[Tango-L] Technical vs Sensual - Where are the Engineers from?

[Chris, UK]

Yale Tango Club wrote:

> The thing is that you have to be able to give very precise
> instructions... you say, then do a 270 with your left foot pointing at
> 7 o'clock and your nose a quarter turn ahead of your hips. Or, the
> center of rotation is here and the leaders feet are on the
> circumference of the circle. Or the leader is stationary and the
> follower moves around art a radius of.... Or, dispel the momentum of
> the rebound from the torque into a forward step. Stuff like that.

Well, that gets my vote for Crackpot Tango Teaching Method of the Year.

Caroline wrote:

> Just dance, I would tell him, stop trying to break down every single
> step into a mathematical equation ... he was getting so caught up in
> the technical that I felt as though we were robots being programmed to
> do such and such exactly.  By playing the leader, I was able to show
> him the more natural and sensual movements ... he began to understand
> in ten minutes what the last six months had failed to teach him -
> which is Tango is a sensual dance between a man and a woman, done in
> time to music. Everything else will follow...

Caroline, you are teaching just fine. Don't let any tango engineer 
pretending to be a teacher tell you otherwise.

Chris