[Tango-L] Why are you dancing tango if you don't like tango?

[Huck Kennedy]

On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 11:29 PM, Tom Stermitz <stermitz at tango.org> wrote:
>
> 1940s tango is great music, but it is unfamiliar to 99% of people
> outside Argentina. It takes time to begin to understand tango, and to
> figure out how to attach feelings to movement. Precisely the SAME
> people with the greatest passion for music and movement, often
> discover that feeling first with non-tango music. When they finally
> figure out "real" tango music, they are capable of converting over.

     That may be true of some people, but I for one found it utterly
ridiculous to dance tango to non-tango music right from my very first
lesson, especially during a tango lesson.   When my teacher tried to
put on other music, I really got annoyed.  It just didn't feel right.

     This might not be practical, but in an ideal world, I would tell
any prospective tango student that the tango lives in the music and
that the dance movement is only icing on the cake.  I would then hand
him or her a cd filled with Golden Age music and tell him or her to
play it as much as possible, day and night, for the next 30 days, and
then if he or she still wanted to learn to dance tango, to come back.

Huck