[Tango-L] smart tango consumers

[Crrtango@aol.com]

An excellent post! 

Heather wrote:

<I know it must be difficult to constantly try to find new ways to sell 
classes and workshops but when it comes to musicality we as consumers should be 
weary of language that treats the subject like a math equation. To over 
intellectualize is to tear the music apart. Deconstructing it from an academic 
perspective kills the essence of this beautiful music and promotes dancing from the 
neck up. You then create, at best, a kind of clever but soulless form that 
dances on top of the music merely illustrating how the music works. The best 
dancing doesn't come from following this path. The best dancers don't use this 
method but teachers will to sell another class with a title a mile long convincing 
you that they can unlock the secret.

Just something to think about the next time your subdividing your syncopation 
on the downside of the upside of the quicker slowbeat- in what timing? I 
forget.

Don't be so smart your stupid.>

Although she is talking about the so-called "musicality" classes that are 
such a big waste of time when it comes to dancing better, (and I say this as a 
musician as well as a dancer) it applies as well 
to all the intellectualization of steps on this list ... all the analysis, ad 
nauseum, and search for some formula to unlock the "secret." It is not about 
brains and command of the language. There was a cartoon in the New Yorker 
recently which illustrates the point. A nerdy mathmetician has just finished a 
huge equation at the end of a long blackboard and turns to his colleague and 
exclaims: "I just figured out why we never get any dates."

I realize that musicality is a bit elusive to some but it is not that 
complex. Just try to hear the basic beat and try to move in time with it. Which means 
forget that fancy step you just paid for at the latest workshop if you can't 
do it in time with the music. Over the years that is the single biggest 
complaint I hear from my dancing partners about other leaders. They do too much and 
don't hear the music. Maybe that's because they use their brains instead of 
their ears and feet.

Cheers,
Charles


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