4172 What do you want from tango
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 07:21:52 -0400
From: "Michael" <tangomaniac@cavtel.net>
Subject: [Tango-L] What do you want from tango
To: <YaleTangoClub@yahoo.com>, <tango-l@mit.edu>
Cc: Michael <tangomaniac@cavtel.net>
There's been quite a bit of writing about dancers not taking classes to improve. Some have written women don't want to take classes. Others say its men.
We really need to step away from the gender complaints and look at it from a people perspective.
I've had this discussion many times with my teacher. "Why would anybody accept dancing terribly?" Well, if you're in a community of terrible dancers, you don't know good dancing so you don't have a basis of comparison.
Not everybody wants to reach their potential. Some are content to dance badly. They don't want to dance well. Their attitude is "just show me enough so I can get up on the floor." Just because I want to reach my potential doesn't mean everybody wants to reach their potential.
There are women I won't dance with because it's no fun for me. It feels like I'm driving a bus (before they had power steering.)
Every dancer has to answer the question "Is no tango better than bad tango?" If "bad tango" is the answer, then better dancers are sending a message that quality doesn't count if they continue to dance with poor dancers. When quality becomes more important than quantity, maybe the word will get out that to dance with a better dancer, you have to be a better dancer.
Everybody comes to tango for different reasons. For some, it's the dance. For others, this is where I find my next spouse or intimate other. I remember one man told me that a woman was "auditioning" men to be her boyfriend by dancing with them.
Why don't we just call it straight? There are dancers with a professional attitude "I want to be my best" and there are those who just don't care.
I remember Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (the basis for the musical "My Fair Lady.") We can't turn other people into what we want them to be. I stopped dancing with one woman. It wasn't important for her to fix her pivot problem. I couldn't lead her in molinetes. I finally stopped banging my head against the wall telling her to pivot. I just stopped dancing with her. She's not happy about it. I told her to do something about it. She did. She found somebody else!! Now, it's his problem!!
This blunt talk reminds me of the movie "A few good men." Col. Nathan R. Jessep yells "You can't handle the truth." Maybe that's why the better dancers don't tell the truth to those who don't want to improve.
Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
Two more weeks till the all night milonga in New York. Hoping N and O are there.
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 07:14:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dubravko Kakarigi <dubravko_2005@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] What do you want from tango
To: tango-l@mit.edu
Hmmmmm. It would be almost impossible to find two dancers dancing first time with each other to completely match their skills. So, there is always some negotiation going on at first.
I often encourage pure beginners (I am just an advanced beginner, if there is such a thing) to dance simply but to the music and with the feeling for the partner, the music, and the dance. To me that is more important than any number of fancy steps and figures done without meaning and without substance based in music.
So, the point is that with each woman I dance somewhat differently based on what works. Why would I try to force a molinete, for example, only to give up dancing with her because "she can not pivot" when thousands of variations of a simple walk, which can be easily initiated, can give infinite small pleasures? If I try certain figure and it does not work, I might try it again, just in case my lead was not clear, and if it does not work again I do something else without registering a complaint.
The other day during a practica a lady who is a fairly advanced dancer and I demonstrated how to dance close embrace simply and beautifully (too many people are quick to learn more advanced figures without ever learning to dance). We did nothing but walk, not even a cruzada was involved, not to speak of anything else, just walking with pausing, pivoting, and change of direction through a rocking step. We had a blissful dance to the music and people clapped at the end. Why? I think because they could not miss the fact that the two of us really enjoyed the dance and that alone was infectious.
So, to answer the question in the subject line, what I want from tango is a connection, a pleasure of two people sharing the gift for each other - a dance where both are enjoying it. A nicely danced figure can contribute to it, but is not a requirement.
BTW, I love dancing milonga.
...dubravko
==================================================
seek, appreciate, and create beauty
==================================================
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:15:55 +0000 (GMT)
From: Lucia <curvasreales@yahoo.com.ar>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] What do you want from tango - A matter of
dedication....
To: Michael <tangomaniac@cavtel.net>, YaleTangoClub@yahoo.com,
tango-l@mit.edu
Cc: Michael <tangomaniac@cavtel.net>
To Tango well one needs talent, much time and total dedication.
Many try to emulate, charmingly in their naivete, Tangueras/os whose entire life has been identified with Tango.
They are bound, inevitably, to fail in their quest, but why deny them pleasure in their failure?
Lucia
Michael <tangomaniac@cavtel.net> escribi?:There's been quite a bit of writing about dancers not taking classes to improve. Some have written women don't want to take classes. Others say its men.
We really need to step away from the gender complaints and look at it from a people perspective.
I've had this discussion many times with my teacher. "Why would anybody accept dancing terribly?" Well, if you're in a community of terrible dancers, you don't know good dancing so you don't have a basis of comparison.
Not everybody wants to reach their potential. Some are content to dance badly. They don't want to dance well. Their attitude is "just show me enough so I can get up on the floor." Just because I want to reach my potential doesn't mean everybody wants to reach their potential.
There are women I won't dance with because it's no fun for me. It feels like I'm driving a bus (before they had power steering.)
Every dancer has to answer the question "Is no tango better than bad tango?" If "bad tango" is the answer, then better dancers are sending a message that quality doesn't count if they continue to dance with poor dancers. When quality becomes more important than quantity, maybe the word will get out that to dance with a better dancer, you have to be a better dancer.
Everybody comes to tango for different reasons. For some, it's the dance. For others, this is where I find my next spouse or intimate other. I remember one man told me that a woman was "auditioning" men to be her boyfriend by dancing with them.
Why don't we just call it straight? There are dancers with a professional attitude "I want to be my best" and there are those who just don't care.
I remember Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (the basis for the musical "My Fair Lady.") We can't turn other people into what we want them to be. I stopped dancing with one woman. It wasn't important for her to fix her pivot problem. I couldn't lead her in molinetes. I finally stopped banging my head against the wall telling her to pivot. I just stopped dancing with her. She's not happy about it. I told her to do something about it. She did. She found somebody else!! Now, it's his problem!!
This blunt talk reminds me of the movie "A few good men." Col. Nathan R. Jessep yells "You can't handle the truth." Maybe that's why the better dancers don't tell the truth to those who don't want to improve.
Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
Two more weeks till the all night milonga in New York. Hoping N and O are there.
Correo Yahoo!
Espacio para todos tus mensajes, antivirus y antispam ?gratis!
