[Tango-L] CITA begins in BsAs

Wed Mar 14 21:21:38 EDT 2007

Dear Tango Bigots, and those on my side,

  I'm currently at CITA (my 6th participation at CITA, and 8th visit to Buenos Aires for tango!) and I'm sick to death of the apparent snobbery directed at the CITA event...!

  What you get at CITA is a concentration of some of the best tango exponents (YES... TANGO!) in the world for in effect a fraction of what you'd normally pay for lessons from such experts... YES, EXPERTS!

  If you don't agree with this, then SHUT-UP rather than condemn, criticise and accuse!

  Haven't you people heard the expression "Live and Let Live"...???!!!

  As we go through the ages, the natural progression of ANY form of the Arts, Martial Arts, Literature... ANY DAMN THING!... is the concept of evolution! All things evolve! Anyone with any sort of internal creativity, improvisatory skills.... indeed BRAIN!... will adapt, create and invent!!! Isn't that how tango started??? ...an evolution of creativity in dance-associated culture governed by music???

  Come off your high horses and accept that what you (and you SPECIFICALLY!) enjoy now - in any form of the arts - has come about through the evolution of many different facets of creative skills, intuition, curiosity and invention! We discover ourselves and or interests by experimention and creation!

  The interest in tango - however any particular individual interprets that word and art/dance form - has seen a WORLDWIDE resurgence of popularity over the past 40 years or so due to the promotion of this dance by events such as CITA and organisers/tango entrepreneurs such as Gustavo Naveira and Fabian Salas. It seems that the self-empowered 'purists' wish you hijack the success of the promotion of modern tango for their own ends.

  YES, I agree that one DOES learn (in some ways) more from in situ 'hands-on' experience rather than learning steps, but consider this:

  i.   Working in classes with exercises, guidance, advice etc ...is, in itself, considerably more beneficial (in other ways) by ensuring that bad habits are ironed out, coordination, balance and improvisatory skills are improved and honed.

  ii.  It doesn't matter whether the student is learning stage stuff, patterns, fantasia, acrobatics, how to rub their bellies while patting their heads, how to juggle lemons or, indeed, angelic choral singing...! The point is that they are developing a heightening of their proprioceptive abilities in coordinative, balance, and whatever else - skills!

  Now, taking the above points and examining them, can't you all see that these (and no doubt other aspects I haven't mentioned) will surely aid and improve WHATEVER type/style of tango the student prefers...???!!!

  The important thing for anyone to remember is that the CITA teachers DO INDEED make it clear to the students that much of the stuff they are learning is NOT APPLICABLE in a normal milonga situation...! I know this for a fact!

  I am not, strictly speaking, getting into an argument about so-called 'pure' traditional tango versus [in my words] modern/nuevo, or whatever, tango. I simply DO NOT CARE what anyone else dances. Just leave me and others who see the benefit of seeking to improve ourselves through events such as CITA... ALONE!!! If you can't say anything good... SHUT UP and say ...NOWT!

  Again, I'm sick of the bleating of the tango 'bigots' who think that THEIR WAY, THEIR VERSION (after all, that's all it is... a VERSION, albeit perhaps an original version) is the ONLY way and suggest that everyone else is wrong!

  I dance (I think!) closed-embrace Tango Nuevo... and I like it!

  [All close-minded tango bigots: hate-mail, please, to...]
  Dani Iannarelli
  Edinburgh,
  Scotland UK

"Chris, UK" <tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
  Lois wrote:

> I don't care what anybody says - Following is hard!

Evidently not too hard for many thousands of girls (and guys) over much of 
the last century. Nor thousands in the present, too.

Mind you, those 20th century girls weren't handicapped by "I don't care 
what anybody says" class teachers telling them that if they found 
following to be easy, actually they were completely mistaken - in fact it 
is really hard.

> Finding a teacher who can teach following well isn't easy either.

No coincidence there. Making the subject hard makes the teaching hard too.

But no matter. Past and present, it's as Janis said: girls learn by 
dancing in the milongas.

--
Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* Re: [Tango-L] CITA begins in BsAs
*From:* "Lois Donnay" 
*To:* 
*Date:* Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:18:40 -0500

Janis is right - going to classes and learning "steps" is not what followers
need. I will sometimes get a follower who comes to me and wants to learn
"that step where a guy goes...." All they are learning is how to anticipate,
and we all know that is very bad! Instead, what a follower has to learn is
how to hold her body the proper way to accept the lead. It may be a lot
easier just to learn all the "steps". It is always easier to recite a
prepared text than to write your own.

I don't care what anybody says - Following is hard! Finding a teacher who
can teach following well isn't easy either. I went to a lot of men
(following the ballroom pattern of taking from a teacher of the opposite
sex) before I took a lesson from a woman who gave me more in an hour than I
had gotten for a year before. Learning on the floor by doing is probably
better than memorizing patterns, or having some guy say "When I do this
you're supposed to put your foot there".

Lois 
Minneapolis

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris, UK [mailto:tl2 at chrisjj.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:21 AM
To: Tango-L at mit.edu
Cc: tl2 at chrisjj.com
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] CITA begins in BsAs

> I wish I could put out the word ... Single women learn by dancing with
> various partners in the milongas. They don't need to learn steps in
> classes.

Janis, do you really think that word would have much effect? For each one 
saying that, there are a hundred teachers saying the opposite.

--
Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* [Tango-L] CITA begins in BsAs
*From:* "Janis Kenyon" 
*To:* "Tango-L" 
*Date:* Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:55:02 -0300

I wish I could put out the word to single women (especially those over 50)
that they are wasting their time and money by going to CITA. They pay
$15-20US per class and don't know until they arrive that they have to pay
another $15US per class to hire a taxi dancer. They could be going to the
milongas everyday from 4-10pm. Single women learn by dancing with various
partners in the milongas. They don't need to learn steps in classes.

On Sunday I met Jackie from Spokane, Washington. She told me she came to
Buenos Aires to dance with the milongueros. I told her that there are no
milongueros teaching for CITA, and there won't be any milongueros dancing at
the CITA milongas either. If she wants to dance with milongueros, she
should forget the classes and go to the afternoon milongas. She was told
that so-and-so is a milonguero, so she signed up for three of his classes at
CITA.

I happened to meet her on the street while she was trying to find the
location of her first class. She had no idea where she was going. I
escorted her from one location to another until we arrived at Bauen Suites
where the class was being held. Jackie had not made arrangements to hire a
taxi dancer, so I recommended she ask Julio to practice with her since he
was there to translate the class for English-speakers.

At least she'll have another week in Buenos Aires to dance in the milongas.

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