tango and maths? Loving/addicted to tango :) Tips for beginner...

L

LovingIt28

New Member
Hi,

Have been dancing a little while in other styles and now have about 4 months of tango under my belt. My goodness. My first impression was that I was ABSOLUTELY overwhelmed with the possibilities/variables/intricacy and complexity.

It ABSOLUTELY reminds me of maths and exponential growth sequences.

Anyone else notice that?


Also, it reminds me of those choose your own adventure books lol.

So what tips can you give me in order to be the best tango dancer possible.

I know I must be patient but it will be a constant struggle. I do have a lot of respect for the dance and dancers though so not in a rush. Went to my first social night Friday which was fun. Just practiced my walks mainly :)

I am a 28 yr old male.

I probably need most help on being grounded and connecting with my partner
 
Welcome to AT. Fair warning: It's Addicting!

What will make you better? Read through either of the posts here on the DF re basics, fundamentals, etc. There are several here who can help you become the best that you wish to be.

Other than going into a redundantly loooonnnggg list......

Practice...as much as possible. Good dancing.
 
LovingIt28 said:
My first impression was that I was ABSOLUTELY overwhelmed with the possibilities/variables/intricacy and complexity.

It ABSOLUTELY reminds me of maths and exponential growth sequences.
Click to expand...

The combinations aren't that numerous. Yes you can consider the possible steps for the man, forward, backward, with one foot or the other, and the possible directions, LOD, back to LOD, facing the wall, back to the wall, and same for the woman, and you combine all that and it makes a lot of possibilities.
But not all of of them make sense tango-wise. If you move backwards and the woman moves to the side, most of the possibilities will make you move away and a few ones will work, back sacada (also tomada) by the man, one alteration too.
 
LovingIt28 said:
Hi,
It ABSOLUTELY reminds me of maths and exponential growth sequences.

Anyone else notice that?
Click to expand...

It reminded me of two things: As a Follower it reminded me of a dance. As a leader it reminded me of a much bigger dance. C'est tout! ;-)

As for you: My tip is to let it do the same. And yes, I am able to tell apart the Academics from the Artists. In the way they lead me in the dance. And so. Let the scientists work out the science. Just dance? Yep! Just dance :-)
 
LovingIt28 said:
I know I must be patient but it will be a constant struggle. :)
Click to expand...

gave a talk the other week on "how we consciously plan ahead the negatives". See the highlighted bold above. Wish I'd got hold of this before - would've used it as an example in my powerful Powerpoint display. Ha, ha, ha. Come in LI28: You have a restar. Repeat: ...this is going to be so easy. There. You see? Easy ;-)
 
Heather2007 said:
gave a talk the other week on "how we consciously plan ahead the negatives". See the highlighted bold above. Wish I'd got hold of this before - would've used it as an example in my powerful Powerpoint display. Ha, ha, ha. Come in LI28: You have a restar. Repeat: ...this is going to be so easy. There. You see? Easy ;-)
Click to expand...

Aha! to which I would add learning tango is not an intellectual exercise: better to let your body do the learning and let your brain take a rest; its simply a case of letting as much movement become automated responses ( there is proper term for this but it escapes me)
and receiving the stimuli from the music and your partner.
 
It ABSOLUTELY reminds me of maths and exponential growth sequences.
Click to expand...

Yes there are a lot of possibilities, and the order in which you assemble them gives you nearly infinite variety by the end of 3 minutes. However, this is not the variability to be thinking about.

The exciting variation comes from personalities interacting. Focus on the now for both people, and at most the next 3 steps or so. In 4 steps time, the world will be a different place, so deal with that when you come to it. Now you have a tractable problem based around making 1-3 partnered steps excellent.
 
LovingIt28 said:
it will be a constant struggle.
Click to expand...

Not really because there is not much that you can control. If there is no good teacher in your area, if there is no partner to practise with between the classes, if the classes are for couples only, if the gender imbalance is the wrong way, etc etc then it will be a constant frustration but not a constant struggle.
 
kieronneedscake said:
Yes there are a lot of possibilities, and the order in which you assemble them gives you nearly infinite variety by the end of 3 minutes. However, this is not the variability to be thinking about.

The exciting variation comes from personalities interacting. Focus on the now for both people, and at most the next 3 steps or so. In 4 steps time, the world will be a different place, so deal with that when you come to it. Now you have a tractable problem based around making 1-3 partnered steps excellent.
Click to expand...

Guy Marrec advised that you should only be thinking about the step you are doing..... the others can wait.
 
LovingIt28 said:
Hi,

Have been dancing a little while in other styles and now have about 4 months of tango under my belt. My goodness. My first impression was that I was ABSOLUTELY overwhelmed with the possibilities/variables/intricacy and complexity.

It ABSOLUTELY reminds me of maths and exponential growth sequences.

Anyone else notice that?
Click to expand...
I often talk to my wife about there being an analytic aspect to tango, along with the artistic (visual) aspect and the emotional (connection) aspect of it. I tend to think of the analytical side, more in geometrical terms rather than exponential growth, but one does tend to lead to the other.

My one piece of advice is to try to understand (but not necessarily do) the follower's part as much as your own. To lead clearly, you have to understand what it is that you want her to do (among other things). If you learn a pattern but only know your steps, you won't be able to lead her steps effectively.
 
[mathgeek] I would probably prefer model tango by using a markov chain, this would allow to keep all the complexity in place, while making for a much more concise description
h t t p : / / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Markov_model
[/mathgeek]



What?

:)

Gssh
 
In mathematics, a Markov chain, named after Andrey Markov, is a stochastic process with the Markov property. Having the Markov property means that, given the present state, future states are independent of the past states.

This may be true for tango...except that, as with music, the current state is NOT independent of past states. If they WERE, then where would be no phrases, no recurring patterns of notes and durations, etc.
Therefore, dance that is a reflection of the music would also NOT be independent of past states.
Of course, most people don't really reflect the music, so...
But then, they aren't very good dancers.

No?
 
Well, as a tango dancer i would claim that i can walk musically, which is not only a markov process, but a stationary markoff process:

State A: Step forward with left foot
State B: Step forward with right foot

Transition matrix:
0
 
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