[Tango-L] (over)explained tango

[larrynla@juno.com]

Nina Pesochinsky wrote -------> So what is the value of an over-explained tango?

One or two people seemed to take this as a put-down of some sort. I thought it 
funny: a clever play on the words that David Thorn had just used, when he was 
talking about an over-turned ocho (one that turns more than 180 degrees) forced 
on him by a lady who stepped closer to him on the second half of the ocho than 
he was expecting.

Or, reading her later response, I wondered if it was a question as well. As in 
"What is the fuss all about? Why are you spending so many words on an evanescent 
experience?"

OK. I'll answer the question.

As often happens, there are several forces working in the long detailed analyses 
of various subjects such as those you sometimes see on this list. Why 
(over)explain? 

For some people it's simply fun, a sort of game.

For others, it's an attempt to help others on a subject they have mastered. 
Which often has the side benefit that the explanations force they themselves to 
re-think the subject, and to see it in a new (hopefully clearer!) light.

For some it's the second part of that process, the clarifying of a subject to 
themselves, that is the reason for a discussion.

And finally explaining can also be exhibitionism - look at me aren't I clever!
________________________________________
In other venues I've seen or heard people argue that explaining psychological 
phenomena is either useless or destroys the phenomena being discussed. For 
instance, they urge you not to discuss love. Or enjoyment of a sunset. Or the 
almost (or actually) transcendent experience of a dance.

What they don't understand is that "left-brain" analytical and "right-brain" 
intuitive thinking are not enemies, any more than our left arms and hands are 
enemies of our right arms and hands. They work together - or should. A person 
with a strong left arm/brain AND a strong right arm/brain is MUCH more effective 
than if they must fumble along using one side or the other.

The best scientists and engineers are not only technically expert but also very 
creative. This often shows up in their hobbies, such as painting or playing or 
even composing music - and dancing.

And the best artists are invariably experts in the technical side of their art. 
Painters, for instance, typically have exhaustively studied such subjects as 
perspective and shadows and the effects several colors in a scene will 
synergistically effect the experience of the viewer. They will spend hours 
trying out a new set of paintbrushes and paints, learning their idiosyncracies. 
They may endlessly paint the same scene over and over again with tiny 
variations, and spend much thought on why some variations succeed or fail.

So it is with dance. There are stages or phases to becoming good, and to having 
those transcendent experiences. One is learning the very basics, such as how to 
place one's foot when stepping: heel, toe, and midsole, which leads when, how 
much force to use, how to move the body from station to station of a position. 
Which is both a physical and an intellectual process. These activities you do in 
classes and practicas.

Then you revisit those basics, but this time in the midst of a dance, when the 
virtue of all that practice and analysis pays off - by letting your body and 
your subconscious handle the details, letting you forget the basics, while your 
consciousness floats upon and above those earthly concerns. And you simply DO.


Larry de Los Angeles
http://shapechangers.wordpress.com



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