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

[rtara@maine.rr.com]

Jacob,

Delightful. Well written. On target.

I think those who "get" it can really be generous about trying to give our partners this 
heavenly feeling.
Those who have experienced it have a better idea of how to pass it on.  

I've noticed that most Argentine men feel very comfortable with women. Or pretend to be. 
They are not afraid 
of the woman. They look at her, they admire her, they compliment her. They practice the art 
of seduction all the 
time. Sometimes it's serious, most of the time it's only in fun, but they are always offering 
themselves. It's the 
same way with their dancing. 

There was a time when I would have found this insincere and distasteful. But I've finally 
reached the age when I 
can't be bothered to worry about much.  As far as I'm concerned dancing should be a 
pleasure - to move with 
someone else through space - in music. If it includes a compliment, an admiring glance or an 
inside joke, all 
the better.

Uh huh.


Best,

Robin Tara


----- Original Message -----
From: Jacob Eggers <eggers at brandeis.edu>
Date: Saturday, November 11, 2006 9:48 pm
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Now that I?m here in BsAs
To: tango-l at mit.edu

> 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 
> peoplethat 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'llgo 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'lljust 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 
> handfulof 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'slikely 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 
> lettingyour 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 
> longperiods 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 
> dancingwith 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 
> becomegeriatrics 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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