[Tango-L] A man's feminine side: masculinity in tango!

[Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com)]

To hop in, briefly:

Jeff wrote:
> Men don't show emotion because usually when confronted with a predator that is a sign of vulnerability.
1. Man is a predator.
2. Courage is an emotion.
> So lemma see, we have Shakespeares, Beethovens and at least a few other guys who are anything but emotional cripples.
>   
We also have the entire Mediterranean basin, for starters. :-)
> So in tango -- and here I go trying to hop back on the topic -- I posit that what the aim is, is for a male to be passionate at the same he is firmly and coolly in control.
I think this whole issue could be cleared up by allowing American men to 
have male (rather than female) emotions.
> I suspect that the original comment from Igor was someone taking a dig at him or possibly assuming that tango was just a subset of ballroom.
>   
On the contrary, Igor was asking for counsel on behalf of his students 
and new male dancers in general.

In my opinion, if one (as a teacher) is going to broach the topic of 
what's masculine and what's feminine, one should be able to embody the 
one and inspire the other-- or mock both of them-- or etc. To raise the 
topic and remain incapable of illustrating it isn't fair to students. 
Teachers should stick to what they can successfully embody in their own 
person, because a major part of what a teacher does is serve as a role 
model.

Igor in particular might want to avoid the topic verbally for a while, 
and just show the men what (and how) a man (a gentleman) IS, while 
addressing less thorny topics. Or else use satire.

Jake
DC