[Tango-L] Cabeceo, again

[TangoDC.com]

Chris,

Here's your tit-for-tat.

Chris, UK wrote:
> You're saying in that social environment, [the cabeceo] is neither necessary nor effective?
>
> Then notwithstanding that much tango education is founded on the very 
> principle of teaching stuff that is neither necessary or effective, I'd be interested to hear why you think anyone there [in the US] needs to learn it.
>   
As I said, I promote knowledge and creativity. People learning the tango 
can survive learning the cabeceo alongside the various embraces, just as 
they can be bothered to hear what the lyrics are about while they're 
starting to grasp the idea of dancing to contrapuntal chamber music 
(e.g., Di Sarli's "El recodo," most of '50s Pugliese). Neither the 
cabeceo nor a knowledge of tango lyrics is absolutely essential to 
dancing at the milongas in North America, except perhaps in certain 
festivals that make a point of using the cabeceo; but both topics ARE 
essential to dancing _without being an ignoramus_. Plus, the tango 
attracts intelligent people, and they find this shit interesting. Who am 
I-- who is anyone-- to stand in the way of curiosity?

People enjoy learning these things. Whether they use them or not is 
contingent upon circumstance.

And is it such useless knowledge anyway? Well, what if some eager 
student decides to visit BA after five weeks of dancing? It's happened 
before. And what if someone does a performance that plays with the 
cabeceo creatively? We're already blind enough to what performers 
actually create for us. There IS such a performance, and it'll be 
included in the critical essay I'm writing as a follow-up to the 
"Prologue" I posted here a few weeks ago.
>> The *action* of the cabeceo is perhaps natural;
>> its  *meaning* however, is a construct
>>     
> Only to those who don't get it. In its various forms in different cultures, it's meaning is natural to just about every guy and girl on the planet.
>
> "How about it?"
>
> Chris
>   

There's already a bunch of arguments here disputing your simplistic one. 
Here's another. The fact of the matter is that people new to the tango 
find it intimidating enough already, and as teachers we can ease their 
social anxieties by deciphering some of the patterned behavior for them, 
or by letting them in on the traditions they can understand with minimal 
effort. They're already confronted by tons of shit they don't get. 
Someone making eyes at them has a good chance of being misinterpreted-- 
especially if an expert dancer is inviting a beginner. The beginner 
needs to be told they're not being tested, or teased, or whatever. They 
need to be told that it's a "thing," and that by receiving it they're 
being invited not only to dance, but into the fold.

To re-emphasize an earlier point which is extremely important: I've been 
to milongas where most dancers were of the same demographic (age, race, 
apparent tax bracket, etc.), and I can testify that in my neighborhood, 
it ain't like that. We've got people from all over. We've got multiple 
languages going on. We've got very young people and very old people, and 
everything between.  Rich, poor, you name it. We've got a great variety 
of styles going on. Most recreational activities are exactly the 
opposite; this social dance can really throw people for a loop the first 
few times they show up. To welcome a newcomer, whether a starving 
college student or a recently divorced executive or a therapist with a 
midlife crisis, we've often got to break down some real boundaries, and 
help them revise their most basic expectations. Perhaps they're 
confused. They're not getting the steps right. Perhaps they're trying to 
decide whether they really want to give it a shot. Then some 
superior-looking asshole catches their eye from across the room, and 
seems to be nodding at the exit, which they're strategically sitting in 
front of.

You tell me who doesn't get it.

Jake Spatz
DC

p.s. Sean-- thanks for a nicely written post. While reading it, I had 
the notion that things might actually be different here in the US than I 
realized before... Perhaps the majority of dancers ARE using the 
cabeceo, but the ones who get rejected aren't accepting it, and then 
resort to other means. JK of CS appears to think otherwise, with his 
reference to women who look at the floor; but it's worth reconsidering.