A: Guess he's touting for business esp to vulnerable newbies since his classes folded.
😆
"Tango growing more complex" 😂
B: Hahaha so inspirational😆The cult following 😅
A: ‘Cult’ is what ‘X’ calls it!
B: Well, glad we agree on that.
I do agree with a couple of things, but given that the purpose of the post is to attract newbs,
the general message (when you read between the lines) doesn’t sit well with me
A: That's the thing, most people don't read between the lines. Or agree because of the burden of previous investment.
B: Yeah that makes sense 🤔
A: What do you agree with out of interest? 😁
B:
"The first might not be the one to immediately cross your mind yet it is essential and sets tango apart from many other dances. It’s NAVIGATION. In tango you have to actively move around the room all the time. Couples do not have each their own static “bubble”. It’s more like a highway. I have always believed, from my experience with solo dances, that we underestimate just how hard it is for humans to actively move around a large space while dancing complex movement patterns...you will hardly see any couple really walk in a milonga. "
and
"..our attention in dance runs along four channels: music, our own movement, communication with our partner and navigation in space. And on all those four channels things get REALLY COMPLICATED. Focusing on all of them simultaneously is a huge cognitive task. The way our brain functions makes that humans can hold only a very limited amount of elements in their working memory at the same time (also called “short term memory”). The more something is new, the more cognitive resources it will require. The whole purpose of practicing is to lower the cognitive load when dancing. Once a movement is familiar, it no longer uses so much of the working memory and the focus can expand to include something else."
I learned how to play the piano over lockdown and before that I was learning to play the guitar, so I
definitely agree with this. I think it applies to any skill you learn - from skiing to cooking. The more
you repeat certain actions, the less you think about them. When dancing as a kid, I’d always repeat
steps or sequences until the point I didn’t have to think about them. After that I was able to
improvise and extend those sequences without any effort"
And
"One teacher may tell you things in exact opposition to what another teacher told you."
" tango is not for everybody....few people make it into their second year,"
A: A common misconception with dancing tango - is that it's about muscle memory. This comes from a
class mentality: study and it will become natural. In some people, yes after 10 or 20 years. That's how
long it takes to undo the harm of class in guys especially . Most are tainted for life. 😮
It's not about thinking it and then unthinking. A classic "Xism": "It sure is hard if you think".
If there is a challenge in tango, if there is something that is "hard", it is learning or rather, maybe
remembering how not to think, how to live wholly in the present.
It is a mindswitch more than anything else, like looking at one of those pictures of dots popular in the
80s, “Magic Pictures” and then suddenly switching into another mindset that lets you see the actual
picture within the dots. Have you seen those?
B: Yeah i just looked them up. I’ve seen some of those before
A: Have you ever managed to see the pictures inside the dots?
B: Isn’t that about pattern recognition though?
A: I don't think so. Try it next time you are in Edinburgh. The best ones are in the Illusions museum by
the castleYour eyes or your mind suddenly relax and let you see the pictures. It's like entering another
mental state
❤️
Dancing tango in the way I mean is a bit like that, you "zone in".
B: >>It is a mindswitch more than anything else
Yeah that’s a good point! I like this new perspective bc all I’ve known my whole life was practicing
to get closer to perfection
A: I.e. hard work!!
That's what ballroom is, practice to be perfect. Argentine tango is the exact oppositeThere are no mistakes, there's just what happens.
❤️
And the beauty and the enjoyment is in that
❤️
Perhaps that's partly why they sometimes call it a journey I.e. not a "destination"
B: V similar mindset to yoga teachings. Which i was introduced to about a year ago as well. So this
whole thing is new for me
A: It doesn't surprise me. I was going to make that analogy but I haven't done enough yoga.
👌
For the woman especially. dancing tango is a surrender. Entregar, they call it.
To the music, to the partner, to the moment.
B: Haha that’s one I’ve been struggling with for sure. I’m a bit of a control freak. And it feels wrong
to let go.
A: But you are self aware!
B: Yeah, that’s true - I’ve recognised that pattern 😄
A: That's why tango is a good antidote for those of us with control issues
❤️
B: You learn so much about yourself
A: I often wonder if the high number of mathematicians in tango correlates with this.
B: Hmm interesting thought 💭
A: When I'm dancing it's about that letting go (at least with the guys)
❤️
And you can't do that if you don't trust them
That's why trust, free choice of partner is essential for the woman in this dance
👍
That's why a guy pressuring you into a dance or teaching you stuff on the floor is never going to correlate
with the kind of dancing I enjoy
That's why people don't talk when they dance. Chat stops that happening.
And that's why nearly all dancing you have seen at most of the events we have been to, is not that.
Except that clip I took of T and E.
B: Yes! I noticed that!
A: So, you can see it when it happens! A lot of people can’t even seem to see it, much less replicate it.
❤️
Then compare it to what you have been seeing, for the most part.
👍
B: Very different than what I’ve seen so far!
A: https://youtu.be/mkLnrkQ1PTk
B: That was a really nice video
A: Yes. So you get it.
B: Confirms what you just said.
A: And it isn't what you've been seeing here.
That's what I'd like to have here, people coming to us, to dance like that.
❤️
Because like attracts like
👍
Of course you can travel. but it would be nice to have that here
❤️
And we already have dancers like that - some of the Edinburgh dancers plus T, E, S, B, Y, M,
who you haven't met yet and a very smooth dancer I mentioned whose name is complicated.
M dances like that. She lives far away but comes to the Edinburgh milongas because like attracts like.
👌
B: It’s sad that beginner dancers get introduced to tango through classes like that
A: Yes, heartbreaking. Because once damaged, they're lost. Even if they make it to milonga. It's a very
hard thing to recover from. Going to tango class is a bit like being raised a Catholic.
You can almost never get rid of that legacy. I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but they don't realise
what's happened to them. It's a bit like dementia that way, you are unconscious of the harm that is
happening to you. But at least you can escape if you become aware. That's what happened to me.
I never liked class but I thought it was the only way to "learn". It took me a while to realise you learn by
enjoying yourself in the milonga. I kind of did know this, but not in a conscious way for a while.
❤️
There are experienced dancers who have been dancing for years and people like dancing with them
but it's not this. That's why "levels" are not really relevant. It's a different thing. You either like that and
tune into it or you do something else. Most people do something else.
❤️
You learn by being in the real situation, as with so many things in fact
❤️
And it's fun!
❤️
But I went to milongas almost immediately from the beginning, only, usually alone and as you can
imagine, that is hard, milongas like Edinburgh
B: Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have gone without you
A: Exactly. A lot of people come with friends, ones who stay. I think that's the way in.
👍
But so many people aren't "suited", you know, it doesn't grab them.
Like we were saying with T, people and tango, it's a compatibility thing. The thing is about compatibility
the whole way through.
👍
The good thing is that it seems to attract a lot of smart people, the good kind of dancing I mean.
👍
Although the funny thing is you often don't do a lot of talking with these smart people!
😅
B: I love this! I’m going to write it down somewhere I can see it every day
A: Well, I will make a dialogue from it if it's OK with you?
B: Yeah of course
❤️
A: Who knows, someone else may stumble across it and get curious...
