Dancing to the music

[Shandy]

I have an undergrad degree in musicology. Analysis of music ................ It adds a level of respect and admiration, giving me a deeper level of understanding and appreciation when listening to the music I have analysed. And music I have not visually analysed too. It allows me to relax and be spontaneous on the dance floor (when I'm at my best, anyway). I react to the music and don't plan ahead. I've been told I dance musically. Something is working!

Tangomonkey - Pretty much my understanding of what my dance teacher was saying to me.

Just for clarification, I do listen to the music "for dancing" all the time and I've been told I DO dance musically. This new approach is more about the music and looking at different ways of developing a deeper understanding of the music I'm listening too every day. "Tango for Dummies" is one of my approaches.

 

[opendoor]

After years of dancing with many milongueros, I know what they have in common -- a deep love for the music. They don't have or need musical training, but they know the music. They have absorbed the music into the fiber of their being and let the feeling flow out of them.....

Honestly Jan, what you adore is no quality feature. You know my aim is a different one. For me tango is neither folklore nor wallowing in reminiscences of an golden age. Tango is not knowing every note of well-tried pieces by heart. For me tango is an art form, that requires questioning and challenging oneself whenever you are on the dance floor.

 

[AndaBien]

If you listen to the same song over and over and over and over you will know and "feel" each part as it comes up without necessarily studying music. I have often wondered how many advanced dancers are good simply because they have heard all of the most popular golden age songs 10000 times.

I guess the test would be how well you can dance to an unfamiliar song.

I think that by realizing that music has a standard structure - the A part will be repeated immediately after it is played the first time - the A part is only unfamiliar once. The second time it is familiar, because it was played just 15 seconds earlier. Same for the B part and C part. The A and B parts will probably be repeated again later in the tune. By that time a leader who understands music would be able to know what was coming up in the tune and hit the music.

I'm not talking about planning ahead. I'm talking about knowing that at a certain moment - like right now - the music will do something, and being able to come up with a step at that moment that fits the music.

 

[dchester]

After years of dancing with many milongueros, I know what they have in common -- a deep love for the music. They don't have or need musical training, but they know the music. They have absorbed the music into the fiber of their being and let the feeling flow out of them. At the dances in the Confiterias during the 1950s, they had to dance well in limited space without bumping into others or they were asked to leave and not return. I can tell by dancing with a man if he is someone who danced in the confiterias.

Jan, while I agree with what you have said here, they've been dancing to the same recordings for 50 years. How could they not know the the music?

We Americans get caught up in "levels." One should dance to one's ability and then enjoy it. Being called a "great" dancer serves no purpose other than to massage the ego. It's not a real achievement, only an artificial one.

As long as I feel better, who cares if the achievement is real, or artificial?

(*** smiley used to indicate an attempt at humor, in case anyone didn't pick up on it ***)

Thinking on the floor will get you no where in the dance. The music has to become a part of you and take over your body. Then one is dancing the music. Thinking about steps is called choreography. Milongueros don't plan anything, they allow the music to tell them what to do. Tango lets us be in the moment. There is no other way. You can't be in the mind and have the body free to dance at the same time.

I agree with you up to a point. The music should be a part of you, and so should your partner. However, I don't feel that thinking about steps is the same as choreography. I also believe that thinking about steps occurs at a subconscious level, when it's not happening at the conscious level, and tendencies will occur in either situation.

 

[chanchan]

Thinking about steps is called choreography. Milongueros don't plan anything, they allow the music to tell them what to do. Tango lets us be in the moment. There is no other way. You can't be in the mind and have the body free to dance at the same time.

I perfectly agree, but when one says this step is allowed, this step is forbidden, this step is for vals, this step is for milonga,this step is for show, this step is for the leader, this step is for the follwer, this step is nuevo, etc.... is thinking about steps!!

 

[LoveTango]

I don't think one has to know a piece of music by heart in order to dance to it. I dance to music when I am listening to it. It is almost like when you are listening to music attentively, you would tap your fingers or your toes, and sway your body, extend your torso... That is the effect of music. Often you would know when it will stop even if you have never heard it before. Sometimes, we mistaken the end of a section as the end of the tango, then we just continue after the pause.

...It might be a little embarassing, if we made a dramatic display, but then the music continues... Just laugh it off. Or avoid the dramatic endings all together.

 

[Captain Jep]

I agree with all of this to a point.

For me the interesting thing is how milongueros have stripped down their dancing to the bare essentials. Any intermediate/advanced dancer will be dancing to the music. But they are almost always being too "busy". Milongueros know how to make more of less and arent afraid of pauses and silences.

 

[tangomonkey]

For me the interesting thing is how milongueros have stripped down their dancing to the bare essentials. Any intermediate/advanced dancer will be dancing to the music. But they are almost always being too "busy". Milongueros know how to make more of less and arent afraid of pauses and silences.

A very good point. When I first started dancing tango I was unfamiliar with the "Golden Age" music and the way(s) it is danced. I heard what was happening in the music - everything simultaneously. My problem was attempting to dance to it all. I tried to do too much, and of course my dancing was bad (very, very bad). I soon figured out less is more. Now I try to dance according to what I hear or feel is the predominant musical line/rhythm/mood at the moment, using mostly basic movements. Pauses and simple weight changes are my friends.

 

[AndaBien]

...For me the interesting thing is how milongueros have stripped down their dancing to the bare essentials. Any intermediate/advanced dancer will be dancing to the music. But they are almost always being too "busy". Milongueros know how to make more of less and arent afraid of pauses and silences.

An older concert pianist said something like, "Anyone can play the notes. It's playing the pauses the creates artistry".

 

[tangomonkey]

An older concert pianist said something like, "Anyone can play the notes. It's playing the pauses the creates artistry".

I've read that before and about jazz musicians too. When dancing, a well timed pause at a cadence (the end of a phrase) in the music, helps conclude your steps, collect and prepare for the start of the next phrase.

 

[opendoor]

.. For me the interesting thing is how milongueros have stripped down their dancing to the bare essentials. ..

Hi Captain, really must laugh, b.c so much of these so called M. never been far beyond..

 

[Madahlia]

When I first started dancing tango............ I heard what was happening in the music - everything simultaneously. My problem was attempting to dance to it all. I tried to do too much, and of course my dancing was bad (very, very bad). I soon figured out less is more. Now I try to dance according to what I hear or feel is the predominant musical line/rhythm/mood at the moment, using mostly basic movements. Pauses and simple weight changes are my friends.

I find most beginners lack musicality for the opposite reason: they are so involved with the physical and mental process of movement that they don't even hear the music. In fact it is common that novices will continue dancing after the music is finished because they haven't noticed that it has stopped.

Your musical knowledge and training puts you in a unique position. If you found it difficult to pare down your dancing and match it to the music how much harder for the average leader with no musical background?

What should teachers say to help people through this painful phase? Apart from, "Stop when the music stops."

 

[AndaBien]

...What should teachers say to help people through this painful phase? Apart from, "Stop when the music stops."

I've taught class sessions on pausing. Some guys had a difficult time with it, and I had to insist that they would actually take a pause. They seemed to feel that if they weren't stepping they weren't dancing. I think some guys are worried that pauses are boring for their partner.

 

[opendoor]

... is common that novices will continue dancing after the music is finished because they haven't noticed that it has stopped...

I´m with you concerning this, and, remembering my first tango steps, I usually stopped dancing tooo early, b.c I was so excited and flustered to find out those hints for an end, that I overshooted the mark often ..

 

[Steve Pastor]

I've taught class sessions on pausing. Some guys had a difficult time with it, and I had to insist that they would actually take a pause. They seemed to feel that if they weren't stepping they weren't dancing.

Wondering if you used music with pauses to cue them?