Look here you, that description is too complex. Tango is like a large shiny spoon aimed at ones head. Intellectual skills are recognizing that "yes indeed, that is a large shiny spoon". Motor skills are avoiding the large shiny spoon.
Off to have dinner then dance. David -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brick Robbins Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 2:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Tango-L] intellectual skills vs motor skils Tango is something you do with your body and your heart. It is a motor skill. Writing, talking, thinking, are all things you do with your head. They are intellectual skills. It is possible to dance very very well, and have no intellectual concept of what you are doing. This is why I think so many very talented dancers make very bad teachers: They simply don't know (with their heads) what they are doing. They often teach what they heard in classes they've taken, not what they actually do. Most often they are good in spite of the training they have received, not because of it, but of course they love their teachers, and regurgitate their teacher's words as "the truth." It is also possible to have a very good intellectual understanding of the physics, physiology, music structure, history & culture behind dancing tango and not be a very good dancer. For some of us who are not extremely talented, I think it is helpful to have a good intellectual understanding to help us while we are developing our motor skills. For some, obsessing over this knowledge actually impairs learning (paralysis by analysis.) The very talented can just watch something, and go do it. A very good book that describes these issues in teaching motor skills, especially for dance, is "Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery" by Eric Franklin http://tinyurl.com/4v7ovu As far as I can tell, the only motor skills required to participate in Tango-L is typing, so this is purely an intellectual exercise which may help some people's dance, may impair others', or simply amuse or annoy. In other words, this list has very little to with actually dancing. On another note: Is anyone coming to the 3rd Annual San Diego Tango Festival over New Year's weekend? http://www.sandiegotangofestival.com It is a Tom Stermitz "close embrace" festival, with intentionally crowded dance floors, traditional music, attention paid to the ronda, etc. The last two years, the dancing has been good, and the weather has been warm and Sunny in America's Finest City. I hope to see some of you there. _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
