shy one.
> I remember how little I danced when I was still doing ballroom, and
dreaded the walk; I would only ask people from
> my own studio (at social dance events), and rarely asked someone across
the hall. There, of course, isn't cabaceo in
> ballroom; People stand, bow, offer their hand, and ask the woman for a
dance, ideally.
>
> I'm not looking for a ton of people telling me I'm lazy and all that good
List sh*t. I just wanted to offer my perspective 
> on the issue and hoping to promote cabaceo a little more.
>
> Ciao
>
> JK of CS
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
>
>
> 
_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l

_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l

_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l