opendoor
Forum Master
well said
Do followers know more about tango than leaders?
- Thread starter AndaBien
- Start date
Lilly_of_the_valley
Well-Known Member
I don't believe it depends on the gender or the role. It takes two to tango, and neither role precludes from knowing more about it, or facilitates the knowledge in any way. Of course, genders and roles play part in the learning process, but so is culture, personality, educational background, previous life experience, and many other factors.
In my general observations, whoever has dedicated more time and effort to studies, knows more about the subject.
In my general observations, whoever has dedicated more time and effort to studies, knows more about the subject.
bordertangoman
Well-Known Member
Dave Bailey
Active Member
It sounds like you're saying, it takes two to tango?Damn, I was just about to say that too.
Saying "who knows more about tango" is silly. No-one leads / follows by themselves.
I am a leader, but if I dance with 10 new partners I get 10 quite different dances. Maybe the steps will be similar, but steps are not the only thing in tango, not even the most important... the leader is the one who manage the steps, everything else is 50% and 50%: connection, musicality, improvisation, feelling, elegance, playing with the beat, playing with balance. All of these can be done in every kind of steps.
For example, if a follower inserts an adorno, she is not only doing an "embellishment": she is actually playing with the beat and with the balance: she is giving the dance a different felling, a different dymnamics. She can transform a flat and insipid dance in something much more interesting, as well as she can ruin a beautyful dance.
If we focus only on the steps, then yes: she has the possibility to do a huge number of steps. A follower with some experience has probably done much more different steps than a leader, but does it mean she knows those steps?
As one old-timer said, “Ya cain’t tell which way the train ran by lookin’ at the tracks.” The statement is certainly correct – and obvious.
I was hoping to stimulate a discussion that went a little deeper that mere steps, which many of us agree are rather superficial.
Perhaps I should ask the followers here to comment on various personal ways of dancing that they may have encountered in their capable partners. As a leader, I might be able to learn something by having other ways of dancing revealed to me.
I was hoping to stimulate a discussion that went a little deeper that mere steps, which many of us agree are rather superficial.
Perhaps I should ask the followers here to comment on various personal ways of dancing that they may have encountered in their capable partners. As a leader, I might be able to learn something by having other ways of dancing revealed to me.
chrisjj
New Member
Do listeners learn more than speakers?
Confucious, he say "Man who speaks all the time learns only what he knew already."
chrisjj
New Member
No. I learned in the other role.
I learned more in one minute's dancing with e.g. Tete than typically in each day of lecture and demonstration of good leading... from people keeping sufficient distance to ensure I could not tell whether it was good leading.
PS To anyone who like me enjoys both roles: take care in Cafe Tango, Stuttgart, where same-sex dancing is likely to get you reprimanded.
Mario7
Member
..What was it like dancing with Tete and what did you learn??
( Take two pages to answer if you'ld like! )
Dave Bailey
Active Member
Yes, but your original question wasn't well-phrased.
Personally, I have opinons about the different-shaped "learning curves" for leaders versus followers, but:
A/ They're opinions
B/ They don't mean "A knows more about 'tango' than B"
Lilly_of_the_valley
Well-Known Member
What precludes you from trying to follow different capable leaders, and getting the first-hand answers to your questions?
There are lots of things in tango that are hard, sometimes impossible, to explain verbally, one has to feel them in one's own body to understand.