[Tango-L] Tango is not a pose

[Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)]

Amen to Marisa.

But let me add that the matter Igor began this thread with is quite 
different from pausing With the music, or likewise people treating the 
ronda as a racetrack. He was talking about dancers who plain obstruct 
the line of dance (probably because they aren't aware of what's going on 
behind them, or don't give a damn). One does see this aspect of _bad_ 
floorcraft creating a cascading problem from time to time.

If leaders are going to work together in the ronda, sometimes it means 
sacrificing one's own preferences or style or personality (etc). I 
believe Igor was venting at the distribution of this sacrifice falling 
more on some leaders (himself, etc.) than on others (the telephone poles 
and the whirligigs).

That you cannot dance too slow is a hogwash statement. Some need to hear 
it, yes: but that doesn't mean that others don't need to hear the 
opposite, especially when their sluggard pace is nice for their own 
embrace and horrendous for everyone else's. That belongs, if at all, on 
the inside lanes for a reason. But offenders will do it in the "fast 
lane," asking for collisions & pooping on the party, and it's that kind 
of selfishness & obliviousness that really has no excuse. If floor 
conditions make it possible to make a creative decision of that nature, 
it should be made where it won't impose the same decision on others.

The music has _harmonies_ too.

Spatz
DC



Ed Doyle wrote:
> Two expressions I personally like are:
>
> 1) "You can dance tango too fast, but you can never dance it too slow"
>
> 2) "Never chase the music, let the music chase you"
>
> Tango is a 'happening' where you, your partner, the music, the other
> dancers, come together for a brief moment in time and space. It will never
> ever be exactly the same again.  It is not a race, a contest, or a show.
> Make the most of each tango instance.
>
> Ed
>
> On 5/9/07, Tango Society of Central Illinois <tango.society at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>   
>> 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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