[Tango-L] Keep it simple

[Anton Stanley]

Brick wrote:
"The dance is a living thing expressed through the bodies and hearts of
those dancing it, it is not a dead "thing" sitting in a jar of
formaldehyde to be preserved. Of course, this is not a rejection of the
great music, culture and dance of the golden era of tango, but a
questioning of those who seem to want to limit tango to only "what was."

To a relatively new inductee into Tango, one of the most frustrating
aspects is a lack of definition or even authoritative guide lines. A hip
pocket survey amongst fairly long standing practitioners and teachers,
gained responses that:  "Tango is a feeling"; "the music", "the steps";
"steps and music"; and many other indefinable definitions. The question
posed was how do I know when I'm dancing Tango and more importantly,
when do I know that I have passed over the line from dancing Tango to
not dancing Tango? How on earth can something be preserved if there's no
understandable description. 
I guess I view the many dance genre as akin to Breeds. Each should be
preserved, if not for it's beauty/artistic or cultural value, then just
by reason of diversity. So whilst I am can readily accept Brick's
concept of dance evolution, I am totally opposed to that concept in
terms of Dance Genre. Apply the open evolutionary principle to say dog
breeding and down the road we would see but one breed. No more Bulldogs,
Dobermanns or Chihuahuas .... Gone! (If you believe that restricting
oneself to such a defined boundary as a Breed Standard, curtails
creativity, experimentation and development...ask a breeder.)  
So, increasingly when I go to a Milonga, I sit out half of it (if I
happen to have the dexterity to put up with the music) and dance and
enjoy the other half when the mood and the music touches my soul. As you
can probably discern, I don't regard dancing Tango as a sport or
exhibition; but as a transcendental moment with another human being to
which I am attracted. If Tango could be measured, I would find the gap
between the beginning of the measure and the end, to be so vast that the
only shared ingredient would be the name. I think it's somewhere in this
reasoning of mine that I get quite disturbed when this thing that I love
and cherish more than almost all else, is subjected to change that I
can't accept. And it seems I might never accept. I say to you Brick,
don't steal the love of my life. Get your own and call it Lucille,
Jennifer, anything but Tango! Just my humble opinion.

Anton