[Tango-L] Salon again

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Manuel makes some very good points and I agree with Ron
that many dancers, particularly in younger/smaller
communities tend to dance too fast.  The smaller the
community, the more reason there is to study from videos,
which do not go over technique or musicality nearly enough.

But dance is about movement and there can be movement in a
pause.  Think Gavito.  Normal people really need to slow
down to work on the various parts of movement before they
can emulate the pros that do it at normal speed.  

So the velocity at which one moves is something we consider
in structuring our material.  We start beginners  dancing
rhythmically (Rodriguez, D'Arienzo) and then we slow them
down (D'Agostino, DiSarli) and now we're working with them
on impulse (Pugliese) and slowing them way down.  It's at
this point that I think we can start working on being more
elegant.  What do others do regarding velocity of movement?

Trini de Pittsburgh


--- Tango Society of Central Illinois
<tango.society at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 4/13/07, WHITE 95 R <white95r at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I think that a problem arises when some folks try to
> replicate the
> > understated elegance and beauty of the expert's dance
> in a milonga setting.
> > This results in graceless plodding, shuffling or
> stationary posing.
> > Unfortunately, they think they are dancing with passion
> and connection.
> 
> Manuel,
> 
> I think it would help to be more specific in describing
> what you are
> referring to here ("graceless prodding, shuffling, or
> stationary
> posing"). To some degree I believe I can picture it in my
> mind, but
> interpreted another way, it could be misleading. In my
> opinion, in
> general dancers at milongas in the US need to slow down
> and contain
> their movements. Most dancers are rushing ahead of the
> music and
> making long impulsive movements that carry themselves and
> their
> partners beyond their balance point. This is hardly
> graceful. On the
> other hand, enjoying pauses and stationary suspensions
> can provide
> connection to the music, and these could be explored more
> and provide
> greater enjoyment of the dance. I think most Americans
> see movement as
> a goal in tango, and ignore the beauty of collection and
> waiting.
> 
> Of course, if you are talking about stereotyped stage
> moves such as
> the omnipresent sandwich and the inevitable infinite
> adornment orgy
> that follows - yes - we need to drive that towards a well
> deserved
> extinction.
> 
> Ron


PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society 
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance. 
http://patangos.home.comcast.net/ 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com