[Tango-L] A. Tango And Smooth Ballroom: Help Or Hinderance

[Tango Mail]

*Bob wrote:
*"Does Argentine tango help one dance better ballroom? Does ballroom 
dancing help one
*dance better A. tango? In other words, is there a cross-training 
benefit or does one
*genre interfere with learning the other?"

I firmly believe that if you start your dancing career under 
professional direction with the
Ballroom dances, you will be a better Tango dancer quicker.  I also 
think that if you,
as a Tango-only-taught-dancer went and started dancing Ballroom, you 
would have a
longer learning curve than vice-versa.  I personally began my dancing in 
the
Ballroom circles so I speak from personal experience - others experience 
may differ.

In Ballroom the teachers emphasize on posture and frame for a long 
time.  A tango teacher
than made his student pay as much just to learn how to stand right would 
probably lose that
student, even though in my opinion it is something that needs to be done 
and learned.
Tango is famous for drooping heads and concaved shoulders; we've all 
seen that 6'-8"
guy reduced to 6'-2" because he can't keep his head up.  Same with 
women:  Tall women
seem ashamed of their tallness and shrink and project down.  Short women 
don't arch their
backs so they're projecting straight versus up, as they ought to. To 
learn how to stand up
straight and how to properly project and to extend seem to take a lot 
longer to achieve
if attempted via tango-only.  I would say years versus months.  This of 
course depends on
the abilities and skills of the individual dancer and the frequency of 
their dancing, but on the
whole I do believe the way to start is via Ballroom: it is "big" dancing.
Like Daniel Trenner said:  It is easier to make the steps small once 
you've learned them big
than it is to make the steps big if you learned them small.  Tango in my 
experience starts
off very small - at least in the States.

Positives from Ballroom for leader:  Straight back and neck, strong 
square frame, ability
to hear the beat in the music.  Appreciation for manners and etiquette 
(including my personal
pet peeve: Open Jackets.  If you're wearing the jacket to dance you keep 
it closed. If you're
hot you take the Jacket off -as long as you haven't soaked your shirt, 
then you keep it on
and suffer to protect the follower).

Negatives from Ballroom for leader: Need to soften the frame to adjust 
to more crowded
dancing conditions and to different holds that different follows have.  
Need to learn Cabeceo
and to stop asking women to dance by standing in front of them, bowing 
your head, and
extending your hand, lol.

Positives from Ballroom for follower:  Good tall posture and projection, 
ability to take long
back steps without sacrificing ones posture. Ability to follow the lead 
- only weird things to
learn are the cross-step and "sloppy dancing".  In close-embrace if you 
do traveling
back-ochos the woman can't be pivoting from their mid-section, it's 
sub-hip-motion.

Negatives from Ballroom for follower:  Need to re-learn embrace; 
connection will be higher
than in ballroom, but all one would have to do  is pivot from their 
mid-section:  Upper-body
comes closer to the leader while the pelvis separates.  Re-learn where 
and how to place their
left arm and hand.  Also important to keep the head either straight or 
directed toward the man's
instead of away.

Again, these are my personal experiences and observations and unless you 
have similar
Ballroom experience then you've no leg to stand on if you're wanting to 
troll.

Ta.