Exploring Tango: April 2012

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Dancing Beyond Sexuality

Cultivating A Passion For 'The Dance'

Partners dancing and courtship are closely intertwined. Anyone who's participated in a social dance as a teenager knows this firsthand. Many styles of solo and ensemble dancing found throughout the world demonstrate a level of virility and suitability for mating. Even some members of the animal kingdom use 'dance' as a courting ritual.

But despite these well-established links to sexuality, dance in its purest form is neither a means of courtship nor a surrogate for sexual activity.

Dance is art.

Dance is communication.

Dance is expression.
Dance is storytelling.
Dance is humor.

Dance is tradition.
Dance is drama.

Dance is an observable stream of thought.

Dance is athleticism.

Dance is exercise.

Dance is adventure.

Dance is a kinetic, physical manifestation of music.

Granted, dance also can be an expression of intimacy, but intimacy exists in many forms.

There is The Intimacy of Teamwork, as when athletes bond toward a common goal.

There is The Intimacy of Harmony, as when voices rise up in a joyous choir.

There is The Intimacy of Trust, as when acrobats leap toward each other on the flying trapeze.

There is The Intimacy of Discovery, as when we witness a child exploring nature for the first time.

There is The Intimacy of Companionship, as when we share food and fond memories with good friends.

The Argentine tango is an intimate dance. It contains each of these forms of intimacy along with others.

If we find ourselves experiencing overt romantic or sensual feelings during a tango - and if we're not in the arms of our True Love at the time - it might be the very experience that we're looking for. Adventure. Fantasy. Conquest. All within the safe confines of a room full of people.

The embrace is a garden where interpersonal chemistry can blossom and flourish without much additional prompting.

On the other hand, such feelings could be an indication that we have become more focused on The Partner than on The Dance.

The Dance is a pure experience. It is not partner-specific.

We can enjoy The Dance with someone from a vastly different age bracket.

We can enjoy The Dance with someone who is physically unattractive to us.

We, as heterosexuals, can enjoy The Dance with a partner of the same sex (ditto the equivalent circumstances for gays).

The Dance provides its own unique rewards above and beyond the pleasures of close physical contact.

In cases where The Dance becomes confused with The Partner, the positive attributes of The Dance will blur with our feelings of attraction for the other individual. Unless there is a clear desire for courtship between the two partners, this blurring must be managed carefully.

Preferences and Desires

If you are already enjoying the artistry and creativity of tango without interpersonal distractions, then congratulations! I commend you on your pursuit of The Dance in its purest form, and I hope that you'll benefit from its limitless rewards.

If the tango has become a primarily sensual experience, and if you find that appealing, that's entirely your business. Feel free to share these sensations with like-minded partners.

I would just ask that you please not share these experiences with ME or with others who are looking for 'good clean fun', so to speak. When dancers with different personal objectives mix, the potential for misunderstandings and embarrassment is significant.

My personal preference is to explore The Dance for all that it has to offer - creativity, musicality, expressiveness - dimensions of the tango that I could share with anyone, not just with an attractive woman.

In my opinion, overt romanticism distracts from the vast intellectual, spiritual, and creative potential of the Argentine tango. However, everyone has their own objectives, and the dimension of interpersonal attraction is going to be a legitimate priority for many.

Finally, if you find that your tango experiences are clouded with sexual impulses and you would like to change that, here are some suggestions.

Think about all of the different types of intimacy listed above. Which would you like to cultivate in your tango life? How can you increase your focus on these ideals?
Realize that the embrace, while essential to the tango, is not a green light for unwanted affection. The best embrace is a sanctuary of comfort and respect.
Focus on the attributes of tango that you would like to explore more deeply - communication, musicality, improvisation, empathy, creativity, etc.
Dance with some partners of the same sex (or the opposite sex if you're gay) and find what makes the tango appealing in the absence of any hint of sexual desire.
Spend some time dancing exclusively with your life partner with whom no sexual conquest is required.
Avoid partners who desire a primarily sensual experience on the dance floor - even if you have to find some new milongas.

The Argentine tango has much to offer (INCLUDING sensuality). Don't limit your experience. Explore the tango's many dimensions in order to enjoy it's endless rewards.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

exploringtango.blogspot.com

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Are Musicality Workshops Doomed To Fail?

Coping With An Educational Void

Imagine that we're going to set up an experiment in Argentine tango education. We'll select a group of individuals who have never studied the dance before. We'll train them for several months in standard tango techniques - walking in both systems, weight changes, ochos, ganchos, boleos, cruzado, etc. - except we'll leave out the turn (a.k.a. the giro, or the molinete).

After this training, our test students will have some experience leading and following tango steps, but they shall have never led or followed a molinete. They won't even know the component steps of the turn.

Today we're going give this group an hour-and-a-half workshop on turns. We'll show them the structure of the turn, and then we'll teach them:

how to get into and out of the turn in both directions
how to link the turn to the ochos
how to place sacadas within the turn
how to place ganchos within the turn
how to use boleos to reverse the direction of the turn
how to execute the lapis and the needle in the center of the turn
how to lead and follow turns of different speeds
and much, much more

If you've studied Argentine tango, you'll recognize that this exercise is doomed. It will fail, and it will fail spectacularly. The students in this workshop will be overwhelmed by all of these new techniques. You can't teach turns in an hour an a half to someone who has never done one. You'd be lucky to teach all of the above in a YEAR and a half.

We recognize easily that it requires skill to execute (and lead) turns in Argentine tango. Those skills take months to learn and years to perfect. Students would need to have those skills before attending an intensive turns workshop. Trying to present the novice with this much information in one session is ridiculous.

Musicality Workshops

Unfortunately, most musicality workshops will run into the same challenges faced by our ill-fated turns experiment. The students might come away with some useful information. But unless they arrive at the workshop with a solid foundation in musicality training, the experience will probably be quite frustrating for for them.

It will be frustrating for the teacher, as well. The workshop could be well-structured and well-presented, but that won't matter. The problem is that many students won't have the skill and the preparation necessary to assimilate the material.

Facing The Music

The uncomfortable reality is that most tango students - and a considerable percentage of social dancers - do not have a solid foundation in dance musicality skills. People who have studied music as instrumentalists or singers will be farther ahead than non-musicians. Musicians will be able to recognize beats, phrases, melodies, and other musical components.

The non-musician will need to invest considerable time and effort toward the development of these foundational skills. And they'll need foundational skills before they can advance to more challenging musicality concepts.

This disparity presents an additional challenge for the instructor. Musicality lessons must be accessible and understandable by musicians and non-musicans alike, as well as by those who have studied other types of dancing.

However, those who've studied music should not assume that they don't need to work on dance musicality skills. Dancing requires a different set of musical skills than what's required to play an instrument. The musical requirements of Argentine tango (a dance that's improvisational by its very nature) are even more demanding, but the distinctions would be better left to a separate discussion.

Causes and Resolution

How did we come to this point? Why is it that so many tango students lack the skills required to get real meaning out of a musicality workshop? Why are these workshops frustrating in some instances and poorly attended in others?

The simple answer is that teachers tend not to dedicate enough class time to the study of musicality. However, we also need to consider the expectations of the student.

Students can become disenchanted when teachers ask them to work on musicality. They might not see the value of the exercises. If they came to the class with the expectation of learning new step sequences, musicality exercises might seem like a waste of time. Even if the students have a good attitude about learning musical techniques, they might find the exercises to be frustrating if, say, they're not adept at hearing and moving to the beat.

Musicality education is not going to improve until things change on a large scale. Teachers will need to give musicality priority in their classrooms, just as they do with walking, ochos, and turns. By incorporating musicality skills into their week-by-week lesson plans - going gradually at first so as not to frustrate the students - teachers will help to improve the musicality skills of the tango community.

Demonstrations can also be beneficial. Teachers can increase the level of interest by showing students how musicality can enhance even the most fundamental tango sequences. Many people need to understand the benefits of a technique before they'll be willing to work on it. Just don't expect your students to stop hating their musicality drills. That's not likely to change.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

exploringtango.blogspot.com