Week 8/9

It's hard to believe that it's week 9. I'm almost sad to know that The quarter will soon end, and my allotted time to Tango will be gone. Because I work, it is likely that I will be unable to attend Tango club, which has made me appreciate my time in the class. With the performance coming up, I will be doing the first dance, the tango, milonguera, and the last dance.

After practicing the milonguera, I have grown to like it. I like the pace of the music, the beat, and the musicality of the songs. It is much like salsa, in my opinion, and is likely why I like the dance so much.

I do have to say, however, that choreography isn't my cup of tea. Although it does feel good to get a choreograph memorized, and done, I've still never been fond of choreography. When I dance, I dance for the moment; to express how I feel. When doing choreography, however, the feelings one needs to have are often premeditated and one's feelings are often located in some other era of time. Of course, however, when you do a choreographed dance, however, often times those feelings resurface and become present. It really is a hit or miss for me.

As far as my paper goes, I have had most of it done, but it's also in it's early rough draft stages. I'm finding that there is a lot of organization, and unstructured sentences. In revisions, this can be fixed, though. What I'm most worried about is the research aspect of it. Because my topic is on Buddhism and Tango, and because this topic is seldom written about, I'm having to write about my own experiences.Though, as Ann has stated, this is Ok, I've never done a scholarly paper like this. I'm  nervous about how it will turn out, but the best papers are often those that you take risks with.

Can't wait to keep learning.

week 8

This week, Ann's partner, Chuck, came. It was great getting a new perspective on Tango, and getting a polish on my moves. I feel that some moves such as the front ocho, and back ocho have become more defined. Learning how to lead the woman into the circle seems to have opened a flood of combinations for me. I found myself in different postitions to lead into moves that I previously knew, such as the back ocho and front ocho. It simply  feels natural at points to initiate these moves.

This weeks movie, secret in her eyes, was a very dark and chilling thriller. Although I didn't at first see many elements of Tango in the film, after discussing, and thinking about it more, there are things about tango that the movie may say. One, is the respect of touch between the man and the woman. I remember watching a movie, Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas. In the movie, Banderas plays a tango instructor in an at risk school. While some parents are in objection, Banderas' character states that "I am teaching these youth many things..." one of which is "respect of touch. I am teaching young men how to respectfully touch a woman, and I am teaching these young woman how to respect their bodies." This is not an exact quote, however, within the movie Secret in her eyes, the movie revolves around a rape incident. Tango, I believe, teaches this sense of respect. It teaches how to respect ones own body, and how to respect another person's body.

It is also becoming sad that the end of the quarter is coming. My time in class has been a great time to learn tango, however, next quarter, I'm unsure if I'll have enough time to dance at all. Dance is an important outlet in my life, and this class has been a great space of allotted time for me to utilize. Hopefully next quarter, I'll still be able to practice and dance.

Week 7

This week we learned the ocho cortada. This was a move that I've never learned before, and it was great to be able to add another weapon in my tango arsenal. As previously stated, the hardest part of the milanga for me is staying within the the line of dance. All too often do I find myself waiting for the line of dance to move, and being stuck and not knowing what to do. With the ocho cortada, however, I think that it's a good move to utilize when the line of dance stops.

I am also finding that I am reaching a point in Tango that I previously reached with other Latin dances where I am able to naturally put different combinations of moves together. Although I'm still not completely comfortable with Tango, I feel myself getting better, finally.  I'm hopeful that I'll still be able to continue my growth

Week 6

Last week in Tango was very a bit different but I had fun actually dancing as if we were at a milonga. I'm finding that keeping in the line of dance is very hard. People stop and go, and I'm often unsure of what to do when the line of dance isn't moving. Back ocho's are an easy way to do 'something' but after a while, I'm not sure what to do. I feel that the back ochos may get boring sometime, and I don't have much style when I dance.

I'm getting nervous about this upcoming research paper. 20 pages seems like a lot to write, and I'm nervous about finding information. I'm thinking about doing my paper on other cultures that had an influence on Tango, particularly looking at Tango's African roots. I'm wondering what other influences that Tango has, if any.

Recently I got a part time job working for my cousin at a restaurant he manages. Unfortunately, though, I'm unsure if wI will be able to attend tango club anymore. I'm glad that I'm taking this ASEM, because without it, I'd probably have to stop learning tango. At least there is another four weeks!

So, we're starting week 5.  How's it going for you?  Are you smitten yet?  Has tango chosen you?

Poopy paper. Blog 2 Daniel Kim

This week, I went to Latin dance club. It was interesting going to Latin dance club, having come from a Tango class just two hours before. My chest wasn't as high, my back wasn't as straight, and my limbs weren't as stiff. There were differences, that was for sure, however my dance teacher told us all something that I feel could connect to both dances.

Usually, my teacher likes to use metaphors when he teaches dance. The one I'm about to tell you was probably the most unorthodox and funny one of all.

During the lesson, our dance teacher danced with a new girl to the club. She hadn't danced for very long, and wasn't sure what she was doing. "I'm not very good at this, so don't expect too much" she told our teacher before he took her hand.

He told her, "well this dance is all about the woman. In a dance like this, it is NEVER the woman's fault."

"Imagine a crumpled up piece of paper." He held his hand out as if a ball of paper were in the palm of his hand.

"Now imagine that there is poop on the ground. I take this piece of paper and rub it in the poop. After a while it dries, all crusty and gross looking." All of us cringe a bit as we think of this image.

"Now, after the poop has dried, I put it in the most beautiful platinum frame that you can picture. It's all polished up, and shiny. And then I hang it up in an art museum. Everyone that goes to that art museum will look at that poopy paper in the frame and say 'Wow....' as if it were the most beautiful thing they have ever seen" Our teacher tilted his head to the side in amazement, as if he were a person looking at the poopy paper in the frame. "You see, the man is the frame. He can make a woman look like the most beautiful dancer, even if she hasn't danced before. The man is the frame, the frame of the picture that everyone is looking at."

Well, this metaphor, though not the most graceful, was the best description of a dance that I've heard yet, and it reminded me of the conversation that we had on Tuesday's class about gender roles in tango. Though the man is generally the lead, it is the woman that is meant to look beautiful. Though the man is  conducting the lead, it's the mans job to make the dance about the woman: to show the world how beautiful she is, and to show the woman how sexy she can be.

In the dance world, someone needs to play the part of the frame, and someone needs to play the picture, (not necessarily poopy paper, but you get the point). There needs to be someone who takes the lead in the dance, and someone who follows. If  both parties of the dance are trying to dominate, then there is no dance. Just a struggle for power. You can't have two frames, because otherwise, there is no picture to look at.

Aside from this metaphor, I'd also like to talk about the things I would like to learn this quarter. Although I've been to a few milongas, I've never felt very comfortable. I think this is because of my lack of confidence in my dance skills. Seeing the various videos, I really would like to be confident enough in my skills to comfortably attend a milonga. So far I know how to lead a step, a rock step, front ocho, back ocho. I want to learn to use these skills, or learn enough to be able to make a dance into something exciting. Thus far I feel like I create a boring dance when I tango. I'm sure it will get better in time. I want to be that beautiful frame that idolizes the picture.

Blog 1 Daniel Kim

Currently, this is the third week of my Tango class, however, this is a post about my second week. 

Coming into the Tango class, I have had experience latin dancing, (bachata, salsa, merengue, and many other dances), and only a little bit of Tango. Thus far, I've enjoyed myself. In the previous years that I took a tango lesson, I said that I want to get better. With a busy schedule, and studying abroad, getting better at tango seemed to be just words that I repeated every time I attended.

With this class, I am excited to have a steady schedule in which I get to practice tango. It has been an interesting experience learning about tango in both a lecture and in practice. I feel that I'm getting better rounded in learning about the dance as opposed to simply taking tango lessons. 

One vision that I have with this dance is a fusion type dance. Although we have learned about traditionalists and their view on "nuevo tango", I find that the dances that utilize the practices of multiple bases edgy, and exciting. I remember watching the movie Take the lead with Antonio Banderas my freshman year. In it, a group of students from an at risk school who had knowledge of hip hop dancing were taught Tango. In the end, the students had to make tango fit them, and there was an interesting fusion of hip hop and tango. 

Despite what traditionalists may say, I feel that the beauty of dance, is that an individual has the ability to express themselves in whatever medium that they are dancing, (that being hip hop, tango, salsa etc). In the end, any dance is an expression of ones feelings. With Tango, this notion is a little more complex, as it is a dance of two bodies, with one mind. Thus, the dance is a little bit more limited in this context, but there is still room for self expression.  

I'm interested in exploring this concept. 

Gabriel Misse and Analia Centurion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qLvMmNP-cQ

Milonga:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1496996697193048

This is a place for students in the class "Tango: Border Crossings" to document their experiences with class materials.  The writing will be informal comments, responses, and questions about the reading, interviews, photographs, films and dancing.  Students should post weekly.