What do they know about passion and intimacy and connection?
Yeah, that was sorta MY point. And somebody responded to me with a comment about how inappropriate it would be if they danced with too much "passion" (meaning sexy)
Right age to start AT?
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Yeah, that was sorta MY point. And somebody responded to me with a comment about how inappropriate it would be if they danced with too much "passion" (meaning sexy)
Voting, maybe, but some tango teachers don't like it when people ask why, or ask for explanations.
Those aren't teachers... they're drill sergeants and they should have joined the military.
Believe it or not, the teacher I've learned the most from, probably was more like a drill sergeant than any other teacher I've had (although she was actually very good at answering my questions about why this, or that).
Ok, but that's not what you described above... we were both talking (I thought) about people who don't like questions or having to give explanations... that's what I meant by "military".
You sorta moved the goalposts in the space of 2 posts!
OK, I guess the disconnect is because I have a somewhat different perspective of drill sergeants, possibly because I actually was in the Army (many, many moons ago).
To me when someone says a "drill sergeant type", I think of someone who is very demanding and vocal about what they want. However, that doesn't mean they get all upset when someone asks questions (like some tango teachers).
I'd say that the military (at least the Army, anyways), it's true that orders aren't typically questioned (or at least not directly), but the role of a drill sergeant is somewhat different, as they actually are teachers. Questions actually are asked during boot camp, and they generally are answered, unless the sergeant thinks the question was stupid (and then they yell at you). BTW, any one who out ranks you, can yell at you without any reason in the Army, (or how the drill sergeants taught it to us), disrespect only goes one way, up.
How's that for a hi-jack?
Peaches
Well-Known Member
I wish I could find the thread/clip of some little girl dancing with her dad. So absolutely adorable. No, she doesn't have any understanding of life and love and heartache and blah blah blah...but it's a very touching video of a little girl dancing real AT with her father.
I'd say she started at a good age.
I'd say she started at a good age.
Exactly. Not necessarily anything to do with chronological age. And, if one were to extrapolate the whole emotional/passion/connection thing (while keeping things clean and asexual) what is more connected than a healthy parent/child relationship? Maybe that is tango on a whole different plane.
On a side note, I don't think tango is necessarily sexual. I think the whole sex thing can be a red herring. That's not what tango is about to me. To me, the tango that I've seen that I found ... transcendant (and that real tango people also found beautiful) seemed to me more like an intimate conversation between old friends. Maybe sexuality/sensuality is involved. Maybe not. Could be parent/child. Could be lovers. Could be friends. To me, it looks like interdependence is the point.
That's one of the reasons why I don't like those kids who are dancing in the top thread. (Not to beat a dead horse unnecessarily) Not just because I think they don't get it. To me, it looks like those ornamental leg thingies (what are they called, tango people?) are the point of the choreography.
Uh. No. With people who (IMHO) "get it" the leg thingies are more like the inside understanding between friends. Not the point of the conversation, but nice to have as icing on the cake.
I hold tango in high esteem. Can anybody tell?
On a side note, I don't think tango is necessarily sexual. I think the whole sex thing can be a red herring. That's not what tango is about to me. To me, the tango that I've seen that I found ... transcendant (and that real tango people also found beautiful) seemed to me more like an intimate conversation between old friends. Maybe sexuality/sensuality is involved. Maybe not. Could be parent/child. Could be lovers. Could be friends. To me, it looks like interdependence is the point.
That's one of the reasons why I don't like those kids who are dancing in the top thread. (Not to beat a dead horse unnecessarily) Not just because I think they don't get it. To me, it looks like those ornamental leg thingies (what are they called, tango people?) are the point of the choreography.
Uh. No. With people who (IMHO) "get it" the leg thingies are more like the inside understanding between friends. Not the point of the conversation, but nice to have as icing on the cake.
I hold tango in high esteem. Can anybody tell?
jantango
Well-Known Member
The milongueros viejos were all dancing by the age of 12 or 13, which means they were listening to tangos from a very early age. The atmosphere of Buenos Aires was filled with tango, so it wasn't something they had to search for.
It's not age that matters, but one's experience. If you start dancing late in life to foreign music, it's going to take a time to progress. That's why tango is a challenge for most; knowledge of the music is the place to start before the dance.
Tango was created from a deeper dimension, certainly than heavy metal which is noise. Tango music helps us connect to a stillness within us. You don't get that from heavy metal. That's why tango is satisfying. We become more present in our body when we feel the music. Then we aren't controlled by the mind.
Tango's deeper dimension takes us to another place within ourselves.
It's not age that matters, but one's experience. If you start dancing late in life to foreign music, it's going to take a time to progress. That's why tango is a challenge for most; knowledge of the music is the place to start before the dance.
Tango was created from a deeper dimension, certainly than heavy metal which is noise. Tango music helps us connect to a stillness within us. You don't get that from heavy metal. That's why tango is satisfying. We become more present in our body when we feel the music. Then we aren't controlled by the mind.
Tango's deeper dimension takes us to another place within ourselves.
While I don't think that heavy metal does help us to connect with a stilness within, my son assures me that tango music ("That horrible noise") sounds like copulating cats, and would I please turn it off.
newbie
Well-Known Member
Gavito in his class-that-was-a-lecture on what you must put into your tango, said nothing about the music. He did say something about how he used the various intruments in the mechanism of his leading, thus considering that music is more important for "how" or "what" rather than for "why".
And if you start to see this thread as a "how/what" thread, then a young flexible body is better than and old fat one.
That is, yet another fail for the the milongueros-do-it-better tautology.
And if you start to see this thread as a "how/what" thread, then a young flexible body is better than and old fat one.
That is, yet another fail for the the milongueros-do-it-better tautology.
Dave Bailey
Active Member
No offence, Jan, but when did you become an expert on heavy metal?
Your attitude reminds me of the same dismissive (and ignorant) "oh, Tango music, it's all that bloody plinky-plonk screeching noise" comments I sometimes encounter from my students.
If anything, I reckon some forms of heavy metal music - and the general approach and themes of it - are very much worth investigating for their similarities to tango music.
I'm not trying to be confrontational, but your conclusions don't appear to be based upon anything other than your opinions, similar to Jantango, but just on the other side of the argument.
I was with you until you started to talk about heavy metal. Not all heavy metal is the same, just like not all tango is the same. While there's an awful lot of heavy metal that I don't like, there is certainly some that I do like, and a few that I've even tangoed to.
My son (when he still was at home) gave my wife and I a "healthy" exposure to metal (even though as as child, he heard a lot of classical music, choral music, R&B, rock, and a little opera). He did go on to first play the drums, then bass, then guitar, before going off to MIT to study physics.
tangomonkey
Active Member
If he didn't damage his brain listening to heavy metal he might have gotten into a good school...
