[Tango-L] Now that I?m here in BsAs

[Jacob Eggers]

Mmmm. Caroline, your description of argentina makes me want to go so badly.
It's not that there aren't followers in north america that dance with
feeling, but there is a culture of steps in north america that even people
that dance with feeling can get caught up with. It's hard to dance a simple
dance when your follower is always thinking of the next gancho. So often,
I've seen followers who as beginners gain a good feel, but then lose it
later in their tango lives. They've become better followers in that they'll
go more where they're put and they can follow more steps, but the feeling of
the embrace and a simple step has been lost somewhere in dance after dance
with step collectors. It must be magnitudes more difficult for followers to
find that feeling in a sea of leaders who are constantly trying to impress.

There are nights when I dance with all of the right followers at all of the
right times (e.g. after they've been dancing with certain leaders that'll
just put them into a trance) and I can virtually walk all night long, but
that's only on the occasional night. Usually it's only with with a handful
of followers that I'm able to have that feeling consistently. (I can't say
that it's the argentine style that I'm dancing in at these times, but it's
certainly not the typical american style either.) I hope that as I dance for
a few more years I improve in being able to extend that feeling to a wider
range of followers (rather than improve in the difficulty and number of
steps that I'm able to execute).

I find that the last night of a festival usually has that feeling. It's
likely caused by dancing for several days in a row. Therefore everyone is at
the top of their technique (so simple stuff feels that much better), are the
most immersed in the music, and are exhausted (so difficult steps take a
little too much energy)...sort the sleep walking phenomenon. Sometimes I'm
so caught up in it that when we break the embrace, I'll lose my balance.
It's as if I've become so entwined with a follower that the embrace is more
natural than standing on my own.

Caroline, at some point on your trip try to wake your mind while letting
your body sleep so that you can come to a meditative awareness  of the
dance. Hopefully, then you'll be able to better understand what makes an
Argentine feeling of dance so wonderful. That way when you come back to
North America, you can try to pass that Argentine feeling around. I owe my
understanding to one particular teacher who would dance with me for long
periods at practicas and work on getting the feeling of simple walking and
weight changes to feel good.

Another thing that really helped me to keep my dancing in check was to ask
my friends who their favorite leaders were and why. The reasons were wide. A
single follower would say, I like him because he dances passionately, him
because he's tremendous fun, he feels wonderfully grounded, he's musical,
he's smooth, he makes me think, him because I can zone out when dancing with
him... There wasn't really a pattern to the description of what made someone
good. So, I would spend my early time at milongas not looking for the next
dance, but watching these specific role models to try to absorb what made
them good. As my eye grew accustomed to tango, I was able to see intent and
emotion in a dance. I noticed that none of the good dancers were dancing
with an intent to impress. (Even the ones that were impressing). The good
leaders expressed in their dance the feeling that I could see in their
faces. The lesson I took out of that was to always dance what I felt. If I
felt a colgada, then by all means, lead a colgada. But, from watching the
favorites I knew that I could make a follower happy with simple walking to
the music as easily as I could with a colgada. So, if I don't feel it then
what's the point of it.

A third piece that helped my dancing was to listen to tango nonstop. And not
just the danceable golden age tango, but complicated tangos by people like
Piazzolla too. Trying to interpret these pieces made interpreting the golden
age tangos easy in comparison. (This is one area that Argentines have a
clear advantage over any North American. Tango music is a part of life for
Argentines.

Also, don't lose out hope for the north american scene. Our community is
still young and is ruled by the young. I believe that it'll mature
gracefully. Eventually, the young crazy dancers (like myself) will become
geriatrics and reduce their dance to the two or three steps that feel
amazing. They'll provide excellent role models for a future generation of
dancers. Though, I hope that we always have a new influx of the young,
energetic, experimental dancers that bring a great, fun energy to tango in
the US. They provide the fuel for the further growth of the community.

j

In tango, there are two types: those who like to fly and those who like to
hug.



On 11/11/06, Caroline Polack <runcarolinerun at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello Tom,
>
> you've brought up a couple of valid points - I had the same surprised
> reaction when I told them I was Canadian for apparently, i dance well.
>
> the main point i was making was the difference in how people approach
> tango
> here and back home. Back home, for most people, it seems to be all aobut
> how
> much you know, in terms of steps, whereas here, itºs more about how you
> feel
> it.
>
> iºve friends abroad dancing the tango in france, germany and japan.
> everyone
> has a different story to tell.
>
> what i wrote, was mine. certainly there are many foreigners who dance
> well,
> some of them exquisitely well and there are many more who donºt. and yes,
> the tango style varies slightly from club to club, from how a woman wraps
> her arm around a man to the styles of steps they seem to prefer but
> nevertheless, across the board, that ability to make tango so much more
> than
> just dance steps is the norm whereas Iºm not so sure many people back at
> home get it. and you say maybe they dont want to dance the argetine way,
> well, i say maybe they donºt even know what that is.
>
> anyhoo, potatoes, potahtoes. all i know is that i love love love the way
> they dance here. thatºs my personal preference. perhaps yours is something
> else.
>
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