3175  "how to carry a couch")

Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:15:36 +0900
From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
Subject: Re: Tango - intimacy without responsibility (or: "how to carry a couch")

> To the women that say they have perceived following to
> be like stepping back in time to a gender role they no
> longer embrace in their normal life, consider this:
> Tango does not create the role we choose, we create
> our role in tango.
> The mechanics of two bodies moving together require
> that one person take the lead. Just like when you
> carry a couch up a flight of stairs with one person
> holding each end.
> Men who take advantage of their roles as leaders and
> women who feel defensive about being lead only do so
> out of their own insecurities.
>

Interesting point, Rose. However, I can't help but contradict you in certain
points. In my opinion, if one takes up Argentine tango, one should try to
internalise the characteristics of the dance. I do not care for dancing
something completely out of character with the "real thing". I dance
Argentine tango because I like Argentine tango, otherwise I could be dancing
continental tango, or some jazz, high tech, punk or whatever version of
tango.
And in my understanding, dear Rose, there is a whole lot more to Argentine
tango than the dynamics of "carrying a couch upstairs." I believe that tango
is seduction turned into an artistic act. It is not a one-man-act, as some
would have us believe, with the woman as some sort of necessary appendix,
nor is it a master and slave number.
However, depending on the culture, there exists a dismal lack of
understanding. There have been moments in class in Tokyo, when the Argentine
demonstrated some move with his partner, that had me laughing out loud with
glee, it was so graphic. The Japanese stared at me, utterly dumbfounded, and
asked with a disapproving look:"What are you laughing about ??" while they
were very seriously concentrating on the technical ways of "carrying the
couch.", the women obediently raising their left thigh, carefully wrapping
their leg around the man's, watching out for their balance and whether
their shoes did not have any dust on them... ; )

Depends on the way you look at it, Rose. I do not mind attempts at
seduction, but I do not like men trying to uncaringly mess with my body.
That's where "defensiveness" starts.

Astrid