[Tango-L] Sorta varied...2

[Michael Figart II]

Derik wrote<<<<< PS - I have addressed the problem in my local
community, Houston and finally tango in this city has changed
dramatically just in the last year, Thank God. Houston is no longer
dominated by the "close embrace
all the time" people, as it was in the past. We now have a variety of
dancing styles, and teachers coming into town, which is the way it
should be. "Close embrace all the time people" are always welcome at all
of the milongas, but they just part of the crowd and they are no longer
in charge.  They are not happy about it, and they are still trying to
get back in control, but that is the way things are here for now.  We
are finally liberated at least for the moment...lol.>>>>>>
Keep laughing out loud Derik. We just shake our heads and pity you. So
YOU'VE addressed the PROBLEM, huh? Close embrace never dominated here,
we had a great little weekly milonga at a small coffee shop till it
closed down (Susana M loved it), and 3 times a year we brought
Glovertango to Continental for great milongas. We demonstrated tango all
over the place (open and closed), and I mailed out a weekly eletter. I
resigned from TangoHouston when I saw they were going to re-elect a
slimeball that we'd already had to kick off the board once, and has been
kicked off again since. I've seen three emails from TangoHouston in over
a year. I've seen no TangoHouston sponsored events. Glovertango wants
nothing to do with you. You brought Andres and Meredith in,
granted....what else? I certainly don't want to be in control, believe
me.
You are liberated Derik! You are free to look at the floor and talk
while muscling your follower around. The tango scene here sucks, and its
such a shame, because Houston is a great city and deserves MUCH better.
What self-respecting tanguero wants to associate with you and your kind
that clog up milongas trying to teach tango to somebody you just jerked
off the street or from the bar? Who wants to dance at a milonga where
they play all 1960's Pugliese and Piazzola? While listening to your
mouth rattle (or W's, or R's) while you're wrestling some poor woman
around against the line of dance. Where a "tanda" can be one vals
followed by two milongas? Where we look at the "ronda" and realize that
the dancing has nothing to do with the music? That just kills me!!! It
doesn't matter what music is playing, the dancing is the same. The only
requirement is that there be music playing, but the dancing doesn't have
to go with it, it doesn't even need to be on the beat! Where a local
"real" Argentine TEACHER stomps on my foot (just last month!) on a floor
as big as big as a football field with 30 dancers on it? Oh yeah,
another requirement is as many tall, young, leggy women with big boobs
to push around the floor. You are not near the only one, Derik, just the
only one stupid enough to shoot your mouth off publicly insulting me,
high quality teachers, milongueros in general, and many of my friends on
this list. Some of them I've never met, yet I still know them, as they
do me. Many of them I've met many times, danced with many times. We all
know who is generally respected in the US tango community.
You just don't get it, Derik. Argentine Tango is not just about fun, or
socializing, it's much, much more to me and Tine, Trini, Sean, Lois,
Ron, Michael K, Michael D, Dani, etc, etc (oops, I've appointed myself
spokesman again). It's about a respect and a reverence for the art that
you'll never know. We may not speak Argentine Spanish, or have danced
since we were six, or grown up with the music, but we feel it and
respect it more in our little right tango toe than you ever will in your
body, mind, soul, and heart put together. And we yearn for more; more
knowledge, more skill, more quality, more dancers that feel like we do,
with the passion that we have. Your conception of tango is so shallow it
doesn't penetrate your skin, much less your heart. It's all just for fun
for you, like a puppy who finds a bone and has a great time salivating
on it and dragging it around in the dirt. Ironically, though, it's more
fun for us than you'll ever experience.
Some have said we should just ignore you, and maybe they're right, but I
can only take so much. I've pretty much ignored you since you started
posting to this list, except for once in January when I got tired of
listening to you insulting Susana, and close embrace in general. So this
is for those of you who didn't see my posting in January, and to show my
support for those on this list whom I respect. I don't want anybody to
assume perhaps that maybe, just maybe, Derik speaks with any authority
whatsoever, or that anything he says should be taken seriously.
Tine wrote<<<< I am truly amazed that 1200 people on this list let this
idiot Derik call them ignorant, incompetent, dull, predictable,
inexperienced, same old, boring, BS. This is just the words from this
[one] email. You let him do this not just once, but over and over again.
For years! Incredible. Mind-boggling!... Don't any of you have any b*lls
on you? (well a few of you do) What's the matter with you?>>>>>>>And
she's right, except that it's only been about a year and a half since
Derik started posting. 
The bottom line is that Derik doesn't know ANY Argentine Tango. He
doesn't dance close-embrace, or salon, or open, or nuevo. He wouldn't
know Argentine Tango if it bit him on the ass. He does SOMETHING out
there on the floor, but it's not Argentine Tango. For lack of a better
word, I coined the term "Derik tango", and it bears about as much
resemblance to Argentine Tango as that stuff on "Dancing with the
Stars". I've seen Derik knock women down and fall on top of them. A
great Japanese friend of mine (with that fantastic, enviable Japanese
dignity) will not even attend a milonga here anymore because he can't
stand Derik's lack of decorum, respect, and couth. He's afraid he might
lose control and punch his lights out (his eyes still flash and his
fists clench when he hears the name Derik)(yeah, Derik, you don't know
how close you came).
Derik, keep on posting if you like, continue your name-dropping and your
pathetic search for attention. Keep spewing forth your nonsense with
your condescending and patronizing attitude but I'd recommend you cut
and run while you're still behind. LOL.

My warm regards and respect to all the other listeros,

Michael Figart II
Houston TX