Listening to music to improve dancing skill

Miradamiranda said:
Everyone is jumping on this sailing reference, huh... :)
My take: dancing to unfamiliar music trains you to adapt to when the wind shifts direction. If you only dance to music you know well, it’s like expecting the wind to always be predictable.
Allow yourself to be carried by the winds.
Click to expand...
It was my intention to compare dance with sailing to have some fun here :)
Well, after 17 years of dancing Tango Argentino is hard to find new music. Over years I passed almost all steps from ZERO to HERO (I felt like maestro, but of course it wasn't true) and back to modest and unpretention dancing with main target, to give a joy.
Back to sea, captain, with ship, compass, radar and maps is eager for adventure. Captain without compass and map is gambling. Even Captain Jack Sparrow had a map.
And it is definitelly misunderstanding that with knowing a song is dance predictable or even dictated. Do you dance two times the same LIBERTANGO? I belive it is impossible.
 
opendoor said:
What do you do at passages where you normally stride, but the ronda stands still? What do you do in the cadenced passages at the end, where everyone doubles and does giros?
Click to expand...
In such passage, when ronda stands still you can continue to walk with rebotes, or traspie, make small wheel by turning in pair to left while you are walking, close giro or molinette, plenty of options we have.
Final cadencies of songs is topic for workshop. Everytime I try to finish song with some "speciality", not everytime we are sucessfull, but most of time it is fun. :)
 
Rabbit said:
..remember asking teachers this in my first year and none of them were able to give a satisfactory answer..
Click to expand...
That's because dancing to the music usually isn't taught to beginners. I find it remarkable that teachers even orient their students toward milongas at all.
 
opendoor said:
That's because dancing to the music usually isn't taught to beginners. I find it remarkable that teachers even orient their students toward milongas at all.
Click to expand...

I was just puzzled why a teacher wouldn't be able to answer what I thought was a rather obvious question. As for the milongas, there's a natural synergy between organizing classes and organizing milongas, and even if the students have questionable floorcraft, so do many of the experienced dancers...
 
ArbeeNYC said:
You dance in place on your little baldosa like everyone else. No need to do a power walk around the room.
Click to expand...
In my experience, lots of rebotes, ocho cortados, gyros are the only option in crowded or limited spaces with a still ronda. Even baldosa is just too much. Thankfully, it is possible to both comply with legato and staccato calls from the music on the same point.
 
arrowofsky said:
In my experience, lots of rebotes, ocho cortados, gyros are the only option in crowded or limited spaces with a still ronda. Even baldosa is just too much. Thankfully, it is possible to both comply with legato and staccato calls from the music on the same point.
Click to expand...
What to do in such situations was definitely not my point! My concern is that in the situations described, a leader hardly can adequately interpret the music! A tango isn't just a piece of music that you just dance to in any way. No, a piece has an internal structure, a tension arc, and conveys a story. This means that you can't do "rebotes, ocho cortados" at any point in the track without violating the music. Maybe your ears are so immune that you don't notice it. I'm certainly not, and that's why I'd rather sit than dance like a "deaf" person. (Sorry, I only know three deaf tangueros and they lead very musically. They get all the informations from the double bass.) Ultimately, I come to the conclusion that "listening to the music" tends to reduce the dancing skills of a sensitive and musical person.
 
Last edited:
Opendoor, I agree with you, sometimes is better sit. And sometimes it looks like music is not disturbing anybody in ronda.
 
opendoor said:
What to do in such situations was definitely not my point! My concern is that in the situations described, a leader hardly can adequately interpret the music! A tango isn't just a piece of music that you just dance to in any way. No, a piece has an internal structure, a tension arc, and conveys a story. This means that you can't do "rebotes, ocho cortados" at any point in the track without violating the music. Maybe your ears are so immune that you don't notice it. I'm certainly not, and that's why I'd rather sit than dance like a "deaf" person. (Sorry, I only know three deaf tangueros and they lead very musically. They get all the informations from the double bass.) Ultimately, I come to the conclusion that "listening to the music" tends to reduce the dancing skills of a sensitive and musical person.
Click to expand...
There is a misunderstanding here, with some assumptions about me :) By the way, I quoted another person to provide an additional case, not your point.
I am not doing these figures randomly at any point with an immune/deaf ears. They have the necessary and sufficient degree of freedoms. Gyro can accommodate legato very well, and you can do many variations of 1-1, 1-3-1, rebotes and others with ocho cortados in both staccato and legato. Your speed, embrace, tiny stops will provide you more than one way to interpret song parts. Indeed, this is art. There can be so many ways to violate or make a mess of it, but still more than one way to live the story of music, and obviously not everyone will get the same emotion from the same story, hence, different interpretations. I find the deaf statements a bit unnecessary and harsh, though. I believe we should have a room for understanding each other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top