[Tango-L] (over)explained tango

[Nina Pesochinsky]

Thank you, Larry.  This is a great explanation.

Warm regards,

Nina


At 10:32 PM 9/25/2008, larrynla at juno.com wrote:
>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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