Shahrukh Merchant writes ------> One learns elements, figures and techniques at classes, but one learns _how to dance_ at the Milongas.
Exactly. Every time you do a movement, whether in a class, practica, or milonga, you are practicing. But the focus is different depending on the context. In a class you often are working on individual steps - preparing to do one, doing it with poise and precision, and following up. Or you are working on short combinations of steps. Or (now less often than when tango was new to non-Argentines) longer figures. In a practica you are dancing to a piece of music, but the focus of you and your partner is in putting together what you learned in (often the immediately preceding) class. The focus is still on technique. In a milonga you are practicing the emotional and esthetic side of dancing. Practicing enjoying the physical and emotional closeness with your partner, feeling emotionally (not just hearing physically) the music, and perhaps most of all having fun. It might seem as if people should not need to practice having fun. But I imagine everyone has seen plenty of people who obviously need it. They are the ones with grim faces, the ones who insist on their partner's being perfect. Who do not realize that mistakes are opportunities to practice recovering from errors, and sometimes the doorway to discovering a new way to do something. Larry de Los Angeles http://shapechangers.wordpress.com/ ____________________________________________________________ Home prices too high? Click here for interest only loans to buy the home of your dreams. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/Ioyw6iiekSy9XHb9as3cq6fWxnl3V6anKdpfas3v3IXOB2S5cWbtFg/ _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
