[Tango-L] Not Dancing with the music

[O Bardo]

It's been so many years since I've posted to this list I'm not sure how to
post to a thread.

There is dancing on the beat, which may suffice for most European and
American ballroom dances.
I'm not sure if Ming Mar was referring to stepping on the beat or dancing
to the phrases.

It is my belief that beginners should be first taught to walk the tango.
After they can walk, lead, and follow in time to the music, they should be
introduced to this idea: *listen to the music the entire time you are
dancing.* I've not heard this from any instructor. Having been a drummer,
after about a year of classes, I realized I was setting a metronome in my
head and then trying to execute the various figures that I had been taught
in time to the beat, but I wasn't hearing the music. I stopped trying the
fancy stuff and started doing something like breath meditation. Whenever I
became aware that I wasn't listening to the music I would refocus on the
music. I don't know if it took 9 months, or 15 months, but at some point I
found myself navigating on a dance floor, dealing with various thoughts,
etc. all the while listening and feeling the music. Listening to the music
while also listening to one's partner are in my opinion far more important
than trying to execute fancy figures on the social dance floor. After all,
professional stage dancers are executing well rehearsed choreography, an
entirely different situation than a crowded social dance floor.

When I watch a dance floor, I see some people doing steps to the music. For
me, it is tango when couples are dancing with the music, immersed in the
dynamic flow of feeling that is so characteristic of tango. This is why it
is also important to listen to tango as music. Sit and listen and get to
know and develop a feeling for the tangos you dance to.

I think the Argentine emphasis on the feeling in the music and dance sets
tango apart from the Northern Hemispheric approach to social dancing.

Jonathan Thornton