[Tango-L] why music is played in class

[Michael]

I find that in any class, about HALF of the couples can't immediately execute the figure. The instructors move around the room helping them. Confused couples not being helped watch the couples being helped to try to figure out what to do. This is NOT necessarily an issue of technique. It can be an issue of understanding the figure. I NEVER wrote nor suggested that the figure itself is more important than placing it in the context of music. I wrote if you can't execute without the music, you can't execute with the music so understand the figure FIRST.

Michael
Going home to New York after 35+ years
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nussbaum, Martin 

  I am really shocked when I read comments like Michael's who said he doesnt understand why music is played in class, for the alleged reason
  that it intereferes with his ability to learn the figure.  This suggests that he believes executing the figure itself is more important than placing it in the context of the music.  If he wants to practice the technique for a movement, he can do that at home by himself, without music.   The technique, turns , balance, alignment, is basically the same for all steps in the dance, and once you have it any figure shown in any workshop is a piece of cake.  The point to learning a figure is
  not to show how athletic you are, or how good your memory is, but to place it in the narrative of the story you are expressing when you dance
  tango. Otherwise, the figure is meaningless, no matter how well or poorly its done. I would so much rather dance with followers who are
  musical than with someone who is technically proficient at figures, and many followers agree with that statement as it applies to leaders.
  Thankfully, the best teachers around the world dont agree with Michael, they emphasize integrating the rhythm and expression of the figure into
  the musical phrase.