Re: [TANGO-L] Dancing to something other than music of the golden age

[Thorn <jnt @NOYAU.COM>]

On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Stephen Brown wrote:

> Robert Dodier wrote:
>
> >What do you-all think about dancing tango
> >to non-tango music?

> I find the swing beat of big band jazz music does not make for very good
> tango dancing.  It completely changes the feel of the dance for me.  I
> would prefer to dance tango to some modern tangos--not all of them--than to
> dance tango to big band jazz.

        The phrase "dance to" finally leaps out to me. And that is the way
it's put in English. One dances a "dance" whatever it's called to a subset
of music. I'm not interested in dancing any dance, not even tango "to"
anything. I am interested in specific songs, most often recordings that I
love and wish to dance. A few of those songs are tango's but most aren't.
"Dancing to" is why I lost interest in social dance.
        An alternative which is very rare is when one moves into the
music with a partner and then true improvisation emerges. Yes, all the
techniques are important but disappear into the movement that grows new
born moment by moment as the melody, the song develops and unfolds, and my
partner and I moving together explore the feelings of the music in the
moment. Then everything is new, never before and never again. Like a
sunrise, a waterfall, recognized though never the same.

trying to find words for what is a wordless experience,

Jonathan Thornton