[Tango-L] No dancing before the music

[Janis Kenyon]

Tango For Her wrote:
<So, a general statement that you would have to listen to the music for a
year before dancing just isn't true across the board.>


The American way of life is instant gratification, so a year seems like an
eternity.  It takes years to know any music well enough to recognize the
composer or orchestra, etc.  The musicians on Tango-L who dance know what I
mean.  Tango is from another culture, so it requires time and effort to
learn.

I recorded an interview with milonguero Ricardo Suarez in which he relates
how he went to watch the dancers in the clubs and confiterias every night of
the week for two years before he set foot on the dance floor.  He knew the
music well.  Then he began to dance what he felt.

I just returned home from Salon Canning where Gente de Tango and Los Reyes
de Tango played.  I didn't go to dance.  I went to enjoy the music of both
orchestras which have entirely different styles.  I listened to music that I
know and love hearing again and again.  The music resonates in my body and
comes out my fingers as I play the notes on the table.  I could hardly sit
still in my chair while listening to such powerful music which I have grown
to love.  And a live performance is exhilarating.

Tango is a feeling that is danced.  If you don't know the music, you are
merely going through the motions.  When one really knows the music, one
doesn't think.  One feels.  The music takes over.