Well, what happens in class? The teacher shows a pattern, exhibits it with music, and tells the students to try the figure. When the class messes up, the teacher will say something like "Men, you have to give a lot of rotation so the woman knows you're leading a molinete" or "Ladies, take big back step so you don't trip over a feet." I've never heard a teacher say in class "Is anybody listening to the music?" Why is there surprise that men don't listen to music? The music is more like Muzak you hear in elevators.
How many dancers understand the music of milonga? How many times do you see couples dancing tango to vals? Ming wanted to know how women tell men they are off beat (or any other complaint?) Simple, don't dance with them anymore. (I think I used Aristophanes Lysistrata as a suggestion.) Women have a lot of power in tango. Either they don't know it or don't know how to use it. If teachers ignore women's complaints, then women should stop attending their classes. I remember a very old Tango L message from a woman in Washington, DC who came to the conclusion that 80% of class time was spent helping the men lead the figure and 20% of the time was helping women follow well. Women were paying the same amount for class but not getting the same amount of benefit. (That could be a separate topic.) Michael Came home to New York where the Argentine Tango is better -----Original Message----- From: Ming Mar People aren't dancing with the music even when the music is d'Arienzo, so I don't think the problem is difficult music. Do the men know that they are not dancing with the music? Do they even know they're supposed to? It is impolite to criticize someone, so how are they ever going to know? When leaders don't dance with the music, they move at odd unpredictable times. This means that followers have to pay total attention to the leaders and ignore (not listen to) the music. Students do what they've learned, meaning that the men have learned to dance ignoring the music. Why aren't (more?) women complaining to the teachers? Do the teachers dance with the music? _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
