475  Gender, Roles, Uberroles

Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 11:21:13 -0600
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: Gender, Roles, Uberroles

Several thoughts:

Gender roles in tango (and elsewhere) are about power.

Power is about the ability to get what you want when you want it.

Without revisiting the question of what, exactly, is gratifying
about tango, it requires a delicate and diplomatic balance of
'artistic power' for the gratification to be shared.
...each dancer wanting what the other can give, each offering
somehow a risk, each acceptance somehow accountable to the heart...

The power paradigms within the tango roles are ageless, not likely
to be supplanted by role-defining (or role-rejecting) popular
culture. [It's OK for a fish to want a bicycle. ;-) ] At some
point and in some way, we all play the game for the power to get
what we want.

Frank - Mpls.
--

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)