[Tango-L] Why (going to/ or teaching) too many classes can be deadly

[TimmyTango@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/12/08 8:03:40 PM Central Standard Time, 
sopelote at yahoo.com writes:

<<   I'm thinking that: these three videos show the real danger of taking
   or giving too many classes in Tango..namely, that the dance becomes
   a series of disjointed moves...a sequence of isolated moves without
   musicality.... musicality is the WHOLE picture and it is learned in
   the whole dance... going to dances will beat going to classes, anyday.
   In the first video (top) we have Oscar and Mary Casas...growing rich
   and well deserveably so for giving the best most innovative and insitefull
   tango classes here in the States.... their dance is mediocre with none of
   the punch of really hearing and being moved by the music..his dance 
   looks like what you would expect when seeing an aeorobics teacher dance
   ....he is doing the milonguero walk class on the dance floor, weaving in 
and out
    of the lanes
   expertly...but so what?  where's the music? Where's the relationship the 
suprise?
   Now move on to the next two videos...the second shows raw musicality 
   at its best...full of suprises and sudden moves...brought on by a feeling 
of
   the surges of music...
   and last but not least,  Tete Rosconi...sure, he is now teaching..and he 
   should cash in..why not? He wrote the book but he's the first to tell his
   class that;..".I don't know what I am doing when I'm doing it" ..and simply
   explains that " it's like flying!".... go Tete!  
   punch  >>


I've been teaching and dancing tango for more than 12 years now. I'm not the 
ultimate dancer. But I know where I'm at and I don't think
I will ever be a dancer like Tete, Miguel, Carlos, or Gavito. I do know
that I try and let my feet sing the song I'm dancing to. And try to make 
every dance different than the last one I'v just finished. My partners never know 
what to expect from me. I think that's very important.
There is a man in Cleveland who I love to watch dance. I really feel his 
dance is so elegant, but several women all told me that his dance is repetitive, 
and each dance is the same.
I believe in Musicality, not dance steps. I believe in feeling the music and 
reacting to it.
That is a lot harder to teach than dance steps.
I love Oscar and Mary ann. I've had them in Cleveland 3 times and I've asked 
them to return. I envy how Oscar can go in one direction and in a heart beat 
change and go the other. I love Tete also. How can you not.
I learned the most from the late Ricardo Vidort. And to me he just let his 
feet sing the song he was dancing to. The best dancers are the people who try to 
be them selves, not Oscar and Tete wantabees.
I no longer go to as many workshops as I use to. 99% of them are just dance 
steps any way. Plus if a dancer doesn't perform his dance steps to the music, 
they look aweful

I'm having Liz Haight in Cleveland in April. I met her in Indianpolis. 
Liz can improve anyone dancing. And if you should learn a new step that is 
iceing on the cake.
Dance to the music, dance for your partner, dance for yourself.

Timmy 
in Cleveland

Listen to WOBC 91.5 FM
Oberlin College Radio plays Tangos.
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