[Tango-L] secret quasi-'Shaolin' technique

[Richard Newton]

Hi Dani,
 Also, please, do not ask anyone to dance at Bs. As. milongas.
Best regards,
Richard

<SNIP from archives Tango-L>
Club~Tango*La Dolce Vita~ dani at tango-la-dolce-vita.eu 
Tue Apr 3 12:20:45 EDT 2007 
Previous message: [Tango-L] Can somebody shed some light on the subject 
Next message: [Tango-L] Can somebody shed some light on the subject 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Dear All, tangosmith speaks a lot of sense but, cabaceo AGAIN...???!  I
refer you all to a past post of mine (qv pasted below) in which I indicated
that it's not some kind of AT secret weapon... it's simply a common
anthropological 'nuance' observed even in the Great Apes! To make some sort
of senseless song-and-dance of 'it' (if 'it' can be referred to as 'it'!) is
exactly that... nonsense. You don't tip your head at a precisely measured
angle, you don't screw up your eyes in some weirdo way... you simply ask
someone to dance from afar using your normal anthropological means inherent
in all of us. i.e. you raise your eyebrows and nod at the person. This is
observed in ALL cultures and soociety. As I've said, it's normal human
nature. What do you do to get someones attention from across the street
without shouting? Exactly! You nod at them and raise your eyebrows! When you
pass an acquaintance with whom you're not on full friendship terms, what do
you do? Exactly! You nod at them and raise your eyebrows in acknowledgement
of their presence! If you go to a milonga in BsAs and you start screwing up
your eyes and tipping your head in precesely measured ways and contorting
your face because you think that there is some secret Argentine code you
must follow... what happens? Easy! They'll drop a net on you and cart you
off to the funny farm! Give it a rest... don't analyse. Here's (one of) my
previous posting(s):
"I'm sick to death of hearing all the bleating about this 'Cabaceo'
nonsense. People talk about "learning it"...?????! Learning WHAT?!...
learning to do what we all do naturally and amthropologically every day of
our lives? i.e. giving a nonchalent acknowledgement of an acquaintance's
presence as we happen (often subconsciously) to raise our eyebrows and/or
giving a slight nod of the head on noticing them casually walking by on the
other side of the street...??? Come on, this is all we're talking about.
There is no secret weapon of tango destruction at work here. Stop making a
big ridiculous fuss over what amounts to exactly... and I mean EXACTLY...
the same as casual non-verbal acknowledgement. Give it a break, eh?"
Cheers
Dani

Club~Tango*La Dolce Vita~ dani at tango-la-dolce-vita.eu 
Tue Apr 3 14:53:59 EDT 2007 
Previous message: [Tango-L] Can somebody shed some light on the subject? 
Next message: [Tango-L] Can somebody shed some light on the subject 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
There you go again, Nina... "use cabaceo"...! Use 'it'...? Is 'it' some sort
of secret weapon???  Nina (or should I say, Socrates), you ramble on with
your 'would-be' philosophical diatribe designed to belittle my posting.
Please realise that yes, indeed, it DOES interest me that you see fit in
your desire to suppress others' opinions on matters posted, such as mine.
However, my posting was not mere opinion... it was factual and
commonsensical, and herein lies the rub. Commonsense. To me, it seems
non-sensical to whitter on about some secret quasi-'Shaolin' technique that
has do be performed so correctly, precisely, exactly, when in fact the
concept of what's being discussed is exactly what I've already posted as a
matter of commonsensical fact. Our Tango List friend Manuel was perfectly
correct in his observation that you Americans seem so obsessed with
discussing the precise angle of ocho turns, foot position, etc etc etc...
You know what? It's all rubbish (that means 'garbage', my colonial friends).
Just bloody well dance, observe correct BASIC technique, forget patterns (as
a 'learning' tool), and everything will perfectly (hopefully) fall into
place respective of YOUR OWN bodytype, height, dimensions, weight, mass,
smell, coordinative skills, balance etc etc etc... You know, the American
forces a number of years ago did research on the correct and oh-so-precise
way to walk/march. You know what? It created so much havoc with regard to
the amount of foot/ankle injuries that they had to try and undo the calamity
they created. What happened? Well, they did not take into consideration that
we are each individuals. We walk differently because of the personal factors
identified in my previous paragraph! Trying to correct something that is
normal to any particular individual does nothing but open a veritable
Pandora's Box of trouble. Nina, I have here given you a free education. ;-)
Please embrace the knowledge thus bestowed, and please don't hit me with
more of your attempts at philosophical demeaning. Philosophical regards to
all (you, too, Socrates),
Dani
</SNIP>