The Tango-L mailing list archive
Digest from 16 Jan 2000
to 17 Jan 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: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 03:00:02 -0500
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 - 16 Jan 2000 to 17 Jan 2000 (#2000-16)
There are 4 messages totalling 235 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. DJs' concerns and the MP3 option
2. Party manners, and.... a Stranger in a Strange Land.
3. Think Tango! Was: Re: Now a beginner.. (2)
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 11:55:33 -0600
From: Bob Dronski <bob @TANGONADAMAS.COM>
Subject: Re: DJs' concerns and the MP3 option
Hi all,
Peter wrote about the possibility of MP3 for DJ's. I've been
successfully using this solution at Tango...nada mas for the last
few months.
Steve wrote,
> The use of compressed files and a computer sound card results in a
> degradation in sound quality--which is perceptible particularly if
> the associated equipment is of high quality.
I beg to differ. If you rip your MP3 files at CD quality (which is
possible if you purchase the full version of MusicMatch 4) there is
no discernable difference. I have been using MP3 and scheduling
software for tango, and switch between CD's and MP3's for the
breaks, and no one notices.
FYI I am running my Sony Desktop PC through my Peavy mixing
board into 4 JBL EON 15 powered speakers, and I am using 2
Denon combo CD/Cassette players. Maybe Steve feels my
equipment isn't sufficiently high quality! ;-)
As for Scheduling Software, I use Web Jockey scheduling
software. It's designed for Radio Stations and mobile DJ's.
Although it is suffering from new software buggyness, it does work.
You can download a sample at http://www.web-jock.com (I hope
this is not considered a commercial plug--NFI!!!!!!!!!) If you're
interested, pick it up soon. They just lowered the price
substantially (I paid over $300 for my copy, and they're now selling
it for under $100!)
And Peter, as per your concern about Hard disk space, I decided
to go with a USB hard drive. Although the data transfer is slow, it
is all the plenty fast for this type of data transfer. USB allows for a
low-cost, flexible and portable solution. (I paid about $350 for a 17
gig USB drive).
MP3 is a very good, but fairly expensive (from startup) option when
you add the cost of computer and software.. Another lower cost
option is to use Minidiscs. In an attempt to make things a little
more varied than simply playing the same tandas on cassette, I put
3/4 sets of 6 tangos from one orquesta with my cortina on one
minidisc. This allows you to not only choose any 4 songs in a
different order, but allows you put 3-4 tandas together before
needing to change.
If anyone is interested in finding out more, feel free to e-mail me.
Take care,
bob
**************************************************
Check us out at
http://www.tangonadamas.com
"Tango...the dance of moral death"
anon
**************************************************
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 10:16:35 EST
From: Dario Mendiguren <C21DARI @AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Party manners, and.... a Stranger in a Strange Land.
Dear Steve and List:
I'm really sorry Steve of your perception about Argentineans and their care
about foreigners, 2 and a half month of total time there and that time
divided into a 3 visits may be not enough to get to know those folks very
well, when I was there I've started conversation with complete estrangers
and guess what?, it worked they responded very warm and positive to me,
they think I'm a foreigner too
9I've been living in America long enough to have a very little accent when I
speak Spanish there and certain people ask me where am I from! I'm a male
not known
by the crowd walking down town BA and I believe that is my call to start to
get myself known in a place, when I came to NY the first time I don't
remember any person coming to greet me and I felt complete along when I was
walking
the crowded Manhattan streets, I don't see to much difference in treatment
by people of these two towns neither I see the difference on people of
Rome, Madrid or Asuncion.
Have you ever been in the small towns of Argentina? you will notice the
difference as you will see it in also small towns inside America or Italy,
Spain, Paraguay or any country in the world, I believe that crowded cities
have always
people rushing and not having time for others, but if you get to know a
little bit more the common people, you will see how worm they are I think
it's all on you!
When you go to dance Tango there, introduce yourself to one or two ladies
at the Milonga asking for help saying that you are from..... , and believe
me that (if you are fair good dancer) they will pay attention and will
promote you among their friends, (they are worm people) that approach
worked for me in different occasions that I've visited BA, (as any aspect of
life if you want to get known you have to promote yourself )
PS don't forget this please : BA is not Argentina , neither Washington
is USA, nor Rome is Italy, get to know the people sometimes it takes an
effort from our side
Have good Tangos and give Argentineans another chance please !!!
Dario
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 14:13:59 -0800
From: Ted Crowley <tcrowley @CISCO.COM>
Subject: Re: Think Tango! Was: Re: Now a beginner..
"Brannigan, Mary" wrote:
>
> I'm sorry to use your posting as an example Michael, many other people
> post the same rhetoric, however your mailing blatantly stated an opinion I
> vehemently oppose - that tango is not a dance of thinking.
> My belief is that what makes tango argentino so unique and exciting is the
> fact that you do THINK! You don't just execute pre-arranged patterns of
> steps. You adjust your steps based on who you're partnered with, the music
> playing, the type of floor you're on, and the people around you. This goes
> for lead and follow.
> If everyone were to follow the advice to simply let go, stop thinking and
> be moved by the music, the floor would be strewn with the casualities of
> those who didn't care to think about the results of where they were
> stepping/gancho'ing/boleo'ing, or who didn't think to take into
> consideration the line of dance.
Bravo, Mary! I agree with you 100%! I've learned quite a number of
dances over the years, and doing Tango (as a leader, the part I do)
requires MORE THINKING than any other dance that I know. Here are
just a few of the reasons:
1. You must intentionally lead the follower's every step, planning
and instigating the motions of 4 feet (and 2 bodies) instead of
just 2 (and 1), unlike dances where the woman's steps and body
motions simply match the man's throughout. If a man "just walks"
the woman will not know what to do, of many possibilities.
2. Unlike most other dances, a single lead does not start an entire
pattern in motion. It just starts one step. Each and every further
step must be led also, since the "pattern can change" at each step.
So there is far less time to prepare for the next decision point.
3. It is often danced on very crowded dance floors (so crowded that
many other dances would not be possible), and the man is required to
keep track of every person who might step into his partner's path,
and adjust his partner's path to avoid them. This extends to boleos
and other figures, and is a full time job all of its own.
4. If one dances the Milonguero style where partners lean against
each other with upper bodies (and the lead is through his chest,
not his hands or arms), the man has to consciously control his
body position and movements at every moment to keep himself in
motion in the right direction AND to continue a steady level of
support for his partner AND to provide his partner proper lead
for her proper direction, AND at the same time move his own feet
so as to keep them under this complex shifting of his body weight
so he doesn't simply fall down, AND at the same time limit his
footwork to reasonable steps (for example, one per beat of music)
rather than a desparate shuffle. Everyone I've ever met took many,
many hours of practice to come even close to doing all of that,
even for the simplest patterns.
Any ONE of the above 4 is complicated enough to be challenging
to a beginner all by itself, much less combined with the others.
Perhaps the result FEELS to the follower as if "we just walked
across the dance floor with no fancy steps", but she was being
LED in that walk, the path was modified to avoid others, etc.
The only leaders who can "dance without thinking" are those who have
had so much practice over and over in certain areas that those areas
have become automatic to them and no longer require CONSCIOUS thought.
Only at that advanced level can one say "I think less & dance better".
But to tell a relatively inexperienced dancer to "think less" or that
he "shouldn't have to think" in order to do the dance is just plain
insulting him. Worse, it sets him up for feelings of embarassment or
humiliation by saying "what, you can't just do this simple thing?"
when the reality is far more complex.
Beginners: hey, it's incredibly hard! Congratulate yourself when you
can make any of it work, even for a few bars of music. But it's worth
the effort of the endless hours it takes to learn, because once you
get it under your belt it becomes so much easier that it really will
be (sometimes)(almost) effortless, and (sometimes) profoundly enjoyable.
-- Ted Crowley
P.S. -- I don't follow, so I've always accepted it when people told me
one can "just follow without thinking". But if Mary says that isn't so,
I believe her.
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 13:51:14 EST
From: "Laurie Moseley (at home)" <LGMoseley @AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Think Tango! Was: Re: Now a beginner..
Bravo. Leading is a non-trivial task for all the reasons that tcrowley
outlines. Similarly, following is not trivial. In both cases, if you have
slow feet (using up the whole beat to complete just one step, for example),
and are willing to wait and to fit what you are about to do to the music,
both become easier. However, my experience of both dancing and teaching
suggests that neither attributes are ones with which most of us are born. To
tell someone not to think, especially when they are at the beginning stage,
sounds like a recipe for at least frustration.
In any case, given the changing circumstances of a dance floor, and the
necessity to lead and follow one step at a time, it is difficult to see how
one could do it without some thinking.
Laurie
End of TANGO-L Digest - 16 Jan 2000 to 17 Jan 2000 (#2000-16)
*************************************************************