[Tango-L] Milonga-Candombera, Canyenguero etc.

[Huck Kennedy]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 12:40 PM, Jean-Pierre Sighe <jpsighe at sighes.com> wrote:
>
> Huck sounds like one of these stiff dudes I see here and there, with no
> rhythm in their bodies... therefore terribly boring to watch.

     DOH!!!  That finally explains the mystery of why all these women
keep calling me "Stiffy."   :-)

> Dancing means... DANCING.

     Indeed.  Mr. Sighe unwittingly mentioned it himself above when he
said "rhythm in their bodies," the elephant in the room being, "not in
their arms."   Find me an Argentine instructor who advocates that sort
of arm movement and I'll gladly reconsider my opinion.

> Why don't you post a clip of Huck dancing (anything) for the rest of us.
> Would you?

     This is as good a time as any to discuss posting videos to
Tango-L, since over the past few months it seems to have become the
latest rage.

     First of all, let's dispense with the ridiculous before moving
onto the sublime.  For those who say, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, well let's
see your video if you're so smart!!," I would ask, what are you going
to do for your next parlor trick, ask film critic Roger Ebert to post
an example of his latest movie, since he has so much to say about
other people's movies?

     Secondly, it would never even occur to me or the many people I
know who are good dancers to post videos of themselves on the
internet, as though we were somehow special--but hey, to each his own.
 If we did, however, we would not expect ourselves to be immune to
critique, or get all upset and indignant when it came.  If we found
the critique useful, we'd apply it and be thankful for having received
it; if not, we'd just ignore it.

     So--what are we on Tango-L supposed to do with all these videos
people keep posting?  What is the point of posting them, if we can't
use them as a teaching exercise and discuss what we like and what we
don't like about them?  Is this like in kindergarten where everybody
gets a trophy?

     What are we Tango-L readers to make of all these videos, when we
see dancing at least as good if not better everytime we go to a
festival, or in many cases, every time we go to our own local
milongas, week in and week out?

Huck