394 Variety of styles
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 08:53:14 -0800
From: Benjamin Koh <benkoh@STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Variety of styles
Tom Stermitz wrote:
>
> I notice that many women take privates to improve their technique,
> and then get committed or habituated to one technique. The woman's
> role in tango is one of dancing with many different guys & different
> styles, therefore the woman typically needs a wider variety of
> techniques then do the guys.
I personally think that leaders need just as wide a variety of
techniques as followers, if only because there is just as wide a
variation in following styles as there is leading styles. Just as
followers dance with many different leaders and leading styles, so do
leaders dance with many different followers and following styles.
While being very good at your preferred style will make many followers
happy to dance with you, being good at more than one style will make
even more followers enjoy dancing with you. The practical reason is that
everyone follows differently, and different leading styles work better
with different following styles. One obvious differentiating factor in
"style" is the closeness of the embrace. In addition, there are
aesthetic reasons as well, chief among them being the music. Some things
work better than others at expressing the mood of the music being
played.
The best analogy I can think of is language in the literal sense. Being
very good at English helps you communicate well with other people who
also speak English. But being able to speak French, Spanish, Italian,
German, Japanese or any other language opens up another world of
possibilities. And should you meet another bi-, tri- or even
multi-lingual person there is that unique joy of switching languages at
will to best suit the context.
There is always a trade-off between specialization and generalization,
especially given that most of us are not professionals and have limited
time for tango.
I have seen dancers who are extremely proficient in their single chosen
style. They are very, very good, but they are also limited to dancing
with others conversant in their style. This is not an issue in large
communities, but in smaller communities you may find yourself dancing
with the same few people all the time.
A friend recounted to me how 2 of her tango friends moved to a city with
a rather small tango community and had difficulty dancing with anyone
else, because they had become so specialized in their style, which
nobody else in their new home city was familiar with. I admire the level
of achievement such dancers have attained - they are always a joy to
watch - but I personally think it too high a price to pay, as I myself
like to dance with many different people.
On the other hand there are also dancers who aren't the best in their
communities at whatever they happen to be dancing at the moment, but who
are pretty good at it. These dancers are on the floor pretty much all
the time, because they can mostly lead/follow whatever their partner's
preferred style is. And travelling poses no problem since they can adapt
to local conditions. I am unfortunately not one of these either. I am
merely an aspirant - I still get my fair share of rejections all over
the world.
The language analogy works here also to a certain extent. In a large
area like America, you can get away with speaking only English
(excepting the large Spanish-only populations in southern California,
Texas and Florida). Anywhere else in the world, communication works much
better if you speak at least one other language.
Europe is an extreme counterexample - despite being smaller in
geographical area than the USA, due to the large number of distinct
linguistic communities, if you want to communicate well with everyone in
Europe, in Western Europe alone you'd need to speak Dutch, French,
Italian, Spanish, Greek and German in addition to English (yes the UK
*is* part of Europe despite various sarcastic opinions to the contrary).
Eastern Europe presents its own set of Baltic and Slavic languages, from
Czech to Polish to Slovene to Croatian to Russian and so on.
As a result, it is common for people in Europe to speak two or more
languages, simply because it greatly eases communication. Most people
don't have the talent or discipline to learn 4 or 5 languages, but
speaking two languages improves the odds of successful communication a
good deal.
The point is, everyone benefits from being able to dance a variety of
styles, but especially so in small communities. And obviously it's
better to do a few things well than many things badly. Continuing with
the language analogy, knowing how to say the equivalent of "hello" in 5
languages won't get you very far, but being able to communicate
effectively in another language greatly increases the chances of a
meaningful conversation.
Given the length of this prose it is probably an over-reaction, but I
think that leaders have just as much to gain as followers from being
able to dance different styles... just as English speakers have just as
much to gain culturally by learning another language as non-English
speakers do by learning English.
Benjamin
--------
Semi-funny (no offense intended) anecdote: A father was showing off how
smart his little boy was:
Father: "What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?"
Son: "Trilingual!"
Father: "What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?"
Son: "Bilingual!"
Father: "What do you call someone who speaks only 1 language?"
Son: "An American!"
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 18:16:11 -0600
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: Variety of styles
Friends,
Benjamin wrote:
> I personally think that leaders need just as wide a variety of
> techniques as followers, if only because there is just as wide a
> variation in following styles as there is leading styles.
I agree that leaders need to adapt, but I have what might be
a semantic issue or it might be more conceptual. ...not sure...
< sweeping generalities: ON >
I think it is useful to distinguish between techniqe and style.
It is not clear whether Benjamin was equating the two but
I surmise that he is. My general opinion is that the techniques of
good tango are relatively universal compared to distinctions of
style. The range of styles available to the tango dancer may be
technically limited, but mostly insofar as it affects the quality
of the dancer's lead and/or follow.
I think that the primary goals of studying technique are to a) develop
a pleasing, universal lead/follow and b) to move beautifully as an
individual. Good lead/follow technique can enable one to dance
a wide range of styles with few adjustments. The primary
variables are the space or lack of space in front of each dancer
and the individual "fit" of the two partners. While adjusting for
variables of "body fit", which we do all the time, I am learning
that the fundamentals of good technique can erase many problems that
I used to associate with one or another "style" of frame.
For example, why should we have one posture for apilado and another
for an open frame? A nice friend who tends to 'hang' forward felt
unusually heavy at practica two weeks ago so I adjusted her posture,
first in a close embrace. The connection became electric! Then keeping
that posture we danced open-frame. Dynamite. Clean, controlled
pivots require the same body attitude regardless of where the
partner is. Posture, balance, relaxation, collecting, "groundedness",
timing and waiting... Good technique will always be good.
In my opinion, then, "style" is more a question of taste and
musicality and is not a methodology that demands unique
technical tricks.
< sweeping generalities: OFF >
Or, as Fernanda Ghi so cutely says, [paraphrasing] "Don't dance open
embrace or close embrace or salon or milonguero, dance TANGO!"
Best wishes to all,
Frank - Minneapolis
Frank G. Williams, Ph.D. University of Minnesota
frankw@mail.ahc.umn.edu Dept. of Neuroscience
(612) 625-6441 (office) 321 Church Street SE
(612) 624-4436 (lab) Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 281-3860 (cellular/home)
