Thank you, Larry. This is a great explanation.
Warm regards,
Nina
At 10:32 PM 9/25/2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Nina Pesochinsky wrote --- So what is the value of an
over-explained tango?
One or two people seemed to take this as a put-down of some sort. I
thought it
funny: a clever play on the words that David Thorn had just used, when he was
talking about an over-turned ocho (one that turns more than 180
degrees) forced
on him by a lady who stepped closer to him on the second half of the
ocho than
he was expecting.
Or, reading her later response, I wondered if it was a question as
well. As in
What is the fuss all about? Why are you spending so many words on
an evanescent
experience?
OK. I'll answer the question.
As often happens, there are several forces working in the long
detailed analyses
of various subjects such as those you sometimes see on this list. Why
(over)explain?
For some people it's simply fun, a sort of game.
For others, it's an attempt to help others on a subject they have mastered.
Which often has the side benefit that the explanations force they
themselves to
re-think the subject, and to see it in a new (hopefully clearer!) light.
For some it's the second part of that process, the clarifying of a subject to
themselves, that is the reason for a discussion.
And finally explaining can also be exhibitionism - look at me aren't I clever!
In other venues I've seen or heard people argue that explaining psychological
phenomena is either useless or destroys the phenomena being discussed. For
instance, they urge you not to discuss love. Or enjoyment of a sunset. Or the
almost (or actually) transcendent experience of a dance.
What they don't understand is that left-brain analytical and right-brain
intuitive thinking are not enemies, any more than our left arms and hands are
enemies of our right arms and hands. They work together - or should. A person
with a strong left arm/brain AND a strong right arm/brain is MUCH
more effective
than if they must fumble along using one side or the other.
The best scientists and engineers are not only technically expert
but also very
creative. This often shows up in their hobbies, such as painting or
playing or
even composing music - and dancing.
And the best artists are invariably experts in the technical side of
their art.
Painters, for instance, typically have exhaustively studied such subjects as
perspective and shadows and the effects several colors in a scene will
synergistically effect the experience of the viewer. They will spend hours
trying out a new set of paintbrushes and paints, learning their
idiosyncracies.
They may endlessly paint the same scene over and over again with tiny
variations, and spend much thought on why some variations succeed or fail.
So it is with dance. There are stages or phases to becoming good,
and to having
those transcendent experiences. One is learning the very basics,
such as how to
place one's foot when stepping: heel, toe, and midsole, which leads when, how
much force to use, how to move the body from station to station of a
position.
Which is both a physical and an intellectual process. These
activities you do in
classes and practicas.
Then you revisit those basics, but this time in the midst of a
dance, when the
virtue of all that practice and analysis pays off - by letting your body and
your subconscious handle the details, letting you forget the basics,
while your
consciousness floats upon and above those earthly concerns. And you simply DO.
Larry de Los Angeles
http://shapechangers.wordpress.com
Click to find out what your future holds.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/Ioyw6iieOol4Tm1VvpgUg7HuDWEgwls3semkJx6J7xgO2nAZylv7W6/
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