[TANGO-L] Rant: Clown is a is a noun and a verb

[Frank Williams <frankw @MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>]

Friends,

Huck writes: "To inject into this some clown ... presuming to
break the mood and/or block the flow by giving a tango lesson..."

Huck, you touched a nerve that has been rubbed raw by too many
friggin' CLOWNS!

<rant ON>

OK, you know - when I write for you guys I try to be balanced
and respectful and semi-modest.  I'm not a great dancer.  I
don't practice enough - I've danced better in the past but I
don't get out as much as I used to.  Reason?  For my friends
who inquire I list the house remodeling that I'm doing and
teaching and lab work and such...

What I don't say is, "I hate dancing amongst CLOWNS!!!!"

EXPLETIVES!!!!  Half of the places I go to dance - I can't
stand to watch the floor!  I literally avert my eyes so
that the moods of the music are not replaced by images of rubber
noses and floppy red and yellow shoes.  True!!!

I have all the respect in the world for beginners.  I have
all the respect in the world for people who want to learn.
But learning how to dance is *different* from learning how
to *teach* dance.

Clown is a perfect analogy, Huck!  In my experience with
people who do actual clowning for entertainment, they do
it not only for their audience.  They do it because of their
own (often self-deprecating) personalities.  They pursue
their art because at heart they are clowns - in the *best*
sense of the word.  Thus, the art of clowning is at least
as much 'about the clown' as about the audience!  Clowns
clown because they ARE clowns.  So too with dance floor
clowns.  It's not (usually) about the beginner - it's USUALLY
about the great teacher who graduated with honors after
three complete tango classes.

Clowning is characterized by unique artistic exaggerations
- caricatures of action and emotion.  Is THAT what a raw
beginner should be exposed to in their first encounter with
Argentine tango???  Caricatures?!?!  That's all they get!

Take a hint, amigos - you take a raw beginner out on a
floor that is more than half full and it's the same as
putting on a big red rubber nose.  ...and when you start
talking out there - you're honking your freakin' squeaky
nose!  Squeak-squeeeeek!!!  It really sounds funny along
with the bandoneon!  Ha ha!

Expletives.


<rant OFF>

Top of the mornin' to you,

Frank - Mpls.



Frank G. Williams, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
frankw  @umn.edu
612-625-6441

Department of Neuroscience
6-145 Jackson Hall
321 Church St. SE.
Minneapolis, MN  55455

Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
1971 Commonwealth Ave.
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108