[Tango-L] Tango is not a pose

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

Deby's point is right on the mark. Not that one is required to dance
once around the floor in a tanda. That's just a nice consequence of
taking your time with the music.

One of the greatest deficiencies in tango dancing I see in the US is
that most dancers are always in a hurry. They are either ahead of the
music (if they are even paying attention to the music at all) or their
steps are too long so they don't have time to collect their balance
and they are falling over their feet. A lot of this is the consequence
of thinking of tango as a sequence of steps rather than as a
connection to partner and music.

Enjoy the music. Take your time. Several very good tango instructors
I've experienced have emphasized that one should be 'almost a little
bit late' in keeping with the rhythm. Also, enjoy the pauses. Tango is
not a race.

Ron


On 5/9/07, Marisa Holmes <mariholmes at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > There are actually pauses in the music in case you
> > might not have  noticed.  There actually places in
> > the music where one is supposed to pause and dance
> > in place.
>
> There are also types of music which are marked by
> rhythms, tempos, and melody lines that suggest
> movement through space during much of the song.  These
> types of music include almost all valses and many
> tangos.
>
> > The best milongueros will tell you that in the set
> > of 4 you should only  be able to go around the floor
>
> > once.  If the man can meet the woman and say good
> > bye to her in the same place, it is considered a
> > compliment.
>
> It seems to me to be rather sort of a stunt which
> privileges calculation, elitism, and a vaguely
> antisocial desire to control others' expression over
> response to the music, the space, and the partner.
> Only someone monomaniacally determined to dance
> "correctly" will find that they take the same length
> steps and move at the same speed when the room is
> large and uncrowded and when it is small and full of
> other couples.  And only someone whose appreciation of
> music is entirely overcome by a frenzied need to be
> more-authentic-than-thou will dance the same way to
> vals, milonga, tango, d'Arienzo, de Angelis, Troilo,
> you name it.
>
> Marisa
>
>
>
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