Re: [Tango-L] Heads up
[Tango] Heads up. Thanks Sergio, good comments. Just to add a little contribution (two cents) I consider proper to mention a popular motto among tango dancers in Uruguay and Argentina regarding this issue. When somebody looks down when leading they commonly use to said: Está buscando monedas. (He is looking for coins.) Obviously, this is a criticism, not a mere observation. In my view, the inelegant habit of persistent verification about where we put our feet it is a clear sign of beginners, insecurity, lack of confidence, lack of practice, a lot of practice with the wrong habit, or all of the above. Besides, we must remember that we need to look to where we want to go. In that sense, a minuscule tilt to the sides may improve communication and add some points to an efficient leading. Keep dancing up! Ruben There is no doubt that to bend the head and the upper torso down can cause problems with axis, posture, and communication with your partner. This is aggravted when the two partners are of marked different hight. When I said that some excellent dancers like to see what happens with the feet, I meant that they observe the variations of foot work, they observe with their eyes without dissturbing head position too much. Nito (one of the best dancers that I Know) likes to see what happens with the feet, he does not need to look down, he even dances blindfolded to prove this point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTqtF1XqPE Summary: Heads up, or not too low. Best regards, Sergio ___ 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] Heads up
I think most would agree that tango is about balance, axis, posture and walking in a natural manner. So here is my question, how can you dance with balance, on axis and with good posture if your head is looking down at the floor? The head is very heavy about 10 - 12 pounds and I see many dancers even those claiming to be teachers dancing looking down at the floor? Can anyone explain the benefit of dancing this way? And what in the world are you looking for? Is this why you are always bumping into others? Are you such a bad leader you need to look down to see where the follower’s feet are? Are you looking for cockroaches? Help me out here if you dance this way give me one positive reason why. Thanks David ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Heads up
From: hbboog...@aol.com hbboog...@aol.com I think most would agree that tango is about balance, axis, posture and walking in a natural manner. Wow! So that's what Tango is about. Silly me; after 15 years of Tango, why did nobody tell me that? So much time wasted on trying to connect with the music and connect with my partner. So much time spent trying not to move like a programmed robot when that was actually the secret all along? Balance, axis, posture and walking in a natural manner. I can do that; but why do I think there's more to Tango than that? Jack ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Heads up
On 6/22/11 12:22 PM, hbboog...@aol.com wrote: how can you dance with balance, on axis and with good posture if your head is looking down at the floor? I typically dance heart to heart, cheek to cheek. I can't see my feet or my partner's feet. But looking down I CAN see everyone else' feet so I can protect my partner from wanderers. Heh! I hope you know who you are. El Stevito de Gainesville ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] Tango-L: Heads up
Heads down. Don't feel the lead in close embrace. http://www.torontoargentinetango.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] heads up
Jack Perhaps you didn't understand the questions. 1. how can you dance with balance, on axis and with good posture if your head is looking down at the floor? 2. Can anyone explain the benefit of dancing this way? David ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Heads up
On 22/06/2011 21:33, RonTango wrote: That's ridiculous. You can balance your weight over the balls of your feet and still not look at the floor. Of course. I don't dispute you don't *have* to look down to the floor (nor that its not that elegant to do so). The original poster, though, implied that you *could* not maintain your balance with a head tilted down, and that's plainly untrue. It would be hard to look down if leaders had the weight on the heels most of the time, but they don't. I see tango-l people are still as ready as ever to shoot the messenger. Next I expect private mails deriding my style with head looking down at the floor even though I said nothing about how I dance (with my most frequent follower I'd be unable to look at the floor, given my head touches hers, and in a more open embrace I really try not to look at the floor for aesthetic reasons, but I'm not hung up on it too much either)... Witness this Croatian couple: http://tangoargentino.hr/blog_en/?page_id=4 I don't think that his posture looks particularly nice, but he does seem to make it work, doesn't he? ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] heads up
On 22/06/2011 21:48, hbboog...@aol.com wrote: Jack Perhaps you didn't understand the questions. 1. how can you dance with balance, on axis and with good posture if your head is looking down at the floor? My take on it (given that my previous post seems to have been ambiguous enough to attract invectives and protestations) is that it's largely irrelevant, which means... 2. Can anyone explain the benefit of dancing this way? ...that there's also little benefit (and in some embraces looks plainly daft). In some embraces it doesn't look too daft unless you mean you're looking on the floor *right below you*. Taken at extremes, there's only one infinitesimally small position of the head that is neither looking up nor looking down, so you're either looking up or down in some small fashion with probability 1. Looking down too much can look stupid, but so can looking up at the ceiling. There is one danger in looking down, and that is when it's coupled with hiding your centre, making it impossible to lead desde el alma. But I've seen people who were leading with the chest even though they were looking down in a rather ungainly way. Looking at some videos, I seem to be looking at the height of my partner's face in open embrace some of the time, which means looking down if the follower is a lot smaller than I am. At other times I look level. It also seems to depend slightly on navigation when there are lots of people around. In close embrace I either look level or have my head arranged so that it touches the followers, with the tilt depending on the height of the partner and the exact embrace (which is negotiated - it seems I'm not particularly fussy in enforcing the One Embrace to Rule Them All with all the followers I dance with). Go figure...looking at it, I don't think there is, again, an immutable Correct Way that requires people to reach for the pitchforks to enforce it. If it looks good and it works, then it looks good and it works, and if it doesn't,... ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] heads up
On 22/06/2011 23:27, Alexis Cousein wrote: Looking at some videos, I seem to be looking at the height of my partner's face in open embrace some of the time, which means looking down if the follower is a lot smaller than I am. At other times I look level. It also seems to depend slightly on navigation when there are lots of people around. In close embrace I either look level or have my head arranged so that it touches the followers, with the tilt depending on the height of the partner and the exact embrace (which is negotiated - it seems I'm not particularly fussy in enforcing the One Embrace to Rule Them All with all the followers I dance with). Following some private e-mail conversations (which were not flame-fest but enlightening and friendly), I should point out that I *DO* object to leaders looking down enough to disturb the embrace (in open embrace either by hiding their centre, in close embrace by pushing the follower with the head or even in the most extreme case turning it into a head and arms connection). ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
[Tango-L] tango-l: heads up
The head is heavy; some leaders who use this method (to lead?) push hard against the follower's head and subsequently the follower (I for one) have neck/shoulder/arm pain. http://www.torontoargentinetango.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] tango-l: heads up
That is bad technique for men. But I have also had it reverse back from a few women too. So everyone should know, the correct pressure should be quite light, like a caress. ~ El Stevito de Gainesville On 6/22/11 6:30 PM, Patricia wrote: The head is heavy; some leaders who use this method (to lead?) push hard against the follower's head and subsequently the follower (I for one) have neck/shoulder/arm pain. http://www.torontoargentinetango.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Heads up
David: I can't give any positive reason but an explanation. This is prevalent when the man is much taller than the woman and he compensates for the height difference, trying for cheek-to-cheek. Some men bend their knees more than usual and dance like Quasimodo. (I hope the spelling is correct.) Michael Going home to New York after 35+ years - Original Message - From: hbboog...@aol.com To: tango-l@mit.edu Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 12:22 PM Subject: [Tango-L] Heads up I think most would agree that tango is about balance, axis, posture and walking in a natural manner. So here is my question, how can you dance with balance, on axis and with good posture if your head is looking down at the floor? The head is very heavy about 10 - 12 pounds and I see many dancers even those claiming to be teachers dancing looking down at the floor? And what in the world are you looking for? Is this why you are always bumping into others? Are you such a bad leader you need to look down to see where the follower’s feet are? Help me out here if you dance this way give me one positive reason why. Thanks David ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
