Re: [Tango-L] Chicho interview - Violent Milonguero vs. nice close embrace: what to do?
From: joanneprocha...@aol.com joanneprocha...@aol.com Teachers need to teach their women students that IT IS OK TO SAY NO, and why. If women do not uphold the standards of good dancing, then all will go to in handbasket:, as they say. Be careful what you wish for, as they say. The most likely outcome is that the already-small pool of men will dwindle even more, which leads to a pretty common situation in the States: a small scene with high turnover, and nobody is getting good dances. I'm going to suggest that women could do some simple things to encourage the men to hang in there long enough to get better. Probably the most effective would be to give a response that's more focused than a simple no: I'd like you to stand up straight, please don't squeeze my hand so hard, let's just go for a simple walk (i.e. don't try so many tricks), etc etc. No carries very little information in it. How is a man supposed to know what to do? Help him out a little. The second thing is just to talk to people (this applies to both men and women). It's often said that tango is a conversation and I'm convinced it works the other way as well. Why not spend a minute or two in idle chit-chat. The next time there's an event, people think, maybe unconsciously, about the last one. If they have a memory of a warm, inviting experience they're more likely to try it again. Conversation doesn't directly improve anyone's dance technique, but they certainly won't improve if they don't come back. Another consideration (I promise I'll stop here) is that people should dance open-embrace until they know each well enough for close embrace, even if one partner or the other customarily dances in close embrace. In open embrace you can be much more forgiving about technical problems. I'm inclined to look at the big picture here. What I want is a big tango scene with lots of experienced people. I'm thinking, what should we do that might lead to that. ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Chicho interview - Violent Milonguero vs. nice close embrace: what to do?
Jack Dylan wrote: Maybe ladies need to be prepared to accept a few 'not-so-good' tandas so that they can get a few 'good' tandas. But that's everyone's choice to make. True...but the way I understood Joanne's comments is that there is a difference between a bad dancer and an inexperienced one. I'm quite happy to dance with a few inexperienced dancers to balance getting the chance to dance with some experienced ones. But a bad dancer is one who is forcefully pulling and pushing you out of balance, bumping you into the other dancers (perhaps without apologizing) and otherwise making the dance very unpleasant; these are the ones who seem oblivious to the idea of taking further lessons to improve because they think they are good enough. Imagine the message they might get when they notice the woman choosing a beginner dancer over them. I do think there are discreet ways of making suggestions to men who are truly trying to improve. Usually this is best done not during the tanda you are dancing, but in a neutral conversation another time where you might point out positive traits in leading that you like - in a general way, not like you are correcting them. Often bad dancing occurs when the leader is trying to do too many fancy steps that he is not capable of. I love to point out good dancers who use very simple steps but have great musicality...the inexperienced dancer is often surprised because they can't see what's so great about that dancer. But I have also been known to make gentle comments on the dance floor - I've sometimes used Excuse me, but I'm having a problem in my shoulder, would you mind using very little pressure in your left arm...or can you guys see right through that one? ;) Laura ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] Ghandi and the cabaceo
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:11 PM, Anton Stanley an...@alidas.com.au wrote: The cabeceo gives ultimate power to the woman to refuse a dance without publicly injuring the ego or dignity of the suitor. Why is it such a problem for Western women to practice it? The whole cabaceo discussion is academic, at least in North America. Are you in Australia, Anton? Do people use the cabaceo where you are? In North America, there are a few people who try to do it, but it isn't practiced uniformly. It is't that Western women have a particular hard time doing it. It's simply hard for anyone to do it unless everyone does it. Remember in the climax of the movie Ghandi when the whole country suddenly laid down their arms and practiced non-violent resistence all at once? You'd need something like that here to get the cabaceo adopted. Even if you do want to cabaceo between partners, it's hard to do here. For one thing, people don't clear the floors for cortinas. That means partners can't find one another by sight from a distance. Where I am, there is no reserved seating in milongas and never enough chairs for everyone in attendance. We just don't conceive of a milonga like the ones in B.A. Without a home base to return to after dancing, everyone mills around and hooks up for dances by walking up to each other. A few dancers in the know try to practice a cabaceo mutation by walking up to someone and, instead of sticking out the hand, nodding from a distance of approximately 2-and-a-half feet. It's a cabaceo in form, if not function. It's a cultural difference that can't be bridged here. It would require a country to decide, spontaneously, to be different! Valerie -- Cryptic Ember - The tango blog of Valerie Dark http://crypticember.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Ghandi and the cabaceo
HI Valerie Just curious: where in North America do you dance? Here in Portland, OR both methods of asking are used, a lot! -- even tho the floors don't completely clear during cortinas, even tho there is no such thing as my table. I usually solicit and accept dances by cabeceo -- from across the room, from up or down the row of tables, from across the snack table. Not academic. Not essential either, just immensely helpful. :-) Megan On Nov 24, 2009, at 11:16 AM, Valerie Dark wrote: On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:11 PM, Anton Stanley an...@alidas.com.au wrote: The cabeceo gives ultimate power to the woman to refuse a dance without publicly injuring the ego or dignity of the suitor. Why is it such a problem for Western women to practice it? The whole cabaceo discussion is academic, at least in North America. Are you in Australia, Anton? Do people use the cabaceo where you are? In North America, there are a few people who try to do it, but it isn't practiced uniformly. It is't that Western women have a particular hard time doing it. It's simply hard for anyone to do it unless everyone does it. Remember in the climax of the movie Ghandi when the whole country suddenly laid down their arms and practiced non-violent resistence all at once? You'd need something like that here to get the cabaceo adopted. Even if you do want to cabaceo between partners, it's hard to do here. For one thing, people don't clear the floors for cortinas. That means partners can't find one another by sight from a distance. Where I am, there is no reserved seating in milongas and never enough chairs for everyone in attendance. We just don't conceive of a milonga like the ones in B.A. Without a home base to return to after dancing, everyone mills around and hooks up for dances by walking up to each other. A few dancers in the know try to practice a cabaceo mutation by walking up to someone and, instead of sticking out the hand, nodding from a distance of approximately 2-and-a-half feet. It's a cabaceo in form, if not function. It's a cultural difference that can't be bridged here. It would require a country to decide, spontaneously, to be different! Valerie -- Cryptic Ember - The tango blog of Valerie Dark http://crypticember.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] Map of BsAs Milongas??
Does anyone know where I might see (online?) a map showing where the best* Milongas are located in BsAs? I was wondering if there was one particular neighborhood that was best* situated near the highest quality Milongas? thks ...would there be someway to put together such a map? ..get the addresses of the best Milongas? * best=best quality authentic Milonguero dancing. ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
