1075  Tango With a Small "t"

Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 05:39:51 -0800
From: "Larry E. Carroll" <larrydla@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Tango With a Small "t"

Erika Hilliard & Mike McDonald, I like the way you make your point -
instead of there being Tango there is tango1, tango2, tango3, etc. One
(or more!) "tango" for each person.

Mike, the reason "we can't all just get along" is that there are a lot
of small-minded, small-souled weaklings in the world. We sometimes
refer to these weaklings as having Big Egos. Actually the reverse is
true. It takes a strong ego to acknowledge that someone else might
have ideas as good or as interesting as one's own.

The situation in the tango world is compounded by the fact that tango
is a folk dance, with no official definition of what it is. It's
compounded even more by the fact that, unlike all the other social
dances, tango music & dancing is rhapsodic (less-structured) rather
than rhythmic (stuck with one set rhythm). On top of the basic beat a
leader can create his own rhythm. And in between the steps which the
leader chooses his partner can add her own decorations.

I like this polymorphic, "shapechanger" nature of tango, confusing as
it is for newcomers & those without agile minds. It gives tango
enthusiasts lots of scope for creativity & expressing their emotions.
Inevitably it means that some people will do really nutty things (to my
way of thinking!) in their pursuit of tango, but that's the price of
being a tango dancer.

The polymorphic nature of tango has a worse downside. The small-minded
(like everyone else) create their own personalized version of tango,
and it becomes a religion to them. Because it's so intimately bound up
with their own personalities, they take up a crusade to proselytize the
rest of the world, with all the anger at & persecutions for the
stubborn unbelievers as with every fundamentalist religion.

I could be accused of the sin of proselytization myself, because 5+
years ago I put my book on the Web to teach tango basics to beginners.
The difference is that I consider my book to be training wheels to be
discarded. In the afterword I explicitly disclaim any One True Vision
of tango. I also encourage beginners to try different teachers, study
different video tapes or books, and create their own vision.

I suggest that we view the tango fanatics as amusing rather than
annoying. And as potentially useful members of the tango community.
Some of them work an awful lot to put on milongas & bring teachers to
our home towns, and some of them come up with really neat additions to
our repertoire of tango. Tango would be poorer without them.

Larry de Los Angeles
https://larrydla.home.att.net

Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 08:55:13 -0800
From: Jonathan Thornton <jnt@NOYAU.COM>
Subject: Subject: [TANGO-L] Tango With a Small "t"

On Sat, 1 Mar 2003, "Larry E. Carroll" <larrydla@JUNO.COM> wrote:

>
> Erika Hilliard & Mike McDonald, I like the way you make your point -
> instead of there being Tango there is tango1, tango2, tango3, etc. One
> (or more!) "tango" for each person.

Larry,
A very good point. It's a pity that Korzybski's brilliant
understanding of how language affects our perceptions has not had more
impact on human discourse. For those interested in improving their sanity
and thus their enjoyment of life I offer this information.

Peace,
Jonathan Thornton

TITLE Science and sanity; an introduction to non-Aristotelian systems
and general semantics.
AUTHOR Korzybski, Alfred, 1879-1950.
PUBLISHER Lancaster, Pa. and New York City, The International Non-
Aristotelian Library Pub. Co., The Science Press Printing Co.,
distributors [1933]
DESCRIPTION xx, 798 p. illus., diagrs. 24 cm.
SERIES Half-title: International non-Aristotelian library.
NOTES "First edition. First printing."
Bibliography: p. 767-781.
ALT TITLE Non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics.
L.C. SUBJECT General semantics.
Science.
Mathematics -- Philosophy.
Psychophysiology.

Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 05:27:08 -0800
From: luda_r1 <luda_r1@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Tango with a small "t"

Astrid, Larry, Charles, Jonathan, Dan, and Charles!

Thank you for making my day! Yours are some of the
best comments I've read recently!! Will comment to you
at greater length privately.

When I get off the floor. Laughing! :))

Luda