The Tango-L mailing list archive
Digest from 21 Jul 1999
to 22 Jul 1999
Return-Path: owner-TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU
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: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 03:00:01 -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 - 21 Jul 1999 to 22 Jul 1999
There are 10 messages totalling 313 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Martial Arts and Tango (3)
2. Last Tango in Cleveland (3)
3. Metin Yazir
4. Chicho&Cecilia in Montreal
5. GROUP LESSONS
6. Tango and Martial Arts
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:44:02 +0200
From: Virginia Gift <vgift @IBM.NET>
Subject: Martial Arts and Tango
Dear Listees,
I've recently had a conversation with people involved in the martial
arts who also do tango and they remarked on the similarities between the
two activities. At first blush this seemed to be nonsensical but, on
reflection, perhaps not. Does anyone out there have any experience or
opinions on this?
Best regards,
Virginia
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 09:28:00 -0400
From: Michael Ditkoff <Michael.B.Ditkoff @USDOJ.GOV>
Subject: Last Tango in Cleveland
Timmy Tango asked "What tango would be appropriate for the
closing of a milonga forever? What should that last tango be?
For once, an EASY question from the list.
My suggestion is
Adios Muchachos
(I hope I spelled it correctly.)
Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:56:50 -0700
From: Greg Olsen at Work <golsen @NONSTOP.COM>
Subject: Re: Martial Arts and Tango
Virginia,
Training for warefare (the "martial" in martial arts) has very little to
do with social dancing. What martial arts do is provide you with the
physical tools to become a good dancer. You develop strong core
postural muscles, balance, flexibility and a keen kinesthetic sense.
I was a compeditive fencer (foil, epee, and saber) for 13 years
before giving it up for dancing, and all I think the training brought
to dancing was flexibility and coordination.
Happy trails,
Greg Olsen
>From: Virginia Gift <vgift @IBM.NET>
>Subject: Martial Arts and Tango
>To: TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU
>
>Dear Listees,
> I've recently had a conversation with people involved in the martial
>arts who also do tango and they remarked on the similarities between the
>two activities. At first blush this seemed to be nonsensical but, on
>reflection, perhaps not. Does anyone out there have any experience or
>opinions on this?
> Best regards,
>Virginia
>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 12:11:44 -0400
From: Robin Tara <rtara @MAINE.RR.COM>
Subject: Re: Last Tango in Cleveland
Timmy Tango asked "What tango would be appropriate for the
closing of a milonga forever? What should that last tango be?
How about Canaro's Melodia de Neustro Adios -
Or since the milonga will live on in memories...Recuerdo
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 11:58:59 -0500
From: Roger Ray <r-ray @NWU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Metin Yazir
Maritza Bodine wrote:
> Metin Yazir will be conducting
> workshops on Sunday, July 25th.
>
> Don't miss this opportunity to experience a lesson with Metin who is a great
> dancer and teacher. This is his first trip to the West Coast. He has devoted
> fans on the East Coast, Europe and on this list (anyone who knows him care to
> comment on this ?)
Metin Yazir was in Chicago last week for some workshops. Because of
Metin's many positive reviews on TANGO-L, I was especially interested in
his workshops. I was only able to attend one session, so I have an
extremely limited exposure to his teaching style. But I'll offer a few
impressions, anyway.
Metin is a personable, energetic and generous teacher. He speaks English
well, but occasionally needed some help from the students in translating
idiomatic expressions from German and Turkish.
I attended a workshop in leading & following technique which lasted ~2.5
hrs. The class was small (~15 students); I'd guess most of the students
had at least one yr experience. He began with walking exercises, during
which the woman rested the backs of her hands against the man's chest.
He continued these exercises by shifting to walking with "crossed feet",
with the leader changing direction by transfering his "energy" in the
intended direction.
After about an hour or so of walking (forward, back, side) exercises ( +
a break), he moved on to describing the (close) embrace and emphasized
how walking in crossed feet (which we had been practicing) was important
in maintaining the close embrace. While he occasionally observed from
the side, he more frequently went from couple to couple to give advice
and correct faults.
To comment on the equal-time for leading/following thread, I'd judge
that more of the material was aimed at the leaders, but he specifically
spent a significant amount of time concentrating on techniques to
improve following skills.
I suspect that he adapts the material to the level of the class, so I'm
not sure he'd teach the same material to a different group.
Of note: Metin advocates "heel-first" walking for social tango, feeling
that it is a more natural and easier way to walk. If you're looking for
someone who teaches this style, Metin would be a good choice.
What could have been improved? Encouraging more frequent rotation.
However, as soon as he realized that there was a gender imbalance
(because of late arrivals), Metin was quick to recognize the need for
rotation. In addition, I would have liked him to demonstrate a little
more how the movements of the exercises could be integrated into the
dance, but I think this aspect was mostly left as something to work out
later. Had I been able to attend a few more workshops, this might have
been more evident.
Overall, a worthwhile and thought-provoking workshop with a high-energy
teacher. I'd like to see a return engagement.
I did not get to see him dance at the Tues night milonga, but accounts
were that he danced with many women and knew how to make them all look
good. At one point he coaxed a 75-yr old woman onto the floor and when
they had finished dancing, she was reportedly moved to tears.
--
Roger Ray
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:26:29 -0400
From: Matej Oresic <matej.oresic @CORNELL.EDU>
Subject: Chicho&Cecilia in Montreal
I am posting this info for Carol from Montreal, which seems to be a nice
opportunity for tango travelers to get to Montreal (again):
Carol?Bobby of "Studio Tango Montreal" will be hosting a series of
workshops by Chicho?Cecilia in Montreal on August 12-15, covering
intermediate and advanced tango, vals, and milonga. More info can be
found on:
http://www.total.net/~stutango/page14.html
or contact Carol?Bobby directly: (514)844-2786 (stutango @total.net)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 12:45:19 -0700
From: Kathleen Bober <kbober @FLASH.NET>
Subject: Re: GROUP LESSONS
Laurie brings up an interesting point.
> One way round this problem is devote at least some of the teaching and
> practice time to getting men to dance with men... and women to dance with
> women.
If I find myself in a group class where much of the work is focused on the
leader and that class has more women than men, it is quite interesting for
me to use that opportunity to learn the leader's part. Another woman and I
tried this in DC during Chicho's class and found it valuable to our
understanding of the dance (and a lot of fun!).
Kathleen Bober
Tucson, AZ
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 16:38:13 -0700
From: Pelayo Llamas <pelayojr @LANMINDS.COM>
Subject: Re: Last Tango in Cleveland
How about "La Ultima Copa" (the last drink)
I heard that Adios Muchachos is a Bad Luck song b/c that was the last
song Gardel publicly sang before he died.
Michael Ditkoff wrote:
>
> Timmy Tango asked "What tango would be appropriate for the
> closing of a milonga forever? What should that last tango be?
>
> For once, an EASY question from the list.
>
> My suggestion is
>
> Adios Muchachos
>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 23:56:59 -0500
From: dmcree <dmcree @BHIP.INFI.NET>
Subject: Re: Martial Arts and Tango
Virginia and list members,
About Tango and Martial Arts: I was once active in a ballroom studio that
hired a new teacher trainee who had just come over from China. He was an
extraordinarily gifted martial artist and had been a performer in China
since he was young and was a trainer for the military. He had such control
over his body and understood movement so well that he learned to dance
faster than anyone we had ever seen. Truly an amazing thing to witness. I
suspect he would have been a natural at Tango. His self confidence was
unshakeable and his dedication and persistance were enviable. Unfortunately,
his english was not good enough to communicate with students.
Tango on,
David McRee, Bradenton, Florida
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 21:32:14 PDT
From: MeriBeth Clark <melepeka @HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Tango and Martial Arts
Virgina,
Well here is what a my boyfriend says about Tango and Martial Arts... so
here is Garmon... ( I do agree with him as well!)
Well Hello! Regarding the Question about "Martial Arts and the
similariteis to Tango" I thought that I would have a interesting "food for
thought" so to speak. I first like to say that I am more or less just
starting out learning tango...but I will brag that I have a GREAT TEACHER
(my girlfriend)....but anyhow Martial Arts have been a large part of my
life. I have studied Kempo for 7 years, Shotokan Karate for 2 years, Gracie
Jujitsu for 2, Collegent wreastling 2 years, Aikido a year and Barzilian
Capoeira 2 years. I was competitive in all of styles I just mentioned, with
the exception of Capoeira and Jujitsu.
In my experiences and and observations of both Tango and Martial
arts...there are MUCH in common. I can argualy say that Martial arts,
contain simplistic moves that people use in everyday life (for example;
Raising a hand to wave "Hi!", doing a hand shake, etc.) Martial "ARTS"...is
a study of how to uses these simplistic in Self- Defense. Martial Arts
contains the word "ARTS", in it. Dancing is very much a "ART" form, tango
being of course being no exception.
Further looking into History for various Martial Arts, you can find
that many styles of Martial Arts started out or evolved into Dances such as
Brazilian Capoeira, Lua and Lau Lima (probably better known as Hawaiian
Hula). Capoeira is practiced as a dance because in Brazil, before the
1960's all Martial Arts in Brazil were illegal, thus Capoeira people would
hide there ART in a dance. Lau Lima and Lau where Martial art styles
practiced by only men and only by the royal families in Hawaiian History.
Later after missionaries and sailers wanted to see dancers, they saw men
"dancing", well sailers didn't want to see men they wanted women, and thus
"Hula" was born.
People doing Tango, could be said that they where practicing Martial
Art moves, and also a Martial Artist practicing Tango moves. Having said
this might not fully answer the question for the start.... and for some this
might have just have made for more questions to be asked. But, at least I
hoped that I gave a different point of view, and for people to draw there
own answers to the question, with more information.
Garmon
_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
End of TANGO-L Digest - 21 Jul 1999 to 22 Jul 1999
**************************************************