[Tango-L] Kinisthetic sense - reply to Ron

[Nina Pesochinsky]

There are a few misconceptions here that I would like to address.

1.  If someone is comfortable with his/her own body, there is nothing 
and no one that can "make" this person to be uncomfortable.  What 
happens instead is that people ignore their discomfort in the regular 
life activities, move themselves out of the body and into the head, 
and stay there until they arrive to tango.  Tango is just a mirror of 
what is already there.

2.  Walking in Buenos Aire is good for tango, true.  But what is much 
better is to ride the old Mercedes buses.  If you can keep your 
balance without holding on to anything, and do it every day, the 
tango improves dramatically. :)

3.  That 20 year old bodies are better than 40 year old bodies.  Not 
true.  20 year old bodies are ignored and disconnected usually 
because the person is some place else.  If one has been doing 
something with his or her own body since the age of 20, and has been 
doing it for 20 years (not tango, but something that involves some 
consistent and purposeful cultivation of the body), his or her body 
will be much, much better at 40 than at 20..  The problem is that 
many people arrive to tango after their bodies had fossilized, and 
after living in their heads for decades.

4.  The longer I dance, the less I understand who is a beginner and 
who is advanced.  I believe that the problem is tango dimentia that 
sets in after some time of dancing -  one sort of forgets the way 
home and it does not matter.:)

5.  Tango alone cannot teach a person to move and to be connected 
with the body.  Other things are needed.  There is a reason why 
people come to tango.  More often than not it is subconscious.  But 
each person does know what he/she needs or wants and is able to 
pursue it, if the conditions are right.  To create a space where a 
person can explore his or her movement in a safe place,  is much more 
important on any level of dancing than the moves or technique.

When people begin to dance, something important and big has already 
began to happen to their psyche.  Some call it the emergence of the 
authentic self.  It is a process for everyone.  I believe that it is 
a very painful process.  All transformations are painful.

I believe that if a tango teacher recognizes that such a 
transformation is taking place in his or her students, he or she can 
tend to the space that is needed, and the trust that gets built, and 
gently help them move.  It is amazing to see the incredible speed 
with which people learn tango in these conditions.  The role of the 
teacher then become that of helping a person to emerge authentic in the dance.

See what happens when I sit at my computer long enough?!

Best,

Nina



At 07:35 PM 4/21/2008, Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:

>--- Tango Society of Central Illinois
><tango.society at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Each dancer needs to be comfortable with their movements.
> > Different anatomical characteristics, including injury,
>will make a 'one size fits all' approach inapplicable.
>Dancers who are made to feel uncomfortable in their bodies
>will stop dancing tango.
>
> > Remember, tango has been danced for over 100 years by
> > people in Buenos Aires who have not had extensive
>training. Most good dancers developed on their own, by many
>kilometers of walking on the dance floor.
>
>That's true but those dancers were able to start in their
>teens.  I'm guessing their bodies were relatively free of
>the habits of those of us starting a lot later.  Generally
>speaking, a 40-year-old body learns things differently than
>a 20-year-old body.  Sigh.
>
>Trini de Pittsburgh