[Tango-L] Toe First?

['Mash]

On 2008-03-27 10:23-0700, Huck Kennedy wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Mario <sopelote at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >  From a student of Javier (a great walker) who sees walking 'toe first' as 'old fashioned'..
> >  He teaches heel first and his student has the following to say;
> >  "Don't worry about which way to walk, just walk naturally like you are walking on the street [...]"
> 
>      I don't know about some people like Javier who apparently even
> came waltzing out of the womb elegantly, but if I were to tango the
> same way I look walking down the street like a goofball, I'd never get
> any dances.
> 
>      Who was it, Gavito, who after dancing 30 years remarked to
> someone, "I think I worked out another kink in my walking this morning
> in practica," or something to that effect.
> 
>      Giving such "just walk naturally" advice to a raw beginniner off
> the street to get him off to at least some kind of a reasonable start
> is probably a good idea, but to leave it at that, and pretend that
> good elegant tango results from "just walking naturally" instead of
> from years of polished refinement, is patent nonsense.
> 
> Huck
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l

I totally agree.
I have tried to dance like I am just walking naturally, it is quite a different dance, it looks almost neuvo.

Most likely I am going to spend years refining my walk and then in my late fifties burst out in creativity producing a beautiful mature educated style of my own full of character and charisma; only to discover it looks just like the way I used to walk down the street in 2008.

-- 
'Mash
London,UK