Tango-L mailing list archive: Digest 24 Apr 2000 to 25 Apr 2000

The Tango-L mailing list archive

Digest from 24 Apr 2000 to 25 Apr 2000

Reply-To: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU> To: Recipients of TANGO-L digests <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 11:59:40 -0400 Sender: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU> From: Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV @MITVMA.MIT.EDU> Subject: TANGO-L Digest - 24 Apr 2000 to 25 Apr 2000 (#2000-112)

There are 4 messages totalling 287 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. research project about tango and a questionnaire 2. NA:E Facundo and Kely Workshops 3. Watering seeds 4. watering seeds

Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 16:06:34 +0200 From: Anja Vicar <anja_vicar @SLO.NET> Subject: research project about tango and a questionnaire Dear list, I'm doing a research project about tango. I have put together a questionnaire which has been solved on a milonga in our capital and on a workshop in the same city. But now I have thought that it would be interesting if someone else could also fill the same questionnaire (of course the questionnaire is in English now) and then I could compare the results. That's why I'm asking anybody that would be interested on this list (the more the merrier) to fill this questionnaire. You would do me a great favour and believe me, I will be grateful to everyone that is gong to take some time (not more than 4-5 minutes) and will be so nice to fill and mail this back to me. Anyway here's the questionnaire, I hope you won't think that's too boring and stupid. Enough said here are the questions: Questionnaire The results of the questionnaire will be used in a research project. We ask you to answer sincere and we are grateful for your cooperation. The questionnaire is anonymous. (Please write down the answers) -Sex-- (F, M): -Age: -Country: -When did you start to dance tango and what drew you to it? -When do you think a person is mature enough for tango? -How long did you have to train and obligate yourself to tango so that you could reach the results and satisfaction you wanted? What were those results like? -Why are you today still dancing tango and what are your ambitions like? -What do you do to improve your achieved knowledge (practica, dance classes, workshops.)? -Do you think that training and dancing tango is an individual or a team work? -How long does it take for a dancer to train and obligate himself to stay active? -What do you think is the most important thing in training and conquering this dance for an ambitious dancer? (We ask you to number from 1 to 7 (8?) the most and the least important reasons for a success) __a good dancing partner __ a very good instructor __talent __lot of will __frequent training __cooperation of the club __connections __other (please write it down) -Does it satisfy you if your dance partner's technique is perfect or would you rather dance with someone that you also know in your personal life? -One of the characteristics that the tango dancers emphasise is a very strong emotional and erotic influence that lives in the dance and the dancers. Because the partners are a man and a woman do you think that the homosexual dancers are able to develop the same feelings and mood in the dance? -Do you think that someone who only enjoys in tango music and dance can also be a member of tango club? -What is for you the most important thing in tango? Choose from the following: Music; dance; still and mood; other(please write it down) -What is your opinion about tango that is danced on the tournament with other ballroom dances (valz, Wiener valz, quickstep and foxtrot)? -What do you consider as tango? Choose from the following: an art; a sport; a life style; a relaxation; other (please write it down) -Where and how can an admirer of tango get some information about tango's envelopment, worldwide events, history of tango, etc. Are you one of them? Explanation of the question: I our country (Slovenia) there isn't a single book in our language. In the whole country there's only one book (in English of course) in our city library. I know, horrible! There are no books to buy or lend (except for that single one) about tango. It's gong to be interesting to show how undeveloped we are and that things like that don't happen in other countries (or do they?) -When will you or in which case would you consider to quite dancing tango? We thank you for answering the questions and for your cooperation. Please, when you answer the questions DON'T send them to the entire list, but send them directly to me on my e-mail address: anja_vicar @slo.net or to this address vito_vicar @slo.net And please send the answers up to 2nd May-really the last date (but of course the sooner the better) because I have to finish my research project and I don't need them after that. Thank you for answering and regards from Anja Vicar

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Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 17:27:55 EDT From: Charles Roques <Crrtango @AOL.COM> Subject: NA:E Facundo and Kely Workshops Greetings, Danel and Maria are very pleased to present Facundo and Kely who will be in New York during May. This wonderful milonguero couple is loved and respected by all who come in contact with them. If you are in the New York area don't miss their workshops. They always leave smiles and warm feelings wherever they go. But even more than that, this is a chance to meet and study with someone who is a part of the history of tango. Facundo Posadas is not only one of the few milonguero masters of African descent but is a direct link to the Afro-Argentine roots of the dance. And not only has he danced all his life, as has Kely, he is just one of the latest of several generations of his family to be involved in the evolution of the dance. His uncle Carlos Posadas was a well-known and respected tango composer and orchestra leader who wrote a number of well known tangos (Two recorded by Di Sarli can be found on the Tango Argentino CD "Carlos Di Sarli, Instrumentals vol. 3" - "El Jaguel" and "El Retirao"). Sitting down and listening to them is like opening a book on tango history. Their workshops usually fill up so pre-registration is strongly suggested (check, credit card, or cash required at pre-registration). All workshops are intermediate/advanced level only and will focus on rhythm and musicality. Schedule information is below. May 3 - Mt Vernon train station (Metro North line) 8:00 - 10:00 PM incl. practice/party after until 12:00 midnight - $40. Please call 718-325-6579 for more information and registration. May 7 and May 10 -Sandra Cameron Dance Center. 20 Cooper Sq. at 5th St., 6th fl. TANGO - 5:00 -6:00 PM VALS - 6:15 - 7:15 PM MILONGA- 7:30 - 8:30 PM Fee - $20. per workshop per person. Limited to first 25 men and 25 women only. Please call 212-674-0505 for information and registration. If you do not pre-register, you may risk being shut out of class. Cheers, Charles Roques

Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 16:26:27 -0500 From: Stephen P Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG> Subject: Re: Watering seeds Robinne wrote: >There are two reasons the Exchange phenomenon is appealing to me. >The first is that Exchanges are pointedly NOT based around workshops >or classes. ... What I remember from attending 1997 Columbus Tango >Week is ... how great it was to meet and dance with people from other >cities, many of whom I still see here and there. ... The second >reason Exchanges appeal to me is the spirit which drives them. Tango >mega-events by single promoters and star-studded lineups increase the >Ego Factor astronomically, often exacerbating the worst of what the >tango world has to offer.... Exchanges, in refreshing contrast, are >volunteer-based and an operation of that scale can only succeed if >people work together and try to create a good experience for >everybody. ... And exchange weekends are less expensive to organize >and attend. ... So my thought is to plant a seed that the North >American tango community could adapt the "exchange" concept. As I recall, the first tango week in North America was organized at Stanford University with the university and the dance-division donors bearing the risk. Cooperation with Aerolineas Argentina and the Argentine counselate in San Francisco helped. Once Stanford demonstrated that an instructional tango week could work, other tango weeks developed. To some extent the various tango weeks are not as individuall diverse as the Stanford week was. Each is more specialized, drawing regionally or more heavily from dancers that prefer one approach over another. This specialization probably enhances their usefulness in providing instruction, but may take away from the excitement of wonderfully diverse milongas. The question is how to get the ball rolling. To make the concept of a tango exchange work as Robinne seems to be proposing that someone or a small committee to step forward and make a committment of organizing such a weekend and invite everyone. An alternative is to start more informally as Mike Hamilton suggested. Here in North America, a bunch of people from Tango-L could agree to descend upon a North American city that has large milongas on a near nightly basis in a large and well-developed, such as Denver, Miami, Montreal, New York, San Francisco or Seattle . To get started, all that would be necessary is a date and a proposed city. Either way, Robinne has a great proposal. One of the true excitements of a tango week is meeting and dancing with people from all over. For experienced dancers the gains made in group classes are often subtle. Traveling and dancing tango on an individual basis is also fun, but not quite the same experience as the intensity of milongas with people from all over. When Stanford had two tango weeks, Tango by the Bay (which was held on the intervening weekend) was quite an event to attend. --Steve de Tejas

Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 20:17:49 EDT From: Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango @AOL.COM> Subject: watering seeds When learning how to dance, I feel it takes both dancing with your peers and getting instruction from as many work shops as I can attend. It is really great when people from other cities come to Cleveland to learn or just to dance the tango. It's good to see how other cities perform some of the same steps I do. But my feeling are just what are you going to learn if both people aren't performing a step correctly. It's like the computer saying, "garbage in garbage out. You can fake a step and maybe get away with it, but just change dance partners and see if you can perform the step a second time. I have seen and danced with people who have only learned the tango by watching video tapes. Most of the time the men can't lead, or they lead like a charging rhino, the ladies can't follow and usually anticipate, their balance is non existent, they can't close embrace, or invent new steps and just dance to the music playing. To this day I haven't seen any of these people have the ability to separate their upper body with their hips. I haven't seen a video tape that shows this technique. Video tapes have to make you feel your dancing the tango in the shortest amount of time. Sooner or later you will learn the tango, but just how much time do you have any way. And if you fit this category, learned people would prefer not to dance with you. They have spent much time and money perfecting there dance technique, and they don't want to do anything that would take them a step backward. I'm all for work shops, as many as I can get in, and then practice with the people who were also in that work shop. When I can lead one lady into a new step, I then go try it on another lady, and then another, until I know I own this new step or technique. Dancing with as many people as I can reinforces what I just learned, but at this point I can meet more people and gain new friends.

End of TANGO-L Digest - 24 Apr 2000 to 25 Apr 2000 (#2000-112) **************************************************************