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

[Jay Rabe]

OK, so I admit it. I'm an engineer, and I like to learn by detailed analysis 
- you may have noticed that from previous posts   ;-)   One of the things 
that attracted me to tango was the complication, the fact that it was not a 
choreographed dance, it was totally improvised, that from any position, 
there were at least 6 possibilities (right, left, fwd, back, front cross, 
back cross, and pause), and that doesn't count boleos, ganchos, and 
embellishments. It's like playing chess, with movement.

I'm also a massage therapist - very touchy-feely. One of the things that 
attracted me to tango was the great sensuality, the embrace, the hug, the 
sharing of energy, the play/game/interchange of emotion and intention.

So tango appeals to both yang and yin halves of me.
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Several valid points have been made in this thread, and I'd like to clarify 
one of them. It's well established that people have their own particular 
learning style. Educators and psychologists identify visual, verbal 
(analytical), and kinesthetic. A previous post was entirely correct that 
people will learn fastest when the information is presented to them to 
accomodate their personal learning style.

But the clarification I want to make is that there's a difference between 
Learning style, and Dancing style. Does anyone disagree that tango is best 
done when analytical thought is suspended, for both the leader and follower 
- when everything in your awareness is feeling and emotion? I learned tango 
analytically, learning the 8-count basic and progressively more complicated 
step patterns, because that's the way tango was taught here 8 years ago. But 
I can tell you I distinctly remember the moment, about a year and a half 
into my tango career, when I started really dancing, without thinking about 
what I was doing. That's the goal, to be able to just dance without thinking 
about it. But everyone takes their own path to get there.

     J
     www.TangoMoments.com