1524  derivations from transcendence

Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 09:11:16 -0700
From: Jonathan Thornton <jnt@NOYAU.COM>
Subject: derivations from transcendence

Below is an exchange of emails with Rick McGarrey posted to the list with
his permission. I had been intrigued with a passage in a recent post of
his.
Rick,
I found your partner's answer very intriguing where you quote her
saying:

A: The best dancers are the ones who can answer to
the music with the body. It's very difficult to
explain, because it's a feeling, but the purpose is
not the steps. The feet always move with the compas
so the body can answer to the music. The milongueros
always say that if you are in the compas, you can do
anything.

I would be interested in knowing if Alejandra thinks my explanation below
is touching on anything that she has called, "answering to the music with
the body."

Thank you.
Jonathan Thornton
Post intended for Tango-L:

I want to run some perspectives derived from transcendent dances by the
list members to see if this makes a certain sense or not..

The first thing that struck me about tango versus ballroom was the finer
granularity. Instead of linking amalgamations of 3, 4 or more steps
together in a pattern, tango was built one step at a time. After the
illumination of my most transcendent dances, I now find that one step at
a time is still not fine enough. The music is moving continuously, the
feeling is continuous, our dancing thus can be continuous.
Steps become a foundation, but transcending moving and changing
weight is the continuous response and expression of our feelings in the
music. Our breathing, the degree of tension in our bodies, slight movement
of our head all become as expressive in the dance as our steps. And
because many people when dancing in trance relate that they don't recall
steps but do recall their partners moving with them, it appears to me that
the non-step participation in the dance is more expressive to our partner
than our steps, leads, and follows.
We dance with our entire organism, and we can receive and attend
continually to our partners total physical expression. We don't just pay
attention to those movements defined as leads or follows. Those are there
but embedded in the total organismic expression and response to music and
partner.
I think it is these very individual expressive movements that
allow for a very personal communication while dancing. Of course when
learning or practising a technique we are of necessity focused on the step
and the lead and follow for it.
What I am suggesting and think I have observed is that unless
transcendence strikes spontaneously many people remain so focused on the
leading and following of the steps that they don't become aware of and
consciously develop the finer more continuous physical expressions that
can communicate the music moment by moment, not merely beat by beat. Doing
this won't result in transcendence, though I think it might increase the
likelihood of it occurring, but I think it will increase that quality of
dancing called musicality. Transcendent tango though they may be
exceptional can thus inform and help develop our musical expressiveness
when dancing in our more usual states.
Rick's reply:

Jonathan,

I think your description is a very good one. As far
as the nuts and bolts of feet v body in tango, here is
something Alejandra and I wrote. I never used it, but
you are welcome to post it yourself if you want, or
use it as you like:

Generally speaking, these milongueros express the
music in two ways. One is with the feet, and the
other is with the rest of the body. The feet always,
always, always step on the pulse of the music- 'en el
compas'. But the body can do something else. The
only time the feet are ever out of the compas, is when
someone makes a mistake (I think this applies all
types of tango). A group of well known milongueros
(that I was told included Carlos Gavito) used to sit
at a table together and watch for the first one of
them to take a step out of the compas. The loser
would pay for the champagne. My friend, who was a
member of the group, claims he never paid (but I don't
believe him).

The easiest way to identify this use of the feet in
tango is by listening to tango picado (the more
rhythmic tangos). Simply tap the table to the pulse
of the music with your fingers. Then begin to hit
some of the half beats. If you get creative, and add
pauses, and then runs of half beats, you are doing
what the feet should do. Then use a slightly
different rhythm to represent the woman's feet. It's
like being a drummer. The man's feet keep up this
rhythmic cadence, while he leads the woman's feet in a
sometimes different one. Man and woman's feet in sync
with each other, but then sometimes not. Hitting
different half beats or pauses, but always 'en el
compas'. Most good tango couples do this, either
consciously or unconsciously. It's very educational
to watch videos of the milongueros and try to tap out
the different cadences of the man's and woman's feet
as they dance, because they do it so creatively.

The good dancers are also, however, doing something
else. They are expressing other parts of the music in
another way. Maybe it's the melody, or certain
instruments, and sometimes it's part of the cadence as
well. They are doing it with movements of the upper
body. Rocking, twisting, swaying, jerking, they can't
be described well in words, but these movements are
transmitted directly to the woman's body in a close
embrace. So, you have feet setting a rhythmic
cadence, both man and woman, sometimes with different
candences, while the upper bodies move to other parts
of the music together, like a conductor's baton. This
expressing of the music differently with the feet and
the body is the art of tango dancing, and most of us
do it to one degree or another.