Grotesqueries

Historic orchard (name unknown) Carse of Gowrie

The Carse of Gowrie is a low lying area of land that stretches along the north side of the river Tay between the Scottish towns of Perth and Dundee. It is famous for its soft fruit particularly raspberries and strawberries and is home to a number of historic orchards. Some of these orchards are no longer maintained as previously but, like the one above and others at Megginch (private) estate and Elcho castle they are the focus of revival by the excellent Tay Landscape Partnership.

Espaliered and fan trailed fruit trees at Megginch estate

Apple picking, Elcho castle, Perth, September 2015

I went to some of these orchards last summer, in one case to look at diseases and problems in fruit trees and to see how some of these could be prevented. It was surprising to see how damaged some of the trees were often early in their growth and by what variety: disease, such as bulbous cankers, parasites, accident, storm damage or where domestic livestock or deer had eaten away the bark or rubbed against the trunk. In some cases an older tree had continued to grow but twisted and deformed.

Damage and distortion to fruit trees

A propos the idea of teaching of teaching how to embrace I received an email recently from an (I think) dancer-led tango dance group. The source is nameless because with any luck I’ll continue to receive these emails.  They are one of my favourite mines of grotesqueries: distortions of what I think dancing tango is like.  To my own mind it is not unlike the damage done and often avoidable to those trees.  

A recent crop from the latest email is mild but I saw the “teach you how to embrace” idea rephrased recently:

“The course will cover posture, connection [my italics] and the 'tango walk'”  

I’d  love to see that described in print:  How to "connect”....Perhaps there could be a follow-up:  “How not to disconnect - your guide to avoiding divorce.”  

How would you describe "how to connect" in words, exactly?  I mean in a way that doesn't sound ludicrous and does feels like the kind of embrace you want to stay in for dance?

I can't remember how it happened in my lessons, except being told repeatedly, class after class "Embrace him" and being pushed into the guy or my arm pulled more around the guy. Patently, there was no desire to embrace whoever that particular guy was. It was probably because being a beginner, he couldn't dance and why would any girl want to embrace a guy in the guy's role who can't dance? Besides, I just didn't want to embrace those guys. And that's mostly why I stopped going to class - because in the milonga you choose and are chosen.

Other gems from this edition were:

“the key elements of tango that together make up the ‘tango toolkit’.”

You’re going to need such a toolkit because in places like that dancing tango is work, you’re  going to build your dance and when, like this wall, it inevitably breaks down...

Darn Walk, Dunblane to Bridge of Allan

....you’re  going to need to repair it.

“Each class will build on the previous week’s lesson, so ideally participants will attend all sessions.”

I’ve become a bit better at reading between the lines.  On the surface, it’s straightforward:  miss a session and you’ll make things harder for yourself (because - apparently - you build a dance….).  But what I hear is the controlling tendency:  this is our way and you have to do as you’re told.  It is supplier-focused - the product or service is oriented around what is easiest for them and around class management.  It is not about the person for whom the service is intended, because that would mean people who can dance dancing one to one with people who are new to dance.  

The other problem is that the didactic habit is catching among people who do classes generally.   Since in this sort of “tango”, men “lead” and women “follow” - the women have to do as the men say.  If then something goes “wrong” then it becomes invariably the more powerless, more vulnerable one, the mere “follower”, who is apparently at fault: “you didn’t follow what I led”.  Unsurprisingly,  I didn’t last long in class when I started “having my own ideas”.

But this week this is my favourite:

You can come with or without a partner.  We swap partners regularly so you get to know your class mates as well as have the chance to dance with a wide range of people – one of the joys of tango.  

I suppose that’s laying out their way.  But it will put off couples who like to stick together, people who are unsure, people who don’t necessarily want to dance with lots of people, people who would just rather watch for a while, as you can when you go to the milonga.  Not everyone thinks dancing tango is about dancing as much as you can with as many people as you can.  The message here is clear: these people think that it is and those who don’t agree to fully participate in the spirit of swapping  need not (really) apply.  I think that’s a shame, but, well at least it’s clear.

They do say…

If any class participants prefer not to swap partners this is fine...

but add:

although we can guarantee by the end of the course you will be swapping along with everyone else!

...no matter what you actually had in mind. You can see there’s only really “one way” here.  I find again that implication of control off-putting.  It tends to lead to that kind of dance.

The sad thing is that a dancer-led group which might so easily rather focus on the music, the dancing, the milonga instead of endlessly pushing these classes and workshops - presumably in an effort to expand numbers.  Fortunately another group in that town has done just that - they run a weekly milonga in a bar, that’s all.  If they send out emails I don’t get them.  I haven’t been because it’s far from me midweek, but I’ve met some of the organisers, nice, relaxed people, nice dancers and I like their approach.  I think any group is more likely to expand when non-dancers see and hear about people there having a good, relaxing time in a bar with dancing.  What would you rather do - pay to go to class and work at dance, with other beginners, or go to a milonga and learn to dance by dancing with people who can?

Growing communities or building them?

I love spring, March and April, so almost any excuse will do for pictures of flowers but there is a theme of growth. These were on top of a wall just on the path from the carpark to Falkland Palace which if you're in these parts I can't recommend enough. We did an Easter trail there recently. The National Trust for Scotland which is deputy keeper of this property has reciprocal arrangements with similar organisations in the UK and abroad.

Returning to a recent theme - what do you do if you can’t trust a dance teacher?  I would say find people, find good dancers you can trust who are not trying to sell you something. Those human connections made through warmth, openness, real trust and respect all exchanged freely create more of a community, grown organically, than any false construct built by people with a financial vested interest in having such a “community”. Healthy communities grow naturally from individual inclination.  "Built" communities, built by someone for some purpose of their own which often involves control, do not have the same authenticity. Nor I think do they last except in some cultish way when they become staffed by servile drones more than by thinking humans. Watch the tango forums online. People - usually organisers or teachers - nearly always talk about building communities. But people like a reason to come together (e,g. the  milonga), freely, organically. They generally like less being put together unnaturally (e.g. partner rotation in class).  People just do like to dance. Most of the practicas I have been to whether guided or not are effectively turned into milongas by the people who go. It's a natural inclination taking root. No surprise then that you get regulars at milongas but an endless turnover of short-lived beginners in tango class.

Such fragile beauty in the photo of the flowers appears random, created from what just happened to be the right conditions and, it would seem, the conditions don't even have to be much.  

On the other hand, despite being labour intensive and costly, building doesn't always work: 

Falkland Palace, East Range to the left

That corner of stonework in the left hand side is apparently the site of the original building. It is now a herb bed. I believe the foundations were discovered and marked out when the 3rd Marquess of Bute made extensive renovations in the late 19th century. When Cromwell's troops left here to build in Perth a citadel on the park opposite where I live now, there was a fire. The East Range was destroyed.and the place became essentially derelict for over two hundred years. So the building has changed through accident and circumstance and been adapted over time because the purpose for which it was originally built did not endure, as little does. Under the curation of the National Trust for Scotland there is an attractive orchard, a willow maze and arresting willow sculpture, lovely gardens, the oldest tennis court in the world etc.

Falkland palace orchard

So I think I prefer the idea of curation of good natural circumstances. Falkland Palace and the charitable organisations that preserve and maintain such historic properties to share with the interested public are good examples.

Another even more literal example of the success of growing an enterprise is Branklyn Gardens in Perth which my younger son and I visited over Easter to do another trail.  

Branklyn garden

A couple bought these two acres in 1922 and the house to live in. The intention in the gardens was originally private - to create an attractive background to the house for its owners. But the result today are gardens famous among those who enjoy such things. The point again is they didn't set out to "build" these gardens. They grew them literally, and just for the pleasure. The success was almost incidental. Indeed the sheer variety of spring flowers coaxed from the Scottish ground at this still inhospitable time of year and in this small space I find remarkable and inspiring.