Jack,
Thanks for your thoughtful and informative responses.
We, too, spend quite a bit of time in our classes working with various concepts
of 'waiting' - how it is achieved, what its benefits are, how the follower
actively usues it to enhance and add depth to the role of follow as well as how
the leader works with the concepts in the lead role.
I believe tango is growing through a critical period in its resurgence. With
the further development of our global society, many cultural institutions are
being adopted and 'localized' in various cultures throughout the world. It is
natural that local customs and ideologies would impact the translation and
flavor of the pure form.
My initial point of dissention incorporates the idea stated above and is
similar to the example you describe. In the US, a result of the 'women's
movement' is that it has been accepted, with certain distinctions, across the
board. The distinctions that define things like social grace, elegance,
dignity, manners and etiquette have, in many cases, become somewhat blurred.
This blurring manifests when we begin to learn tango - an activity which
definitively incorporates many of the elements which may not be so fundamental
in so many global cultures anymore.
My criticism of instructors is exactly as you point out. The quality of the
vocabulary of their instruction should be representative of their idea if the
vocabulary of their dance. In your example, it does not appear the follower had
a clear (instructional) lead.
I acknowledge that tango, as a sub-culture, is gaing in popularity accross the
globe. As such, a typical result of this momentum is a compromise of the
structure and integrity of the pure form in exchange for numbers. I, for one,
believe that many new people coming into the dance is good for the dance.
However, there must always be somewhere that a person who is willing to do what
it takes will be able to go and find the purest expression of the art form.
That responsibility, imho, falls on those in Argentina and Uruguay (as
acknowledged internationally recently) who are recognized as the cultural
custodians of the dance. They must continue to produce instructors skilled in
teaching the pure art for, regardless of what the rest of the world would do to
their dance.
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