[Tango-L] The Tango Invitation or simply a lead

[Anton Stanley]

Can it really be true that the inviter invites his partner to take a step or
make a movement, waits while the invitee considers the request, then waits
for the invitee to begin to execute the request and follows invitee to the
successful or not, conclusion of the invitation. The decision making
component of this process is supposed to happen within a few milliseconds.
And repeated over and over during a two and a half minute period. Yet many
of us would have difficulty choosing which bread to take off the supermarket
shelves within the same timeframe. Is this concept of "invitation" simply an
academic model, which in reality is simply unachievable by most tangueros?
In my limited experience most "invitees" prefer an "invitation" with a high
degree of assertiveness and control. "Be positive, don't hesitate and take
me" often being the terms used to describe the invitees' preferred
"invitation".
As an analogy to the equestrian partnership, I'm reasonably certain that the
horse would be less stressed by simply following the rider's directions,
than by considering the proposal. 
Many times I've either read or heard that tango requires a clear masculine
and feminine dimension to make it that special dance. I feel too many male
apologists have made male traits an object of shame, rather than a
characteristic of masculinity.

I'm sick of saying sorry. Sorry! So sorry!
(Of course I'm not serious. I wouldn't dare to be. Just to live dangerously
for a while got to me. I take it all back.)

Anton