[Tango-L] Different feeling in tango

[Nina Pesochinsky]

Myk,

Your approach to tango seems a bit too naive and too literal, but 
that probably will change in time.

So just a few corrections:
1. Passion is allowed among people regardless of conventional 
partnerships, if people they are not repressed.
2. Partnerships do not control passion and one does not have to 
pretend to be playing a role in order to justify sharing passion with 
someone other than his or her partner.
3, Milonga gay does not mean segregation of gay people.  It means 
that the codes of conduct are relaxed in regards to the music, the 
gender roles, the invitation style, etc.  But... if you are not 
familiar with these milongas in BsAs, you wouldn't have known it.

And you see what I mean about the cultural stuff?  All I have to do 
is throw out the word "milonga gay" to someone raised in the Western 
homophobic reactionary society and I get  an instant response!

Keep working on it, Myk.  You're doing just fine.

Nina



At 08:47 PM 7/24/2008, Myk Dowling wrote:
>Nina Pesochinsky wrote:
>>Noticing the anatomical differences between genders is how 
>>3-year-olds learn that mommy and daddy are different.
>
>Actually, I think they recognise their different facial features. 
>Anatomical differences are way down the list. Human brains are 
>hard-wired to recognise and distinguish faces
>
>>The key words in Myk's post are "playing a role".  Real dancers do 
>>not play a role.  They dance who they are.  If a woman can't quite 
>>figure out the power of her gender, she is in trouble, just as a 
>>man swimming in feminine energy.
>
>Sorry, Nina, but you're wrong. Dancers play a role, because a dance 
>is telling a story. A good dancer brings their self into the role. 
>People's psyche's are rarely so pure, and the story of the dance is 
>rarely reality. If you dance a passionate dance with someone who is 
>not your partner, you are play-acting, dancing a role. I'm not sure 
>why you want to be dismissive of this very powerful part of human 
>culture. Humans can empathise and communicate fiction. It's a 
>wonderful thing, deserving of great respect.
>
>>Why is it that the Argentines have no issues with gender 
>>roles?  They dance as men and women, and, if those roles don't 
>>work, they go to some milonga gay.  But they certainly do not try 
>>to justify abandoning traditional gender roles in the traditional milongas.
>
>Perhaps it's "traditional" homophobia? What you are describing is 
>called segregation, and it's something that I for one find quite 
>abhorrent in principle. Why should gay people have to go to separate milongas?
>
>>Actually, I am not against tango in energetic gender drag.  I just 
>>want to know when and where it is happening, so that I can be prepared. :)
>
>"I got nothin' against them gay folk, I jes' don't want to see 'em 
>kissin' in front o' me!"
>
>Spend a moment considering the similarities of those two statements, 
>ignoring the obvious differences.
>
>--
>Myk Dowling