[Tango-L] Re] The woman turns around the man? was: Navigation

[Gordon Erlebacher]

Michael, 

I will not get into a protracted discussion, but will only say the following: 

>From a literal point of view, of course the statement is not totally correct. But tango 
is a difficult dance, and it was the the first lesson, and the statement was a broad
brush, and only stated once. During teaching of concepts, technique, sequences, 
of course, we moved around the room, and yet, the woman, for the most part, turned
around the man to some degree or other. I never said the direction was constant. In 
several teaching approaches, one finds out that the radius of the turn can vary. One 
can also view the cross or parallel foot basic as a turn of large radius, which is very 
interesting concept. Only those people who dance completely apilado dance in a 
completely straight line, and that is not seen very often among the older crowed in 
Bs.As. The dance is mostly circular. 

Tango has many facets to them, and it is all of them together that makes the dance what
it is.  Any given facet, taken in isolation leads to exageration and caricature. But when 
teaching, it is not possible to handle all facets at once. And therein lies the difficulty. 

        Gordon


----- Original Message -----
From: Michael <tangomaniac at cavtel.net>
Date: Friday, January 14, 2011 6:14 am
Subject: [Tango-L] Re] The woman turns around the man? was: Navigation
To: tango-l at mit.edu, Gordon Erlebacher <gerlebacher at fsu.edu>

> Gordon:
> I'm not convinced that Alberto had it exactly right. If the dance 
> is circular, that means there's no reason to move around the floor. 
> Ballroom smooth dances (Waltz, Foxtrot, International and American 
> Tango, Quickstep) move around the floor. They have circular figures 
> but you still move around the floor in a line of dance. Most Latin 
> dances stay in one place so there is no line of dance. There is a 
> little floor progression in Samba and Meringue, though not as much 
> as the smooth dances. 
> 
> The description you wrote sounds like a molinete.
> 
> Michael
> I danced Argentine Tango --with the Argentines
> 
>  --- On Thu, 1/13/11, Gordon Erlebacher <gerlebacher at fsu.edu> wrote:
> 
>  Alberto Paz from New Orleans taught us to face the wall when we 
> start. He said on our very first tango lesson 7 years ago:
>  > 
>   In tango: the woman turns around the man, and the mean turns 
> around the floor. The implication clearly was that the dance was 
> circular and not linear.
>  > 
>  > Thanks Alberto: you had it exactly right.
> 
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