Conversations in Tango
Tango has sometimes been described as a “private conversation between two people”. But if we cut through the proverbial hyperbole, what does it mean exactly? Is it just leading/following: “I speak, you listen?” By the way, from what I can see, even when people may disagree in principle to the last statement, they are ultimately betrayed by how they dance.
However, I believe that there can be a more literal interpretation to the “private conversation” question. In November, I was very privileged to attend a class on musicality where we looked at phrasing in Tango. Without going into the technicalities of music – which I am not qualified to discuss in detail in any case – I now think of dancing to the music (from leader’s point of view) as being quite similar to “punctuations” in my movements. That is, there are occasions where I complete a sentence, pause and take a breath, before starting the next sentence, and there are times where I increase the “volume” to emphasize a point, etc. Subsequently I think leaders and followers can both become more attuned to the music they are dancing to, as well as being less hurried in all movements – just like when we are having a friendly chat, no?
Incidentally, there are indeed specific techniques (ps. I am NOT talking about embellishments or adornos) for the follower to express her “voice”, in response to a leader’s intention, but that is something which I will elaborate in future.
Musical Vals
“La Tapera” by Donato orchestra is one of my favourite Vals at the moment, as danced by one of the most musical dancers in the current generation of maestros. The calm seen in the first 40 seconds of the clip and around the 1:10 mark followed by the subsequent “explosion” is simply marvellous!
Youthful energy
Javier Rodriguez with his former partner, Geraldine Rojas, doing a, ummm, “slightly” faster number? 🙂
Note that Gustavo Naveira is also in the background. I wish I knew what the occasion was, with the big names around and what looks like a professional video camera?
Assimilation
It’s great to have Hsueh-tze back, for the second time this year. Currently we are about half-way through her series of workshops. As usual, she has enlightened all of us on the subtleties of close embrace and yet again highlighted some very important fundamental techniques that allow us to do just that little extra with the music…
Unfortunately, as usual, this is also going to be another period of struggle for me, as far as the Tango is concerned, as I try to disassemble and critically scrutinise the Tango knowledge that I have accumulated up to this point. Really a kind of deconstruction/construction process. Hopefully, after the eventual reconstruction, I can reach a better level than I am. The trouble is, it can take a while. Meanwhile, things can get a touch frustrating. 🙁
