[Tango-L] Energy

Michael tangomaniac at cavtel.net
Mon May 15 10:59:22 EDT 2006


I don't have the same dictionary Sergio has that defines
energy below.

"Sergio wrote:>
"Energy is generally used in tango in the sense of "vigor"
or intensity of  action.
> 
> As you know tango music has different moments, some are
very calm, slow,  peaceful   called "adagios" and others in
contrast  are very rapid,  called  "variaciones"
(variations)."
******************************************************************************

I think of energy from my high school physics class. There
are two types of energy; stored and released. A car sitting
at a red light has a tremendous amount of energy stored in
the engine. When the light turns green, the brake is
released and the accelerator pressed. The stored energy in
the engine is transmitted to the wheels to turn through the
the transmission.

Another way to look at energy is to look at a light bulb.
The same amount of current flow through a 60 watt, 90 watt,
or 150 watt bulbs. Yet, a 150 watt bulb glows brighter than
a 60 watt. The 60 watt bulb has higher resistance to the
electricity than the 150 bulb. The higher the resistance,
the more the energy is absorbed by the resistor in the bulb
and less energy sent to the tungsten that glows. From the
little I remember from physics, energy= I*R where R equals
resistance. I forget what the I stands for. Inductance? I'm
sure there's an engineer on the list who can remind me and
explain it better than I can. The light bulb burns out when
the tungsten just melts from the electricity flowing through
it.

How does this apply to dance. Some dance with very high
resistance to energy, which means they don't feel their
other partner very well. Some dance with low resistance, in
which they can feel their partner's warmth and passion. They
melt into each other.

At the next milonga, watch women's faces. Some will have a
look of "get me out of here" to "don't stop. Keep going."
It's also interesting to watch between the dances. Some hold
the embrace waiting...waiting for the next dance. Others
break the embrace and talk.

I reached euphoria Saturday night at NY's all night milonga.
I danced with O. Both of us dance with low resistance and
feel and give passion. The music feels more intense. It just
doesn't get any better!! What a shame we're separated by 225
miles. Now I have to wait weeks to dance with her again. 

Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
NY Tango festival July 27-30



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