Has Tango ruined you for other dances?

[jfm]

I have been tangoing for a few years, but a couple of months ago I decided to to take up Salsa for a bit of variety.(a few years ago I used to salsa a bit and i found it quite easy- but it was with a latino crowd so they just taught me on the fly-but of course I've forgotten it all now!)

I find it incredibly hard!

Is this because it is more difficult?
Is it because it is faster (although milonga is pretty fast too!)?
Is it because the lead comes from the hands?
Could it be because in the lessons we learn by rote?

Or is it because Tango has destroyed my ability to do other dances?

Is this normal?


one thing i have noticed is: it is far easier to follow a tango leader who is not listening to the music/can't find the beat/etc. than it is in Salsa-in fact if the lead isn't in time I can't follow at all! Very dis-spiriting.

 

[Sagitta]

NOpe. One dance doesn't spoil me for the other. For em it is salsa as my primary...but I do have those moving hips which one isn't supposed to have in AT or zydeco and I just don't bother and let it be...but this is more of choice...

 

[Peaches]

I don't know that I can blame AT for what you describe, but it certainly played a role. This, despite the fact that I actually started with ballroom first. It holds nowhere near the enjoyment that AT does, and everything else by comparison is ungodly difficult.

 

[bordertangoman]

i've tried salsa a couple of times; the first time i was one of five men in a class of forty women and the sight of all the wiggling buttocks of all shapes and sizes was too much. I also have a problem finding the beat and the nusic I find rather boring after a while.

 

[Terpsichorean Clod]

I think you've gotten spoilt from getting good leads from the body. Other dances should work that way, too, if leading from the body through the hands. Unfortunately, outside AT, it seems that beginners are generally taught to lead from the hands or arms.

 

[Ampster]

In my case, I can't say as AT ruined me. AT replaced everything!

After becoming proficient at AT, Ballroom became "staid & stuffy." I could no longer stand the monotonous Salsa beat that went on all night.

I revel in the skill needed to lead a good AT follow. It is not at that level in the other disciplines (IME)

 

[Cortado]

I find that Tango has increased my expectations of dance generally - good connection, torso alignment, both the leader and the follower maintaining their axis and balance at all times and aware of the other's - you know the basic essentials for good AT.

It is very easy to feel the lack of these elements in other dances and often always end thinking that there is room for improvement on both our parts - that magic is missing.

What other dance forms are there where followers feel better when they close their eyes?

 

[Peaches]

I find that Tango has increased my expectations of dance generally - good connection, torso alignment, both the leader and the follower maintaining their axis and balance at all times and aware of the other's - you know the basic essentials for good AT.

It is very easy to feel the lack of these elements in other dances and often always end thinking that there is room for improvement on both our parts - that magic is missing.

What other dance forms are there where followers feel better when they close their eyes?

Well, if you read Elise's posts, she loves Standard with her eyes closed.

I don't think that any of those elements are specific to AT. I'm sure that dancers of other styles strive to achieve good torso alignment, balance, awareness, and good connection. Other dances are/should be led from the center just as AT is--that beginning leaders are not does not mean it's a characteristic of the dance. And even when you are talking about something like salsa, which would seem to be led with the hands, I don't think it truly is. Yes, it's transmitted through the hands/arms, but the lead very much has to come from the center. It's the same concepts, just a slightly different application.

I also think it's just as easy to feel the lack of those elements in AT just as much as in other dances.

 

[Aurora]

I agree with Peaches' point that other dances also have those elements. I have danced salsa socially for quite a while, and I can see where they are a part of salsa, too. That said, I went out salsa dancing a week ago after a several month hiatus - a hiatus in which I danced AT several times a week - and didn't find it as fulfilling as AT. I did have fun, once I got back into it and remembered that the feeling and connection was simply different from AT, but at the end of the night I couldn't say that I was as satisfied as when I am coming home from a milonga. And as great as a connection in salsa might be, I've never had anything even close to "tango nirvana" while dancing salsa.

 

[Cortado]

Another difference is that before I did Tango, when doing general social dancing I followed the "expect one dance" rule, meaning that several dances in a row would not be taken for granted. In dancing terms this setting is more akin to a quickie than a slow passionionate session, a hamburger than a three course dinner.

 

[Twirly]

Argentine tango is difficult to learn with a lot of technique from the start. It should help you to learn other dances quicker, not make it more difficult. That said, AT is different from most other dances in that there is no basic step to fall back on, and there is no set timing to keep. It's not so strange that you're finding it hard learning another dance that is so different. But after a while, when you get used to these differences, you'll probably learn quite quickly. Think about all the useful technique, body awareness and musicality that you take with you.

 

[Cortado]

Think about all the useful technique, body awareness and musicality that you take with you.

and therefore notice lack of in the average non-AT dancer. I hope that it does not sound elitist as it is definitely not meant to be. People who dance AT cannot find their dance nirvana in other dance forms - the why is pretty obvious.

 

[Peaches]

and therefore notice lack of in the average non-AT dancer. I hope that it does not sound elitist as it is definitely not meant to be. People who dance AT cannot find their dance nirvana in other dance forms - the why is pretty obvious.

Cortado, I'm sorry, but that is absolutely, 100% untrue.

Other dance forms take TONS of body awareness, and musicality, and technique. It is NOT something exclusive to AT, by any means.

That AT dancers cannot find nirvana in other dances has nothing to do with the supposed lack of these qualities. Just as other people are inexplicably drawn to salsa, or swing, or ballroom...some of us are drawn to AT. There's just got to be something in the music and the character of the dance that speaks to each of us. But to suggest that the preference has to do with lack of technique and body awareness (and, yes, musicality, although even I have doubts about that in some forms of ballroom) is just wrong.

 

[Steve Pastor]

I appreciate dance on more than one level, which I think is a pretty good strategy.
Tango is my "serious" dance. although it is easier for me to overlook things in my partner in milonga or vals, than in the slower tangos. I love dancing tango slowly, but find very few women who can make it wothwhile. (Yes, it's the technique thing.)

West Coast swing is my second most serious dance.

The rest of the stuff we do at the coutry western place is mostly (for me) done for fun. Many of the younger women who have "good technique" seem to be mostly interested in doing cool moves with no regard for the music. There are exceptions, though. And usually at the beginning, there are diamonds in the rough of whatever age. Usually I work with them and they get to the point that they can give as well as get, making me want to up my game again, and they hook up with someone else, or become popular enough that I have to stand in line to dance with them, or they get tired of trying. And it's onto the next new partner for me.
I always try to remember the women who have good basics (like knowing to dance in time to the music and having a sense where their center is, and being in control of it), and I try to get back to them whenever they are available.
Cuervo Gold is extremely useful in upping the fun factor. I never drink alcohol when I do tango (unless I can talk someone into doing "one step" at the CW place).

Once you know the stuff you learn in AT about basic technique, I think you have a responsibility to take it into your other dances, even given the fact that most dancers probably are there to "just have fun".
Let me paraphrase what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker (Spiderman).
With great knowledge comes great responsibility.

 

[kieronneedscake]

I would say the bigger issue is learning a different set of reflexes and not letting the AT posture get in the way of other forms. It is common to find "salsa hips" in people learning tango, and getting people to unlearn the ballroom frame is equally difficult. Cross-contamination is a problem with musical instruments too.

I tried learning ballroom styles first, then salsa, and it was fun, but compared to the way AT grabbed me, nothing. The ballroom club taught me to copy, the tango club taught me to dance. I have no urge to return to any ballroom style, even though I am sure there are better teachers out there.