Aside from astonishment that Mario has never encountered the D8CB, he does have some valid points. Actually our students don't hear about it until someone asks and we are forced to explain. Al and I do however teach a 4CB, that is a salida from 2 to 5. In over 20 years of dancing tango, almost all of our teachers among the top living and dead, taught the D8CB. Of course, the Tango-L taught us the error of their (the top living and dead, very few of them performers, but none on the Tango-L :-) ) ways. We have always taught Step One not as the Dreaded Back Step but as an in-place preparation to dance, posture, listening to the music, connecting to your partner by .refining the embrace. We are specific and detailed about Steps 2 through 5, so rich in technical content and so frequently used by maestros in workshops, they do create a structure that is not only useful but a prerequisite for Intermediate and future classes. Don't talk to me about Advanced dancers; I bet there aren't more than 3 on this List, and I'm not one of them.
I wish that our Intermediate students would not rebel at spending a number of weeks exploring and refining the 2-5 basic.(The Puerto Vallarta tango community is not established enough for us to risk losing one devotee). We don't teach the Tango Close until it is unavoidable. Nevertheless in almost all workshops we've attended and almost all tango instructional videos, including the most *enlightened* the backward One is used, and the Tango Close after every figure. Why can't they just walk? Mario's enthusiasm for a prescribed timing is less understandable. If one listens to the music, dances with intention and precision, the timing just happens ?no? Intention and precision are the operative words assuming listening to the music every possible waking moment for at least the first 5 years. And I don't mean Enya. Excuse the rant. Love to all, Barbara _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
