[Tango-L] musicality

[Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)]

Lest anyone be misled (or mis-followed)...

Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
> Hi Randy,
>
> You're correct in thinking that always having ankles or
> knees together on the half-beat (upbeat) limits one's
> musicality.
Collecting on the half-beat IS good form. That's the theme that gives 
you potent variations. Nor is "half-beat" synonymous with "upbeat," 
unless the downbeat is all you care to "step on."

I'd also add (to the discussion of walking analysis) that a pivot ISN'T 
"part of a step," unless you're dancing slop. Rather, I'd say that 
pivots, pauses, and steps are all parts of the dance, but (in dancers 
with good form) distinct ones.

I'd venture further and say that plenty of experienced dancers, under 
examination, in fact have quite poor form because:
    (a) they don't collect with enough precision (either their legs, or 
their axis over their support-- it amounts to the same defect)
    (b) their pivots have no integrity

These simple things from Year One are worth a lot of attention (nor am I 
above this critique). If, that is, the word "technique" has any relation 
in your thinking to the word "beauty." If it does not--

"Horseman, pass by."

Jake Spatz
DC