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

[Yale Tango Club]

Hey
   
  Huh? 
  So if you showed up to my class, you would be happy if I told you 
  Hey Everybody, thanks so much for coming and for giving me your 
  money, the Tango is a Feeling that is Danced, just walk, feel the 
  music, go with the flow, make the connection, have the blissful 
  communication, ok now do it. Oh that? It's a left half turn, it goes like 
  so (quick demo of several variations, with other stuff in between), 
  I could explain the step but it's really not about knowing the steps, 
  you don't need all that, the ladies just want to connect to the partner 
  and to the music. Besides if you can't do the left turn naturally, and I 
  would have to explain efficiently to you which foot to put where and 
  what to do with your upper body, you would dance like a robot. 
  Besides nobody ever explains anything in Argentina! They all just 
  totally know what to do. Those classes they have are for tourists
  and losers.
   
  If you explain things with precision it is good for everybody. If ppl have 
  the mechanics down, it might take them a class or two and some 
  practice, they can next forget about the mechanics and think about 
  interpretation, artistry, etc. If you have ppl learning and becoming very 
  good in spite of the lack of an efficient explanation, you will find that 
  often they have a logical and efficient way of processing and storing 
  the jumble of incoming information.
   
  Sorry if you are unable to comprehend precise instructions. Logical 
  thought and verbal precision in teaching are generally appreciated 
  by everybody, but I guess it has the effect of making skill attainable, 
  and of making things easy, and where is the magic in that? All the fluff
  would just sound like, well, fluff.
   
  Or are you just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing? 
  Tine
   
  
"Chris, UK" <tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
  Aron wrote:

> In Hungary a great percentage of male dancers (my guess is well
> above 50%) are engineers, IT people and alike. 

Then surely they need to be taught less tango engineering, not more.

This "do a 270 with your left foot pointing at 7 o'clock and your nose a 
quarter turn ahead" thinking is not the cure for the problem Caroline 
describes as turning people into programmed robots. It is the cause.

> The best teachers I know use a lot of mathematical and physical 
> concepts or models 

That could easily explain why well above 50% of your male dancers are 
engineers, IT people and alike - can anyone else understand the lessons?

Let alone benefit from them.

> everyone with an intermediate level of skill knows that it is first
> and primarily understanding of underlying mechanics...

Actually, no they don't. Just as everyone with an intermediate level of 
skill in walking down the street doesn't know it is 'first and primarily 
understanding mechanics'. It is first natural motion. If it wasn't, 
no-one would be able to take his/her first step.

Or to dance tango. As Jeff's Brother Reginald might have said ;) 
"If almost any ***** in Bs As could dance tango, how difficult can it be?"

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



      ************************ 
www.yaletangoclub.org