Tango from a book?

Sagitta said:
So how is the dark side - salsa - treating you BTM?
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I changed my mind: the class was at an incovenient time and the more I listened to salsa music the more nauseous I felt. It just doesn't do it for me. I went to a tango tea dance at the weekend and thought " why do I need anything else?" I had such a nice time, received compliments and even had a couple of ladies asking me to dance. Who could ask for more??

Salsa schmalsa!!
 
No, you can't learn tango from a book - including mine.

You learn by doing. And I don't just mean practicing steps. Doing means listening to the music and letting it get into your soul, let IT lead you. It means becoming one with your parner. And it means flowing with the traffic instead of trying to hog the floor and showing off.

Books, videos, teachers - these are all AIDS to learning. You should not depend on any one of the three over the other - each has advantages over the other two.

My online book tries to help people get started, but it's purposely not long. And it emphasizes the spirtit of tango as much as technique.

This is not a commercial message. I get no money from my book.

Follow the link in my signature to find it.
 
bordertangoman said:
I changed my mind: the class was at an incovenient time and the more I listened to salsa music the more nauseous I felt. It just doesn't do it for me. I went to a tango tea dance at the weekend and thought " why do I need anything else?" I had such a nice time, received compliments and even had a couple of ladies asking me to dance. Who could ask for more??
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To each his own, I suppose :sigh:
I must confess I found tango music SERIOUSLY depressing when I started going to tango classes. I stopped going for a while because of it. Although I feel much better about the music and enjoy the dance more now, I'm still very much a salsera only dabbling in AT.
 
One thing that books are good for is preserving "underappreciated" ideas. If someone feels that their ideas have fallen out of common practice, writing them down means that right or wrong, they will be there for some inquisitive soul to potentially reconsider at some point in the future.
 
Larry in LA said:
No, you can't learn tango from a book - including mine.

You learn by doing. And I don't just mean practicing steps. Doing means listening to the music and letting it get into your soul, let IT lead you. It means becoming one with your parner. And it means flowing with the traffic instead of trying to hog the floor and showing off.

Books, videos, teachers - these are all AIDS to learning. You should not depend on any one of the three over the other - each has advantages over the other two.

My online book tries to help people get started, but it's purposely not long. And it emphasizes the spirtit of tango as much as technique.

This is not a commercial message. I get no money from my book.

Follow the link in my signature to find it.
Click to expand...

Welcome to df Larry. What you say is very true. And your online book actually was one of my first aids to AT, complementing instruction and practice and listening to the music. And indeed for anyone else interested Larry's message is not a commercial one and his "booklet"? is helpful.
 
bordertangoman said:
Sagitta said:
So how is the dark side - salsa - treating you BTM?
Click to expand...

I changed my mind: the class was at an incovenient time and the more I listened to salsa music the more nauseous I felt. It just doesn't do it for me. I went to a tango tea dance at the weekend and thought " why do I need anything else?" I had such a nice time, received compliments and even had a couple of ladies asking me to dance. Who could ask for more??

Salsa schmalsa!!
Click to expand...

You see the music they play at the salsa/latin clubs isn't the music that I really like. That might be the case for you. Are you referring to music played at clubs, at the lesson, or msuic that others recommended to you? Perhaps ask a person who also love At to choose muisc for you to listen to based upon your taste in AT music? A thought to consider.

Also if you go into the class thinking that it is at an inconvenient time aren't you starting out with a frame of mind that isn't conducive to learning/liking salsa. Plus the music played at classes isn't the greatest. And it gets really irritating when a cha cha is played as a slow salsa. Or when the muisc tempo is changed from how it is recorded...
 
Sagitta said:
Perhaps ask a person who also love At to choose muisc for you to listen to based upon your taste in AT music?
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Are you volunteering? :wink:


* This is my post #1234! :D :roll:
 
MacMoto said:
I must confess I found tango music SERIOUSLY depressing when I started going to tango classes. I stopped going for a while because of it. Although I feel much better about the music and enjoy the dance more now, I'm still very much a salsera only dabbling in AT.
Click to expand...

There is Milonga for those who need jollity, vals for something with motion,but tango is unbeatable for passion. Tango is not for those who want mere fun.
 
MacMoto said:
Sagitta said:
Perhaps ask a person who also love At to choose muisc for you to listen to based upon your taste in AT music?
Click to expand...
Are you volunteering? :wink:


* This is my post #1234! :D :roll:
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Nope. I don't know AT well enough to do that but I'm sure BTM knows enough people in UK to find someone, or perhpas you or MadamSamba? :P
 
If u buy the improvisation CD or other CD's instead of the book, you get to watch lots of interesting combinations. It open my mind after I watch the videos.. soo many possibilities.. and I just start playing it on my own too.

Orca
 
All Things Argentine Tango Book

Alert: This message may be considered advertising as well as informational. Books on tango are hard to find. This one is written from the viewpoint of a dancer experienced in many styles, who put all of them on the back burner when tango came into my life.

Four years ago, after dancing tango for eight years and still not finding anything to read that wasn't in Spanish or highly technical, or that soothed my longing for empathetic kindredship, I decided to write a small pamphlet for beginners. I listed all the categories I could think of and then tried to prioritize them into the top 10 that were absolutely essential for beginners to know. Problem: All the topics are inextricably linked to each other and I couldn't figure out which ones beginners didn't need to know. A compilation of 100 essays I titled All Things Argentine Tango is the result.


Web page: http://members.aol.com/atango2/

Tango is life on the dance floor.
Life is tango off the dance floor.

Polly McBride
atango2@aol.com
 
MadamSamba said:
A few months back, ...A Passion for Tango... Anyone read it?
...
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Thanks Polly. With all your experience and knowledge, both as a dancer, instructor and writer, could you enlighten us about the aforementioned book?
 
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