1475  The Varieties of Tango DANCERS

Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 17:26:07 -0700
From: Jonathan Thornton <jnt@NOYAU.COM>
Subject: The Varieties of Tango DANCERS

I'm not a Platonist. I don't believe there is somewhere an archetype of
True Tango, which we on earth are trying to imperfectly emulate. I don't
think there is a dance as an entity separate from dancers.

We don't dance the same dance, or for the same reasons, or dance the
same dance the same. I have checked out SCIENCE AND SANITY, now all I have
to do is reread it after all these decades. But in line with Heraclitus
saying "we don't step in the same river twice", Korzybski, if I recall
correctly points out that a thing is not identical to itself. (I think I
just heard Rick's head snap up as he said "HUH?" way up in Portland.) By
which he means just like the wise Heraclitus that everything is changing.
Who and what I am as I type right now, was not who/what I was when I
started typing, not even who/what I am right now, and neither are you.

Or as somebody else said, I forget, maybe someone here will remember, "go
with the flow." and if you choose not to, well, going against the flow is
just another flow that is changing all the time. You think the rock
sticking up in the middle of the stream isn't going anywhere just cause
it's anchored to the bottom? Well, erosion, and moss, all kinds of things
are slowly changing it as it and I, and you, grow older.

I personally don't derive satisfaction from figures. Don't dance with me
if you want to do figures and be led in series of flashing ganchos, wild
boleos, and whatever. You name it, I probably won't, can't or don't do it.
My personal tragedy (my personal frustrations are very important to me!)
is that few dancers seem interested in the thing that is really meaningful
to me, and what is it any way with all those people dressed in bizarre
outfits trying to knock little balls into holes in the ground, never
seemingly satisfied because as soon as they get the ball in the hole they
take it out again only to try to get it into another hole?

I'm hoping Korzybski can remind me what Sanity is, because, the older I
get the more it seems to be that humans are insane and have always been
insane. The patients have been running the asylum all along, and why?
Because they/we were the ones who built it in the first place! So, I'll
kick back and enjoy life as best I can.

My personal expression of insanity is to find the movements that explore
the feeling I have in the music and express it to my partner who I hope
will listen to the music and express her feelings back to me. From time to
time people have spoken of "transcendent" dances. Question: What is it
that is transcended?

I'll close with this insight I had today. I was thinking about my
obsession with communication in the dance, and then I thought "what is so
wonderful about those transcendent dances is that the communication is
what is communicated."

peace,
Jonathan Thornton

yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; and, like this insubstantial
pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are
made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. -- Shakespeare, The
Tempest, Act IV