that's what i love about it - the dance floor is a great leveller
Why some women are not asked to dance
- Thread starter Ampster
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that's what i love about it - the dance floor is a great leveller
I think that between an educated and an uneducated person, the one with more free time and more disposable income has a better chance of becoming a better dancer. Achieving a good work-tango balance is not always easy.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
Well then my mechanical engineering degree with a lot of statics and dynamics was perhaps not the best way to get ahead in tango.
I should have gone to get a furniture mover right away!
opendoor
Forum Master
I hope you have not misunderstood the angry emoji: Of course, I am happy when someone knows my mother language (Plattdeutsch)! And how did it come about?
Reuven Thetanguero
Well-Known Member
In course of my Tango life, I have met and danced with: Hair Dressers, Beauticians, Computer programmers and support technicians, Doctors, Nurses, Business Owners, House cleaning lady, Home Makers, Teachers, Office Secretaries, Unemployed, Court Transcriber, Psychologists and shrinks, Accountants, Clothing designers, Dietician, Dentist and one expectant mother (8th month...) - to name a few. I guess the longer you Tango the more diversified group of people you meet. (Never an Engineer... )
My point is that Tango transcends economic and professional classes. People from all walks of life participate and are welcome.
Yes, and that's its beauty by others.
Still, it might be that in different countries, regions, towns, it attracts different kind of professionals.
I went once to a Milonga in another town, never been there before. I arrived, paid the entrance fee while watching the crowd. It was between the songs, no music. At a short glance it seemed strange to me, the people looked different from the people I expect in Tango and I felt closed to scared. It turned out that that was the salsa party and the Milonga was upstairs. Going upstairs I found a totally different world of people.
LadyLeader
Forum Master
Education divides my tango world too but it is the musical education, especially among DJs and performers, dividing it. One of the most appreciated DJs was a successful composer but I never got hooked by his tandas. On the contrary a tango teacher kept me on the pista all night. I was totally exhausted but I couldn't leave the place! The former felt intellectual but the latter caught my body and heart!
You know, this thread and the other one that's going on are confirming a thought I had that tango is essentially incomplete - in other words, that most of the characteristics that are really sought after in a dancer or DJ can't be efficiently, if at all, acquired just by studying tango - and maybe that's why some people find the dance difficult or frustrating
Reuven Thetanguero
Well-Known Member
It's not that Tango is incomplete - in my view, many have the wrong understanding of what Tango is and what it's not.
From what I learned in the past 20 years, Tango is not ochos, boleos, nor other steps and moves. It's the music. It's the feeling you have when you hold your partner and move to the rhythm and melody. It's like painting art on the dancing floor while moving as a unit. For me that's Tango.
So to be a good DJ or dancer, you must understand the orchestras, the composers, the band leader's style and eras. You must understand the types of music (habanero, canyenge, candombe, etc.) the various instruments' contribution to the whole, the tempo, and rhythm.
You must understand the importance of the embrace and its contribution to smooth and fulfilling dancing.
People that focus primarily on steps and figures, in my view miss the core understanding of what tango is.
Fanny-K
New Member
Unfortunately, most (nearly all) instructors visiting outside Argentina, only focus on steps and figures i.e. escenario. So learning in an unbiased environment with full immersion in Argentina (not necessarily in Buenos Aires where there are already many foreign influences) is important. Otherwise find an authentic non-traveler instructor wherever you are if you can.
opendoor
Forum Master
You nailed it, Rabbit! Tango is about character, growing, ripen and maturing. But whoever cannot account for what has already been achieved, will always be unhappy. Tango is a process, its not a package, its open end! And to take up your idea, we also have to learn to age in tango. The learning curve has a turning point, never forget! Take me for example. My turning point was an accident: I am aware now, that I lose a figure, a technique every month. Four tandas a night are only possible for me with the highest dose of diclofenac. I stopped dancing vals, milonga, swing. When it comes to tango, I limit myself to Fresedo, di Sarli and Salamanca. I have to constantly redefine my position in tango. If tango was a package, I already were out. It is my salvation that "tango is incomplete".
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And each pairing of a dance couple for the duration of the tanda is unique and that experience at that specific moment can never be repeated. Furthermore, unless you're dancing at a competition or putting on a performance, the only thing that genuinely matters is the (non-visible) connection between the two dancers.
I completely subscribe to the view that this is what tango can make so mesmerising for a couple who are 'only walking', and yet mind-numbingly boring for some spectators.
Actually, I know the history, and I don't think it makes me a better dancer at all. I dance intuitively not analytically, everything I need can be found by listening to the music and partner in real time.
LadyLeader
Forum Master
I think mostly the same! However, I wonder if we have slightly different goals? I have a feeling that you are searching for the truest, deepest description of tango. (?) My goal is more to describe the path I and at least some other dancers are advancing on. Here a try!
When I started out the tango WAS steps and ochos and turns and corridas for me. Fast music urged me to move fast forward and a slow song gave me more calm steps. To manage the difficult figures made the joy burst hilariously out. The dance was external and the music expression was external!
The paradigm shift was the change from the external dance to an internal one!
One day my partner was rising tall at the end of a phrase and I felt that it was the most beautiful thing ever! For me this was the first time I clearly experienced the external movement and its internal equivalent. During the external years, I had developed internal equivalents for tango and an ability to recognize them. Now we could just stand there and let her activate an internal ocho! The best ever!
Today I can fall off to a totally external dance during a fast milonga but a heavy Pugliese could tease me down to the most internal dance instead!