Tango good! Other dance bad!

[bafonso]

If you are having fun dancing tango then you're not listening to the music
(or you have a weird definition of fun but i suspect that quite a few people here are masochists)

there are two tangos which are fun:
Gato and Espiante

the rest are full of existential anxst, tales of sorrow, unrequited love and how even my no-good dog has left me etc etc.

Lhasa said that listening to really sad songs make her happy. I'm a bit like that.

 

[ant]

Sorry Steve..but you prove my point...promiscuity leads to such drivel.
Tango is: walking and turning in an embrace (of man and woman). You know this.

From the perscetive you are arguing, open embrace would be the only acceptable way to dance.

There seems to be a massive contradiction in your argument.

 

[ant]

.....One of the reasons that I stopped doing tango was that I didn't feel like I was a good fit with the community. There seemed to be a level of elitism amongst the dancers, "tango or nothing!". But it seemed that tango being good wasn't enough, other dance forms had to be bad.Was this simply the community that I was in? Or is this more widespread? I also feel that I am not a good fit when I go to a new community.

I have always felt the way you seem to feel when I go to a new community.

However over time and with patience I eventually feel comfortable. Although in some communities this happens quicker than others.

I have therefore come to the conclusion that the feelings I get initially are probabally as much to do with my own insecurities as to those of people in the community. My advise is to go along and be patient. IME you will soon feel like you are accepted.

But I really want tango to be fun and free, not some heavy mistress that I am a slave to.

At the end of the day the fun element is up to you. I have found that by sticking to the way I want to dance I have fun. If I dance the way others feel I should dance this is not the case.

 

[bordertangoman]

And nuns? Sisters of Mercy for me. They were real disciplinarians. But they also taught me about music. And Dance.

I suspect poeple who like Sisters of Mercy, the Fall. The Cure or Leonard Cohen, or Joy Division or Arvo Part (Arbos or Tabula Rasa) will have greater affinity with tango.

As to communities I think they're a bunch of diverse people brought together by a common purpose ( which sounds far more rhetorical than I intended.)

and there's probably far too much self-identification ("our gang" sort of thing) which I cant be arsed with. I'm there to dance, all I wish for is music that wants me to get on my feet.

 

[Mario7]

..., open embrace would be the only acceptable way to dance. .

= an obvious Oxymoron.. perhaps there is an open hold form of dancing but I would excuse myself from such a dance because I don't like it at all. :raisebro:

 

[Mario7]

I suspect poeple who like Sisters of Mercy, the Fall. The Cure or Leonard Cohen, or Joy Division or Arvo Part (Arbos or Tabula Rasa) will have greater affinity with tango..

These are the Brainiacs, intelligencia who suffer internally...that helps because I believe that one has to be a masochist to love tango.:raisebro:

 

[Dave Bailey]

= an obvious Oxymoron..

Blimey, pedantic much?

perhaps there is an open hold form of dancing but I would excuse myself from such a dance because I don't like it at all. :raisebro:

I'm assuming you're unaware that an embrace should be fluid?

Or do you always grip onto your partner for dear life?

 

[dchester]

= an obvious Oxymoron.. perhaps there is an open hold form of dancing but I would excuse myself from such a dance because I don't like it at all. :raisebro:

Blimey, pedantic much?

I'm assuming you're unaware that an embrace should be fluid?

Or do you always grip onto your partner for dear life?

I have to defend Mario on this one. He was merely stating his preference. There are several opinions/preferences on how the embrace should be. Salon style (US terminology) has a fluid, (or sliding) embrace, whereas Milonguero style does not.

 

[Mario7]

I'm assuming you're unaware that an embrace should be fluid?
Or do you always grip onto your partner for dear life?

We disagree here, Blimey! Fluid? No thank you.
And yes, I have a close, enveloping embrace with a soft give but always maintaining the connection,...never breaking it. (and I check with my practice partner frequently as to whether it's comfy or not).

 

[Angel HI]

And yes, I have a close, enveloping embrace with a soft give but always maintaining the connection,...never breaking it. (and I check with my practice partner frequently as to whether it's comfy or not).

Good.

 

[wadpro]

I think tango is the best dance on the earth.

 

[bordertangoman]

I think tango is the best dance on the earth.

that is a matter of opinion...

 

[Steve Pastor]

Heh, love tango, when it's good, but just signed up for 4 days of lessons with Skippy Blair who's been teaching West Coast Swing for over 50 years.