Sandhill Crane wonders when the pendulum will swing back from fancy steps to fundamentals. I see nascent signs of this happening, but you still have to seek it out. In Baltimore and San Francisco, Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes focused primarily on the fundamentals of the embrace, walking posture, and turning technique, even in the advanced level classes. There is a recent trend toward very slow movements in crowded fest milongas. Melina and Detlef, Oliver and Sylvina, also emphasize fundamentals. On the individual level, it takes some time in tango to appreciate connection, the gratification of one well executed step, and that the music doesn't require that you dance every beat or quarter note with a hundred random ganchos, boleos, colga-volca-solta-dadas, or burritos. Took me a dozen years, and just now starting to realize what I want my tango to be. It's a process. The showstopper athletic moves bring in the kids, and the embrace hooks them later. Some get it sooner, and some never get it. People come to tango for many different reasons. Sure, its fun to play with the huge moves and dynamics, elasticity in practicas, or sometimes when the milonga is empty at 4 am. But these days when I see people at a full milonga monkeying around frenetically, I just wonder where they are racing to and why bother.
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