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Tango is...
September 22, 2006 - Why dance tango?
"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat...We must find each other."
Mother TeresaFrom Kace in Singapore:
1. Authenticity -- tango is not a "made-up" dance, springing from the mind of one dance "authority". Many years ago, after passing my ballroom samba Gold Medal test, I naively thought I have "mastered" the samba. Imagine how flabbergasted I was when I saw an authentic Brazilian samba dancers for the first time. Tango has an authenticity that allows anyone from anywhere to learn the same dance as in Buenos Aires.
2. Honesty -- tango needs much less "role-playing" and "pretending to be someone-else". All dances have a cultural context which needs to be embraced, but many will consume the dancers e.g. role of ghetto gangsta for hip hop dancers, role of hepcat for the lindy dancers, role of gypsy for flamenco dancer. You can be more yourself in tango.
3. Freedom -- from early on you learn to adapt tango to yourself and not the other way round. How you embrace, walk, turn are all influenced by how it feel inside more than how it look outside. As long as we stay within certain tango paradigms (not losing the embrace, not doing solo shines, etc) the dancer has the freedom to create steps.
4. Emotion -- tango is the only dance I know that projects a healthy range of moods within an evening of dancing. Most other dances are set to one fixed temperature -- cha cha (cheeky), paso doble (proud), salsa (carnival). I can do a few songs of each, but I cannot sustain an entire evening of such extremes.
5. Nostalgia -- tango is a mirror to an earlier, more romantic era. In the "good old days" gender roles were clearly defined, people went out to ballroom to socialise instead of watching the television, and musicians connected at close distance to their audiences. Tango lets us break out of our political correctness and return temporarily to a more macho and sensual age when men and women know how to treat each other with respect.
January 14, 2005 - Tango is intimacy without resposibility
From the message by Ecsedy Áron (Budapest, Hungary):
In the "western world" everything is for sale, true privacy is rare..., so people try to find (create...) a world where they have intimacy for each others sake..., where intimacy is not provided in exchange for sex (or it's possibility) or they just simply want to experience deep emotions without all the responsibility (again: our life is a big responsibility in general - especially in the big cities) and problems of a relationship (OK: this is more complex, I won't go there).
Another way to put it is that tango is cure for alienation. Why bash the western world though? Alienation is rather common in contemporary society.
I think we are lucky to have tango to experience the intimacy without any consequential responsibility. In very many other instances we refuse intimacy to one another because we of the weight of consequences, often imaginary and selfimposed.
Deb Sclar has pointed out that both leader and follower are responsible for maintaining the intimacy during the dance. This point is of course irrelevant because I am talking about the responsibility after the dance - there is none.
Is this notion of lack of responsibility after the dance ludicrous? I think not. Moreover I think it’s good and crucial for maintaining the intimacy experienced during this dance. Otherwise I would have to start dating every single girl I have danced with. Now that would be extremely strenuous and maybe even verging on ludicrous.
July 29, 2005 - Tango does not equal sexOne more bit of wisdom from Hyla Dickinson (Seatle, WA):
The men who are pursued by women are almost always as irritated by these women, as the women who have been posting, are irritated by the lecherous men. In both cases, the people who are doing the imposing are thinking only of what they want, so caught up in their desire or fantasy that they don't really look at the desired person and notice their actual behavior and feedback. It is not really very flattering or attractive to have someone ignore or disregard your demeanor and behavior and general signals of intent.
Needless to say one observes this kind of behaviour mostly from beginners who mistook "Tango is intimacy" message to mean "Tango is shortcut to sex". The confused beginners have not had a chance (have not found the communication technique) to discover the appeal of tango intimacy and hasten to replace it with cheap and quick imitations.
Once a man or woman has put in several years of work on the dancing itself, and money to classes, privates, etc., he or she does not like the dancing to be seen or used only as a means to someone else's end. For me, since the dance itself is so much a reason for being at the milonga, the very fact that a partner views the dance only as a preview for dating, is a turn-off.
March 18, 2008 - 'Seduced by Tango' - tango documentary
Robert Duvall, Pablo Veron and Catherine Tatge are planning to shoot tango documentary 'Seduced by Tango'.
That's interesting by itself, but what I especially like about their approach is that they try "reality documentary": they solicit video submissions to be in the documentary via YouTube (dance and interview). I hope they will add the links to submitted clips at their website.Details are here: http://www.seducedbytango.com/
The one thing I didn't particularly like was the (optional) music to dance to in the video: while they are looking for social dancers, the music in the download is not the tango I would choose to play or to dance to at a milonga.A few interviews submitted via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQcS5Gp6HFM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKA6e1h6hwE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVCRlQDT48II love the different perspectives.
February 8, 2008 - Perdition ('Perdizione')
Tango with a shopping cart:
June 10, 2006 - Community of two
My reason for dancing tango is purely hedonistic: mutual pleasure of two individuals sharing an experience for fifteen minutes. Community at large does not enter into it.
I do realize that there are people who might find my reason unfulfilling - they value communal aspect of tango more than satisfaction of their partner. Well, their values are not mutually exclusive with mine: I respect the choices of the tango community en masse, yet carefully choose the partner to share my tangos with.
July 28, 2005 - How does tango experience rate?
John Ward from Bristol, UK wrote in reply to "Owning Mahowny" experience rating analogy:
I would agree with Oleh Kovalchuke that best tango is 100 and second-best 80. I would put sex at 70, about the same as ballroom foxtrot.
John, you should really consider doing sex in close embrace. Give it a thought, it might improve your numbers.
Actually as any other joke this one has a bit of truth in it - considering that tango is another form of intimacy.
Not only tango is dance of passion, at it's best tango is also the dance of those, who are confident enough to be not afraid to be vulnerable.
The way you make your hair conveys a message (otherwise women would spent much less time in hair salons).
Hair up in a bun - control, character, internal strength, queen - tango. Hair up exposes and intensifies neckline, extends the rest of the posture. The posture contrasts, and underscores vulnerable, raw, passionate embrace.
Hair down - free spirit, emotional disarray - works for country dancing.
Also when hair is up it does not get into my eyes.August 11, 2005 - Stage tango and tango milonguero
An article by Susana Miller translated by Sergio Vandekier. I have corrected couple mistranslations:
Tango dance has two styles: stage and milonguero. Their description ignites a controversy in the dance community. Some people establish a false dichotomy between both of them, false because in reality they complement each other. Tango milonguero and stage tango are in a way the two faces of the same coin.
Tango is known all over the world due to its stage form. The beauty and splendor of its figures are shown on TV and in theaters in far away places. Partners separate from each other in order to execute figures that are more or less complex, figures that are visually very attractive; otherwise the body presentation, specially the footwork would not be very interesting. The steps are based in those seen in the social dance halls but they are longer, they are embellished and become choreographies that cross the stage in diagonal lines, creating [elaborate] facades, utilizing entire vast available space.
It is due to those fine, skilled dancers, true artists and thanks to their inspiration and the many daily hours of hard work that they dedicate to their talent that tango is known worldwide However the origin of tango was the dance hall, a place where it still lives. This tango form has to do with the passion that awakens and grows in the couple, with a particular handling of the space and with a special combination of rhythms.
This is the reason why those who live abroad discover a different tango in Buenos Aires and finally understand that stage tango belongs to the stage. This is the reason that the best stage dancers never stop going to the dance halls because this is their source of inspiration, the place where their choreographies get fresh air. Choreographies that project in this fashion the spontaneity and heat of the dance hall.
In the dance hall the couple dance for their own enjoyment and not for the show. Steps are the means to circle in the space which is very limited; it is a closed tango with erratic drawings that vary according to the available space. A good milonguero can dance on four floor tiles, even on one and also right on the spot with great precision preserving the rhythm and the contact with the other body which combines relaxed ease with connection both emotional and physical. The man offers his musical sense to the woman and she follows him as if she was his shirt. Her creativity lays in her interpretation, in the way of returning and enjoying within her body the movements the man proposes.
None of this can be properly put into words the same way as the dance hall intensity and emotion cannot be transferred to other places; this things may only be verifiable with the wink that characterizes any community that share a passion, a little bit in secret. The style has great energy, couples frequently are in trance, in a kind of altered state consciousness. The body language is very rich, feelings guide steps and body movements.The vocabulary used by this dancing elite allows you to glean an insight of the meaning of this dance: " to walk the tango", "to pile up [a mutual lean in the couple posture essential for milonguero style, "A" - OK]", "to put woman to sleep", "to move her", "to dance her".
Show tango must be spectacular but it draws it's inspiration from tango of dance halls otherwise it would be showing something that show tango does not have.
On the other hand social tango needs stage tango to spread and to reach other areas of the planet as well as new generations of dancers.
People are community of lonely hearts who go searching for love, to love and to be loved in return. The tango embrace, "the franela" (touch and rubbing of the bodies), its controlled excitation, is an imitation of that searched love, a relief for the soul, an act where both, man and woman express their happiness in one embrace.
July 26, 2005 - On tango posturing and simply being human.
Another post from Hyla full of beautiful little gems:
It seems to me that Trini's objections are not to the delightful delicious little naughtiness of shared references to private acts performed in public; she is objecting to those icky, inartistic, overt and clumsy gropings which are merely nasty and tasteless. How many of us women have been subjected to those awful dances where the man's only conception of tango is that it is "really sexy to have a woman draped all over you", so all he does is maneuver you into some awkward and uncomfortable but suggestive pose (ignoring line of dance, the music, navigation, lead/follow etc.), then shuffle himself around and haul you into yet another uncomfortable and stupid pose, this time gazing meaningfully into your eyes, and so on with a specially dramatic pose at the end? This is not dancing, it is not sexy, suggestive or seductive; it is gross and unpleasant and no fun at all.
Being a leader I have not experienced these moments, but I certainly can easily remember couple examples of some leaders dancing this way. I found them funny, but then again I wasn't in those leaders' arms.
When I agree to dance with a man, I agree to participate in a lovely connection with seduction or suggestiveness as possible parts of the game to a lesser or greater extent. I do not agree to be mauled, humped or used as a masturbation post. Now, during the course of the dance, maybe we renegotiate aspects of what we are willing to do together. Some guys maybe I'd be more willing to be a bit more, umm, explicit? naughty? with. Some will be encouraged into a very very open embrace. Sometimes it is clear that we are understanding the most explicit of moves as simple physical dance challenges. Sometimes we negotiate a sort of goof off riff doing "sexy" or "suggestive" moves so asexually that it becomes quite funny. Maybe we negotiate a continuation of the game beyond the milonga. But this all comes from that same listening and sensitivity. We need to read one another's intentions. Without that, it's not seduction, it's "tango rape", or at least "tango harassment".
And here's almost the opposite: we dance very close and never do anything that would look the slightest bit sexy from outside but it feels like something very special--not from rubbing or intertwining, but from just the closeness and sharing, the tightening of the embrace at a crucial moment, the breathing together, standing still together in the most attentive way possible. If I were to compare this to sex, I think that I would say that it is not so much like the sex act itself, but like those moments of extreme closeness that come after the act. Or like those moments in a long and successful relationship when you feel so close to the loved one, so in harmony, that you can eat a meal together each lifting the fork or water glass in concert and people at the restaurant ask you which anniversary you are celebrating, without ever having seen anything so overt as hand-holding. "Food I ate with you was more than food, wine I drank wit you was more than wine". Now, to be able to experience THAT in a three minute dance is pretty special.
Maybe that is what Randy found so sad about the paid dancers. Those women would never be inspired to work on themselves or their dance to the point where they could experience that closeness. They are paying those guys for a service, and to the guys, as Randy says, "It feels like work". They are ashamed. These poor women will never have the incentive to bring their dance up to the level where it can be a *shared* pleasure. They are paying only for their own pleasure, and thus the young men withhold that part of themselves that brings the dance to the next level. The women never get the 3 minute affair, they get a chaste version of the bathroom stall quickie. They get only the mundane of both worlds, the best of nothing.
September 16, 2004 - Tango is a mature person's danceAnother excerpt from Hyla's post, which sounds very true:
Tango is a mature person's dance, it is for me the antidote to the youth cult that we have in the US. A lot of those fabulous women dancers in Argentina and elsewhere are older, have lived through a lot, and have learned to be here, be heavy, make no apologies, don't try to be so perfect, so easy, so compliant. They are in touch with their centers, their emotions, they are grounded. These women, whether young or old, do not try to fly away on the tippy toes. They are right there with their leads, listening, answering back, challenging, agreeing, becoming full partners in the making of something beautiful, rather than merely empty vessels waiting to be filled with the lead's brilliance. Some dance on a more pointed foot, some on a flatter foot; some have "stiff backs", some don't; some give a lot of resistance to the lead, some don't, but they all have maturity and depth and full personalities. I am glad that since I have no desire to get any younger (anyone here really want to repeat high school?), there are some things that I might be able to get better at, as I get older. Tango, as far as I am concerned, is one of them.
Mature... In tango context I refer to these definitions:
- Of, relating to, or characteristic of full development, either mental or physical: mature for her age.
- Worked out fully by the mind; considered: a mature plan of action.
Considered is probably the most critical part of these two definitions - one has many points of reference and understands and tolerates many things, which previously could have been unacceptable (very well described in the beautiful and wise post by Polly McBride from Portland, Oregon below). Considering considered definition the usage example: “mature for her age” also rings true – reference to age is tenuous: not every old person is mature (here I disagree with Hyla), even though many more young people are immature.
There is much to be said about.....Tango and Maturity
Time can be our best friend or not. Through its passage we gain wisdom and understanding of a million things we had no clue about in our youth. We've learned how to learn and that ego-me-go takes us nowhere. We understand love, loss, longing, and the lessons life has led us through. It tickfully reminds us of our m-m-m-mortality.
With each year we have more to offer and to share. We bring more to the floor and receive increased benefits from the dance, our partner, the music and the experience. The more we give, the more we perceive how much more we receive.
The combined pleasures of holding or being held by a partner, haunting and playful music, inspired choreography, and living in the moment, create some incredibly sweet and powerful connections. The delcicious footprints left lingering on our soul/sole keep us coming back for more.
In our youth we would have enjoyed the dance on different levels than we do now. (Assuming the reader is beyond their kinderyears.) We would have enjoyed the music, being in close proximity with an attractive partner, playful footwork, and the excitement. (We still do of course.) Now there is much more and the "more" makes everything else exquisite.
In our "maturity" we hold a myriad of emotions and memories that have become part of our inner being. Tango music touches us more deeply because our heart and soul have deepened. Our connection with the music and our partner reflect those depths, and we respond with heart, body, mind, and soul.
We love watching young folks dance tango, knowing that somewhere in time they will truly understand it. Meanwhile, we will share our unspoken understandings with them as they share their exuberance and energy with us. This magical blending of generations will keep tango a living dance. It lives through us as we live through it.
Each time we're on the floor, our dance changes. Ever so slightly, perhaps, but it grows right along with us. We connect with a partner for short intervals that contribute to the accumulation of many hours and miles. While we nurture another, we nurture the dance. The art of refined caring comes with maturity. We have learned the importance of taking care of someone, including ourselves. And we've learned that tango takes care of us in ways we never dreamed possible, so we trust ourselves in its embrace.
With maturity comes balance, growth, deepened tango and selective vulnerability.
August 12, 2004 - On ability to mature
Michael Ditkoff, Grateful in Washington, DC has cautioned:
"I'd be very careful about using the language "emotional part is much harder to learn." I don't think you can learn the emotional part. "
I don't think anyone can teach it. One can learn it though: the process is called maturing. You are right, not everyone is capable or is in appropriate circumstances to go through this process.
August 12, 2004 - How long does it take to learn tango
There are two parts to the dance: 1. technical and 2. emotional (the "deep-throated "!Amame!"" from the excellent article in Albuquerque Tribune ).
The first part.
a) steps can be learned fairly quickly (months or as we have learned in some cases less than a month)
b) doing steps with the music (musicality is rather technical in my opinion) can be learned fairly quickly (months if you listen to the music every day)The second, emotional part is much harder to learn. It is this part where life-long learning of tango comes from. One has to be mature enough to not be afraid to be vulnerable. One has to have enough depth (usually coming from life experience) to have something to share. That's why when I taught my daughter to tango I told her that she will need to wait at least ten-fifteen more years until she can truly enjoy the dance (and even this I was able to tell her because I know that she has the potential to empathize).
If one has the second part in her/him, then learning the steps/musicality can be relatively easy. Learning to express existing emotions via steps will take a bit longer, but I think my initial estimates are about right (one year for men, six months for women).
By the way all of the above applies to close embrace only; one cannot "!Amame!" in open embrace.
August 4, 2004 - Learning the connection
I wrote in the usual confusing manner:
2. it takes more than technique to become good dancer musicality (as Robert Hauk correctly pointed out in his message) and in my opinion more important perception/responsiveness/ability to communicate and to add to the dance based on that ability to communicate are harder to learn but possible (not for everyone) with correct mindset, instruction and sensitive partner.
What I tried to say is that "connection" part of tango is much harder to learn. Understanding how your partner perceives the dance and complementing / enhancing his/her tango. When both partners are able to relate on this level then the connection is amplified and becomes the proverbial "tango trance".
Not everyone is able to reach this level of connection (and performance dancers do not need it at all and therefore would have trouble teaching it, I think) because not everyone is capable to empathize. It is well known that most women empathize much easier than men. Maybe that is why it takes men longer to become a good social dancer according to numerous quoted estimates. Of course there is a matter of learning to lead the steps too (as opposed to connect), but I am not talking about mechanics here.
Ricardo Vidort was one of visiting instructors at the festival. He is a good dancer, I saw him at milonga at hotel BAUEN in BsAs. He told me that he does not teach steps instead he teaches how to dance with a heart. Looking at him dancing I say having good footwork does not hurt either.
November 12, 2004 - Passion and technique
From Leonard Kunkel via Tango-L:
"Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion."
Martha Graham
1894-1919, Dancer, Teacher and ChoreographerNotice that Martha talks about great dancers who have already mastered the technique. One still need to take classes to get there. Good news - if you are passionate about the dance, classes are not burden at all.
November 17, 2004 - More on passion and technique
WHITE 95 R wrote:
...I've met plenty of passionate incompetents who in their overconfidence and hubris will make a huge mess out of whatever they touch. I'd take technical competence and solid credentials over passion anytime when it comes to many aspects of life. Engineering and toolmaking come to my mind (I'm very familiar with these fields) and I know for a fact that technical competence is paramount to success and respect in those professions as well.
Consider these:
1. All the tools were created initially in a moment of "passion". Indifferent people have no desire to make them.
2. Passionate incompetents could have enough passion to stick around to learn the skills. Indifferent incompetents? How do passionate competents compare to impassionate "competents"?
3. Solid credentials (recognition by peers) are result of deep interest, passion (unless you are talking about degrees and other superficial labels (incompetent doctors come to mind), which is separate topic altogether).
August 28, 2004 - On quality of dancing
Michael from Houston wrote on Tango-L:
In my humble opinion, fantasia, or stage dancing is strictly that, a work undertaken to entertain an audience. Open tango may be fun for some, but that's all, and is still used to impress those around you. Salon is fun, and more appropriate socially, but still generally danced by those searching for new moves, fancier steps; almost an "athletic" direction to improvement. And while maybe not quite as much to impress the crowd, still, there is that impression that they're trying to impress themselves. Tango Milonguero is for nobody but me and my partner, and the improvement that I search for is almost spiritual in quality. When me and my partner can exist on the floor oblivious to all else but the communion of our love for tango, and the synchronicity of our awareness. When we can both exist in a state where the music tells us what to do, and the embrace becomes not hands or arms, or even chests, but heart and body. When you get right down to it, as I learn more and more, tango becomes less and less about dancing, and more and more about feeling. I wish I could adequately describe this feeling, but I don't think anyone can.
So, Sergio, when you write that <<<<<<<<< What I find difficult to understand is the fact that some groups that have plenty of room available to dance decide to restrict their dancing style to Milonguero, close embrace, ONLY because that is the way it is done in the crowded milongas of B.A.>>>>>>>>>we milongueros know that we are not restricting ourselves. We look at the dance floor and wonder why everybody else is restricting themselves from enjoying what we experience.
Beautifully spoken.
July 12, 2004 - Dancing with non-opposite sex
Caveat: I dance in close embrace
I have been invited to dance by a man at recent milonga. I had to decline even though he is an interesting dancer with amicable personality. Normally I do not turn down an invitation to dance, especially with someone I have never danced with before. I am also aware of popular tango history - bordellos, man dancing with man etc. However to me tango is very intimate experience (not that this experience necessarily goes anywhere beyond the dance floor). I cannot, nor would I like to share this intimacy with another man.
Can intimacy of tango be taught? I do not think so. I think it comes from personality and I do not think dance can drastically change personality. Rather dance sieves through and chooses suitable personas. It s like Swing - you will not understand it if you have to ask. Instructor can provide the framework: embrace, smaller steps perhaps, but it s hard to fake it.
This reminds me recent post on Tango-L about partner sharing and very insightful comment by the Argentinean milonguero. Something in the vein of "The dance is between the man and the woman who choose to share it. A third party should not make this partner choice for them." I think the reason is the same as in my case. We could potentially share the mechanics but would loose the dance.
January 14, 2004 - Tango performances: Tango Kinesis and Tango Mujer
There is performance tango and performance tango.
Last year I saw Tango Kinesis and Tango Mujer within one month. Tango Kinesis had the word tango in the name of the troupe, a lot of lifts and some "dramatic" endings, not dissimilar to the one shown on the cover of the book, which begun this thread. I was bored. A quick poll of a few other members of the audience showed that they shared my impression. Then I saw performance by Tango Mujer. This one had "dramatic" and was based on social style of dancing. My memory might be failing me but I do not recall any lifts and certainly no "dramatic" ending of the kind we are talking about. Just real feelings reenacted and result was absolutely spectacular.
I approach tango when I perform it for audience in the theatre from the same perspective: if you dance the real emotion and do not ham it, discerning audience will notice and will appreciate it.
December 9, 2004 - Beginners' crushes and other matters of passion
Lily Cheng in Hong Kong wrote:
I'm learning argentine tango with my boyfriend, we learn it together and enjoyed it very much, but when we start to go dancing in social events and he honestly told me that he had some special feeling with a girl when he danced with her. I have had the same feeling of nearly falling in love with a guy cos the dance we danced was so good, i understand this feeling. But i still feel so uncomfortable thereafter whenever i see him with the other girl.
Is this normal? Is there anyone having the same feeling who can share with me how you deal with such jealousy?
On jealosy - very simple, don't be jealous because (from the observant post by Astrid in Japan):
...keep in mind, that feeling passion for and totally in tune with someone on the dance floor (un)fortunately does not automatically translate itself to feeling or doing anything with each other off the dance floor. After the most breathtaking encounter on the floor, you stand next to each other awkwardly tongue tied off the floor, find out that you have nothing in common mentally or spiritually, and, soon, one of you will rush off to experience another high with the next person.
Tango is a bit like virtual reality. When the last curtain falls, the actors take off their costumes and go home.
The ambiguous brakets in the (un)fortunate bit are so true. More wisdom from Tanguero Chino:
Lily wrote:
> ... you can't escape talking with them off the dance floor...
> ... you start knowing him and understand more about the person ...Off the dance floor, the ordinary social norms of the society apply.
The milonga is only one of the many ways men and women get to meet each other. Couples have come together, couples have separated, and real affairs have happened off the dance floor, and this will continue to take place. On or off the dance floor, we are still humans.
The milonga is, after all, supposed to be a social occasion. Talking to others in the milongas is part of the social aspect. It is how much you allow your feelings on the dance floor to cross-over into real life that would dictate what would happen in your relationships. For that, only the person involved can determine what is appropriate.
More from Bob Morris:
These stories remind me of an incident shortly after my sister-in-law discovered dance as a social activity (nevermind tango). She called her sister one day and asked, plaintively, "Do I have to go to bed with ALL of them?"
The correct answer is "Of course not, dear, only with good dancers". Guys, keep practicing.
January 26, 2008 - A dance of the legs
Rock'n Roll is not pollution, niether it is tango: El Pulpo and Luisa dancing some kind of dance of the legs to AC/DC.
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