[Tango-L] Tango - Smooth dancing...

[Noughts]

G'day all from Australia.  Hope you are all well.

It was most complimentary to even find that I was the centre of any
discussion where no one wanted to hurt me, fire me or shoot me :-),
but a discussion on Tango and dancing tango.

Many, in fact all of us have our own perspectives on what is and what
is not tango.  I would never try to tell you what tango should be to
any of you.  But I would like to make some comments.

The video's that were picked were all very very social dancing videos
and the only one really worth watching of those (even though they are
cute...) was the last one posted by Sergio
(http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/tango-l/2009-February/009644.html)

The other videos were all for the person that I was dancing with for
various reasons... certainly not for my dancing, but for theirs.
Sometimes so family overseas could see that they were alive and well
and others to show family that they actually do dance.. .mostly for
them though.
Most of those were so the person that I was dancing with could see
their own dancing and what they were doing...
Most of them were not even meant to be musical, but were for fault
correction and self evaluation that most of my students go through.
I am not in a close embrace most of the time as I am actually teaching
them how to be on their own axis to improve their dancing....not to
mention a simple fact like - the height difference makes it very
difficult to dance close embrace or salon (yes, there is a difference)
with them as opposed to with Oliwia (above video) or say someone like
Michelle Erdemsel whom I love dancing with or Mariana Dragone whom I
also love dancing with.
Also very interesting that you mention Fabrizio (who by the way, loves
my dancing), he is the most influential teacher (and very close
friend) I have had and I have spent a lot of time with Herrerra,
Chicho, Naviera, Torreli, Farfaro and quite a few others.

Like another post mentions, comparing me to Zotto - LOL!  That is both
incredibly fantastic and incredibly silly - here is the quote, "a very
ordinary, intermediate nobody, like many of us I suspect, to one of
the world's greatest exponents of Tango. Not really a fair
comparison:".  Well, as for a nobody, well I have taught in Europe,
every city in Australia ('cept Perth), and Buenos Aires, so whilst I'm
a 'nobody', I have certainly accomplished more than most...

I never want to dance like Zotto - I personally hate toe steppers as
that is a ballet influence and a stage tango technique - and I am very
good friends with many many stage dancers and champions.  I want to
dance like...... me.  I really would encourage you to look at some of
my other videos if you want to compare me to Zotto, maybe ones say
where I am actually either doing a performance, or dancing with a
person that I both know, and am very comfortable dancing with because
I can assure you that if I was video'd dancing with say, Cecilia
Gonzalez, Mariana Dragone, Eugenia Parrilla, Alexandra Hubert or one
of the many many other incredibly famous dancers, then your
observations would be different again... One in particular is Edith
Paez, one of the judges for the World Tango Championships, who
considers me to be one of her favourite dancers ever - she also dance
for 20 years on stage from the age of 16 with the likes of Miguel
Zotto and Roberto Herrerra.  Perspective... different perspectives.

IN perspective, whom you dance with also either limits or enhances
what you are able to do and let's face it, you don't want to connect
with everyone, in fact, you can't.  We are human after all.  Some
people we just won't, don't or can't connect with.

So, I guess I'm saying, really unless you have danced with me and I'm
not teaching you, then evaluating my dance or anyone elses especially
labelled "social" may not be either that accurate, or fair.

Hope to see all of your dancing on youtube too ;-)

Keep happy in Tango
Damian