[Tango-L] Get Real!

[David Hodgson]

Hey Kieth:

I may not be one of the fans of your opinions.
But this is one of the best things I have seen you write.

Ballroom overall for me has the substance of wonder bread and the depth of a
Dick and Jane book.
You have given a really great description of why do ballroom.

I am impressed by the people who do ballroom really well. I understand the
time, energy, money, etc this takes to be really good. Hell, I am impressed
when some one does anything really, really well. For the same reasons.

I tried ballroom and was horribly miserable. I am much more into the
Zen-Tango, and the ritual. It is who I am and the way I have seen things
since I was a young one, long before tango. So it does not work at all for
me.

Sounds like you have a nice balance between the two.

David
 

-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
Keith
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 1:04 AM
To: Tango-L List
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Get Real!

 As usual, most of what Sergio says is true, although I think he greatly
underestimates Ballroom
 dancing ...."Once you learn about ten patterns for a dance you are
considered to know that
 dance." I don't think so Sergio, that wouldn't even get you to the the
first level - Bronze Medal
 stage.
 
 In most of the world, maybe not the US, Ballroom dancing is now known as
DanceSport and it's a
 very accurate name. It really is a sport, requiring a lot of energy, a high
level of fitness and at least
 some natural physical ability if you want to dance it even reasonably well.
One of the great things
 about AT is that it's accessible to just about anyone. I firmly believe
that ANYONE can learn to 
 dance AT at a social level and I've think I've proved that more than once
with some of my students :-).
 The same is not true for Ballroom. I know many people who are competent
social AT dancers who
 would never be able to learn Ballroom simply because they don't have the
physical ability. Many
 people go to Ballroom classes every week for years and enjoy it for the
exercise and the social 
 environment. But many will never be good enough to actually got out to
dance socially at a Ballroom 
 and Latin party. It's one reason why professional dance partners are in
such high demand.

 Someone recently posed the question - why do you dance AT? I think the
above is one of the
 reasons. Many find Ballroom too difficult and too physically demanding and
then find success in the
 much less physical AT. In my case, as my age advances and my physical
abilities decline, I find I 
can no longer dance Ballroom at the level that I would like. I fully expect
AT to extend my dancing 
 life by at least 15-20 years. But I still dance Ballroom for the exercise
and, on my good days, for 
the sheer exhilaration of flying around the dance floor, perfectly
synchronised with my partner.

 Finally - the main difference between Ballroom and AT? IMHO, Ballroom is
all about dancing the
 figures while AT is all about the feeling - and it comes from that
delicious embrace. Ballroom Tango
 and AT are so totally different, IMHO, they cannot be considered as even
remotely similar.

 Keith, HK


 On Thu Mar  6 11:06 , Sergio Vandekier  sent:

>
>
>Differences between Ballroom Tango and Argentine Tango. I will mention just
a few of them:


_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.4/1313 - Release Date: 3/5/2008
9:50 AM
 

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.4/1313 - Release Date: 3/5/2008
9:50 AM