[Tango-L] Ghandi and the cabaceo

[Megan Pingree]

HI Valerie

Just curious: where in North America do you dance?
Here in Portland, OR  both methods of asking are used, a lot! -- even  
tho the floors don't completely clear during cortinas, even tho there  
is no such thing as "my" table.  I usually solicit and accept dances  
by cabeceo -- from across the room, from up or down the row of  
tables, from across the snack table.  Not academic.  Not essential  
either, just immensely helpful.
:-) Megan

On Nov 24, 2009, at 11:16 AM, Valerie Dark wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:11 PM, Anton Stanley  
> <anton at alidas.com.au> wrote:
>> The cabeceo gives ultimate power to the woman to refuse a dance  
>> without
>> publicly injuring the ego or dignity of the suitor. Why is it such a
>> problem for Western women to practice it? >
>
> The whole cabaceo discussion is academic, at least in North America.
> Are you in Australia, Anton? Do people use the cabaceo where you are?
>
> In North America, there are a few people who try to do it, but it
> isn't practiced uniformly. It is't that Western women have a
> particular hard time doing it. It's simply hard for anyone to do it
> unless everyone does it.
>
> Remember in the climax of the movie "Ghandi" when the whole country
> suddenly laid down their arms and practiced non-violent resistence all
> at once? You'd need something like that here to get the cabaceo
> adopted.
>
> Even if you do want to cabaceo between partners, it's hard to do here.
> For one thing, people don't clear the floors for cortinas. That means
> partners can't find one another by sight from a distance. Where I am,
> there is no reserved seating in milongas and never enough chairs for
> everyone in attendance. We just don't conceive of a milonga like the
> ones in B.A. Without a "home base" to return to after dancing,
> everyone mills around and hooks up for dances by walking up to each
> other. A few dancers "in the know" try to practice a cabaceo mutation
> by walking up to someone and, instead of sticking out the hand,
> nodding from a distance of approximately 2-and-a-half feet. It's a
> cabaceo in form, if not function.
>
> It's a cultural difference that can't be bridged here. It would
> require a country to decide, spontaneously, to be different!
>
> Valerie
>
> --
> Cryptic Ember - The tango blog of Valerie Dark
> http://crypticember.blogspot.com
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