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.
Amber Swaim
ReplyDelete1/16/2014
This was my first week of tango classes and dance lessons, and it was all very interesting. I knew very little about the tango going into the class, but was eager to learn more about it. And so far I have been amazed about all that I have learned thus far in the class. The tango is a very complex dance, much more than your average 1-2 step dance. The tango has a history, a language, a code, a cultural background and an addictive nature that seems to already be grasping me. I definitely enjoy the second half of class most, and really enjoy learning the tango dance moves. This is so much fun for me because I truly love to dance and am excited to again learn another two person dance. The videos and book readings have all been very interesting to me so far, and have again been continuing to illustrate this notion of the tango being a very complex dance. I don't really have any questions or things I am confused about in the class so far. I am just excited to be in this class and to be learning the tango!!!
In my second week of class, I learned about the history, culture, and passion of the tango. When dancing the tango, I felt an unspoken conversation between my partner and I. I was hesitant at first because the dance requires a level of intimacy with each other and I felt uncomfortable. But as I cooperated with my dance moves, I embraced the passion of the music and I felt more connected with my partner. The tango creates an automatic connection between two people that goes beyond stereotypes. I realized my potential when I became more comfortable with myself and I felt more relaxed. Even though I was feeling a little fatigued, my motivation to keep dancing came from my partner because she pushed me to enjoy myself. Now, when watching the videos and reading about the tango, I can totally relate to the deeper understanding of the dance being an artistic piece that I enjoy in the moment. I am excited to learn the dance as something to keep with me for a very long time to share with others. I believe the dance will teach me life long skills, for example, self-confidence, communication, and physical agility that will ultimately benefit me in the long run.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many reason I took this class is because I head that we did not only get to dance, but we also got to learn about the history of the dance. I have taken salsa dancing lessons before and always wished that I knew more about the history of salsa. So, needless to say I was very excited to take this class and it has been a lot of fun and very educational so far. I have enjoyed the readings, and really liked the documentary on tango. I think that it is a lot of fun to hear what people that have been tangoing for so long have to say about the dance. Also, I thought that it was very insightful and well done. It was not until this week that I felt the true communication and cooperation between my partner and me. It was towards the end of the last class and we had just gotten the steps down right, and for a moment I was thinking "wow this must be what everyone is talking about". Although, it probably still is not on the same levee that they feel it, but It gave me an idea of what they may be meaning when they talk about the energy between themselves and their partner. The one questions I have is as follows: Some men in the documentary were saying that if the women does not just follow but instead interprets and adds her own step, there will be no tango in the future and the dance will be ruined. Some women were saying that this is not true and it will instead progress the dance and make it more than it is now. What do you guys think? From what I have been reading I would agree somewhat with the women, but am still torn on the subject.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite parts of this week was class on thursday. I have a secret love for history so for me learning about the origins of tango was very interesting. I think it is incredible how multicultural the tango is. I have always though of the tango as a latin dance so it was surprising to learn that in fact it is influenced by many non latin cultures. Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that the actual history of the tango is not based on concrete fact. The origins of the dance are somewhat mysterious and I think this is what makes tango itself mysterious and alluring and draws so many people for every walk of life. One question that I had after discussing the tango's presence in every major city in the world, regarded its relationship to the middle east. Is it even a thing in these parts of the world. I think the tango strongly contrasts many cultural practices in the Islamic world, so it would be very interesting to explore the reception (if any) of tango in a very conservative society.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I really enjoyed on thursday's class was getting a chance to dance with Ann. We are all trying our best and I love the enthusiasm every single one of my partners have, however it was really nice to have a change to dance with Ann because she is skilled at leading. This allowed me to really feel the dance and it was great to be with someone who could constructively criticize me. I really feel like I made some leaps and bounds with my understanding of the dance this week, both in an academic sense and in a physical sense.
Post One: Choreographed for Women
ReplyDeleteMuch like Raquel, the thing that has puzzled me the most this week, and continues to puzzle me, is the ferocity with which many of the men interviewed in “Tango: The Obsession” denounce the efforts of dancers such as Graciela to teach females more leading skills and state that it will ruin the dance form. In their minds, the leader is supposed to lead and the follow merely to follow. Yet to me, this black-and-white viewpoint seems to constrict the female into a slightly choreographed dance. Because the woman is confined by the choices of the man, she cannot improvise or follow the way her emotions lead her. If he directs her to step backwards, she must step backwards and cannot add anything to this motion. While I do understand that this kind of communication and footwork is integral to the tango, doesn’t it make the female/follower side of tango a little constricted, the exact opposite of what a social tango should be? Yes, the follower does not know exactly what the leader is going to do next, but if she can only do a step in the same way and never add her own embellishments, then that step is always the same regardless of whether it was danced with the first or the second man or at the milonga on Wednesday night or on Thursday afternoon. Plus, Graciela argues that by teaching a woman how to be a leader, she becomes a better follower, something that would benefit both partners in their dialogue.
The communication in tango to me should be like a Baroque duet. In Baroque music, musicians are allowed to add embellishments to the music, and it is no fun (and not proper performance procedure) for only one player to perform these ornaments. However, with two different improvised ornamentations occurring, it is vital that the performers listen to each other in order not to stifle the other’s creativity. Neither player is in any way dictating what the other player should do, yet both are only adding embellishments where is does not compromise the integrity of the beat and the melody. To me, this should be how tango is as well. I personally feel that by allowing the follower to interpret and respond in her own way (within reason), the communication between the leader and the follower truly becomes a dialogue and the tango can remain a very improvisational dance.
So, at the conclusion of week 2 of this class, I disagree with the men in these tango videos. This may be because we are just learning the basics of tango, so at this point in the class, it does feel very choreographed (though I know this is not the way tango is danced by those who already know these movements). Whether this remains my opinion as I grow into a better tango dancer, only time will tell.
As this tango ASEM progresses, my views of the dance are consistently being altered. It is easy to analyze tango is a simple dance; a series of movements and gestures. I am beginning to understand the culture behind the dance. Tango is a story, a form of trust, even an emotional release for some. Even though I have enjoyed the dancing proponent of this class, I have a growing appreciation for learning about the history and passion that is celebrated world wide. I would like to learn more about the politics behind the dance, about the edgy rebels who kept dancing when it was looked down upon or in many cases prohibited by family members. My hope is to attend at least one to two milongas by the end of the quarter. This week, I have appreciated the beginning break of tension in the close embrace. I think tango is an intimate dance and as a beginner, has been easier to interpret and follow when I can feel a partners intention at close range. Without seeming too forward, I would love to continue close embrace dancing. As Beatriz Dujovne so flavorfully wrote, "to merge with another, we leave ourselves behind, all we have left, inevitably, are metaphors."
ReplyDeleteSince I missed posting last week, I'm posting now and will post tomorrow to count for this week's post!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad we have this opportunity to casually talk about our experiences with the class so far. To sum up so far: I love it! I'm really enjoying learning tango, and I'm also glad that we are discussing some of the academic, rhetorical and philosophical ideas about the dance as well.
I was really intrigued by our conversation about the leader/follower, male/female debate. Like others in the class, I identify as a believer in true equality between sexes. Though one might assume that would mean I would think the leader/follower dynamic is outdated and improper, I actually don't believe it is. To me, it comes down to practicality. Both dancers in tango cannot be vying for "power" or "control" throughout the whole dance. If they are, they can never become that cohesive, "two-moving-as-one" entity that we've discussed so much. I also think it is necessary for dancers to "pick" one or the other so that they might perfect it--though I may be proven wrong in that respect as I learn more about the dance.
Overall, though, I don't see a problem with men being leaders and women being followers. I don't see it as a repression of women or as a glorification of men... Tango requires too much cooperation to leave room for domineering.
I have always had a strong desire to travel to interesting and "off the beaten path" places. I read travel books by the dozen and hear about fantastic and exotic places where travel writers live like locals. They eat real food, hang out with locals and live a non-touristy life. This past reading in Dujovne appealed to me in this way. The philosophical conversations with cab drivers, people watching for hours in a small cafe and the author's way of making a large city seem like a small town drew me into her narrative. Buenos Aires has quickly made my bucket list of places where I hope to visit and live the local life. I find it fascinating how so many connections can be made between the tango and the self-reflecting nature of the people. In this way, it seems that tango is a time to reflect. It seems to me that Argentines use the tango as a way to think, to internalize and to philosophize. They philosophize and when they dance, they let their partner know "who they are" in five minutes. I think that the tango is a fascinating representation of the culture and I hope to see it for real some day.
ReplyDeleteThis one will count for this week!
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I'm glad we have this space to talk about basic, random questions that might come up during class, as well as thoughts, concerns and things like that.
So... Here is my silly question that makes sense for the journal. Is it impossible to have two tango dancers who are very different heights? I don't think I've seen two dancers be very different heights yet. Is that just coincidence, or does it actually make a difference? My boyfriend is 6'2" and I'm 5'5", so I'm hoping you don't have to be similar sizes to tango together!
Other than that silly question, I also wanted to mention how much I enjoyed "La Confiteria Ideal." I thought it did an excellent job of showing a taste of the actual milonga culture in Buenos Aires. I see a taste of what Professor Dobyns has described in that video, and it really makes me want to go to Argentina... I have distant family there, so maybe I should plan on making it a goal!
Blog from week of jan 13: So I forgot to do a blog from last week, so here it is!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite topic of class conversation and actually my favorite part about the Tango dance is its ability to see past all social norms. Both of the authors of our books, Ann, and other Tango fanatics in the videos have now mentioned how it doesn’t matter at a Milonga if you are poor or rich, old or young, skinny or fat, domestic or foreign, beautiful or ugly. The only thing that matters is that you love to dance the Tango. I cannot express how in love with this concept I am. I feel like there are so few places in this world today where stereotypes do not exist and rigid expectations are completely erased. I love how throughout all of Tango’s history, the dance has always remained the center of the focus and that it has remained a dance that has never strayed from its core values. My favorite story on this topic was one that Ann told us in class. She mentioned how there has been instances that owners of the Milonga venue have given clothes to people who are poor, homeless, or don’t have the appropriate clothing just so that this person is able to dance Tango at the Milonga. I have never heard of any dance group refer to themselves as the “community”, yet when you hear Ann talk, she never just says “us” as in “us tango dancers”, rather she says “the Tango community”. This is because it is more than a dance or music: Tango is a family. Tango is the place of endless opportunities, of constant acceptance, and of a deep understanding and love for all other of the Tango community.
Blog for week of Jan 20th:
ReplyDeleteSo I wanted to comment on what a good part of our class conversation was about this week: gender roles and how this relates to the woman leading in the Tango. If I had never taken a Tango class and never understood the history of the Tango, and you asked me do you believe in women leading in dance, I would respond immediately with a strong, YES!. I was actually so shocked in myself when pondering the question about women leading. See, I definitely consider myself a feminist and a pretty extreme one at that. Yet, when a female and a male are dancing Tango, I am not a fan of the woman leading. I do not see this, however, as a man being an overpowering, macho dominator and the woman as being submissive. Rather, I see the dance like group projects in college: each member takes on a different and distinct task, even if it is not their “natural” or “desired” role. If in the group project, the diagrams have to be drawn and you don’t like drawing diagrams, yet you are the only person without a task to complete on the project, then you take on the role of drawing the diagrams. This will just make the project work best. You end up adapting to the situation and then perform. Tango, I feel, is the same way. You mold yourself into a distinct role, even if you may prefer something else or feel a different way. I believe that when Tango is danced between a man and woman, the most fitting task or role of the woman is to follow and the most fitting task or role of the man is to lead.
I am also not in favor of women leading in Tango because of the deep appreciation for the history of Tango I have developed. There is something so beautiful, fulfilling, and magical about dancing Tango exactly the way it was first danced and then continued to be danced during the Golden Age. I find it a shame when historical dances, art, music, architecture, etc. are either destroyed or forgotten about as time passes. Dance is so extremely susceptible to being not preserved or even completely forgotten about. Dance is not physical. It cannot be preserved like a piece of art or reinforced like a building. Dance only remains and only remains in its original form because of how it is danced today. If just one person, or one city, or one country changes how they dance Tango today, they are opening up the possibility of changing Tango for the rest of history. If we do not fight today to practice dancing Tango in its original form, then who will preserve Tango? I believe it is our job as Tango dancers to preserve the original forms of the dance and pass on the traditions. This original form of the dance and the original tradition means that the dance is intended to be danced with the man leading and the woman following.
This week my knowledge about the tango grows but again, and continues to grow with every class. I also keep seeing how complex the tango truly is. The tango is a language a living entity, a dance, a life style, a sad dance, a sensual dance, a sexual dance, and dance that literally can't seem to be fully explained in just a few sentences. But I feel that tango wants it to be this way, in that the tango is again this piece of artwork and therefore can speak a thousand words, and will be different to everyone that views and dances it. I feel like I don't have a lot to ask or say in these journals because I feel like the tango is going to become more clear to me with dancing it and becoming a part of this world of tango. I am always excited to learn more step, begin piecing together the dance and slowly begin feeling the way the tango is meant to be felt. I’m waiting for that moment to happen and just somewhat eager for it to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe complexity of the tango truly baffles me. Once I think that I have the dance figured out I watch another video or read another chapter and my perception of the dance changes once again. I think that the tango and what it means has to do with the dancer and the passion that they feel when dancing the dance. Yesterday in class someone said something that made me think of a Utopia. In my opinion no persons utopia can be the same, everyone is going to have their own idea of a perfect world. That is what I think the tango does for everyone, it brings them to their "perfect world". From the moment that they step onto the dance floor until they leave they are able to live in a world of perfection. I think that is why everyone's opinion on the dance differs so much. I do not think that one can truly know the tango until they themselves feel the obsession and are able to dance the dance with true love.
ReplyDeleteThis tuesday during our discussion about gender roles and tango Ann asked if the man being the dominant role bothered me. I said that even though I am very feminist and think that gender equality and role reversal are essential for the advancement of society, for some reason the definite and concrete man-woman leader-follower relationship. Ann asked me why that is and at the time all I could say was "I'm not really sure why I feel this way". Over the week I have had time to ponder this strange feeling and have come to two conclusions that I think account for my attitude regarding tango that seems so opposite from the usual views. First of all I think what makes this relationship different for me is the role that respect plays. Maybe because of the culture the man has an incredible amount of respect for the women. He know that the dance would be nothing without her and even though he is the one who is leading, this dependency gives the woman power. So even though each role is clearly defined and to some people non interchangeable there isn't a power struggle and this is why I am comfortable. When I think of many other situations where a man and woman each have a role that is defined by their gender, often a power struggle is apparent and that is when I begin to have a problem. For example I just started watching Mad Men, which is a show about an ad agency in the 1950s. The gender roles are clearly defined: men as business hot shots and women as secretaries/ or homemakers. The women are marginalized, disrespected and treated as lesser. The power clearly belongs on the men's side. I don't see this struggle when watching that tango, it is bursting with respect, love, and compassion on both sides and the traditional male-female roles allow for this to happen. Second I think the hopeless romantic side of me is smittin by the tango to be completely honest. I see myself as a strong and independent female, being heterosexual however doesn't mean that I don't also value having a strong male in my life. Personally I like the idea of someone who can protect me, cares about me and respects me as if I am the only woman on earth. I think the tango taps into that yearning. That sounds very gushy and silly but it is honest and I also think it is why the tango is so alluring to other people. Tango oozes romance and I think it is something that all of us want to experience.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I learned new dance moves and explored how I can express myself through dancing the tango. At first, every new dance move seems extremely complicated. But once I grasped the grace and technique, everything fell into place. Being a newborn dancer brings me to an understanding of how I learn visually, physically, and cognitively. I have changed my attitude about dancing throughout this course because I have learned that it takes dedication, passion, and a willingness to change. I can apply these life skills to my own agenda, and I plan to, because it reflects on my personality to others that I am a genuinely caring and compassionate person, which I did not realize I had these traits before dancing. Knowing how I can become a better person through dancing, I plan to continue dancing because it gives me a chance to express feelings that I knew I had but could not express to others. I am already exciting to have my friends and family watch me perform dancing the tango for my final project. This gives me more self confidence and the opportunity to show my new talent.
ReplyDeletePost Two: A Double Standard
ReplyDeleteIn our discussion about gender in class this past week, someone mentioned how the roles of leader/male and follower/female in tango are like playing roles of which both people are aware. Even though this description makes the gender roles seem more like theatre (and anyone who knows me knows that I live for theatre), I still have a problem with the male-female dynamic within this dance. This seems so contradictory and like a double standard. I do not have a problem with theatre, where each person is playing a defined role and where everyone in the room, from the actors to the audience, understands that they are playing parts. It would seem, therefore, that if both the male and female tango dancers are aware that they are playing roles, I should be ok with it. But I am still not.
I think that my difficulty in accepting this relationship stems from the distinction between dream and reality. Everyone knows in a play that the relationships between characters and their conversations are not part of reality (even though truly great actors can make us forget this distinction for the duration of the work). Yet in tango, it is not so easy to separate reality from the performance. If we believe that tango is a discourse in which each dancer bares a part of his- or herself and expresses true emotions, then it is reality. These are real emotions, and true conversations, not ones that are dreamed up by a playwright hunched over a desk. However, these real dialogues are confined by these gender roles. If each dancer is aware that they are playing into a certain role, then how is it a true dialogue, a real conversation between two people?
This is where my struggle is: wrestling with my definitions of rhetoric and discourse and with the intricacies, codes, and defined roles of tango.
Post Three for this Week:
ReplyDeleteI was really thrilled to see how much we've progressed in our dancing as a class as of yesterday! I very specifically notice now how all of our movements are seeming a little bit more graceful, how both leaders and followers are understanding their expectations and roles and how we all are slowly understanding the process of "leaving our minds" in order to feel the dance.
The steps we were doing by the end of the class were strikingly exciting, in my mind. To me, the dancing we were doing yesterday represents the fact that we are, in fact, making progress... And I find that really thrilling!
I also enjoyed the difficulty of the readings for yesterday and the comparisons we were discussing as a class between them and Tango Lesson. I absolutely love the level of depth and thought that Manning clearly has put into her book, and I think it was really helpful to discuss them in class. I look forward to discussing them more.
While I was reading about the Milonguita for this thursday (1/30), I couldn't help but think of the interesting role of the woman in the poets' lyrics. The fact that the poets wrote and sang about the lower class woman who left them for the rich man across town struck me as very bluesy. Blues started on the southern plantations. The slaves invented the blues as a way to express their feelings about their horrible living conditions and the slave owners. They couldn't sing directly about the slave owners, so they invented their "woman" as a stand in. They sang about the woman who was bringing them down, who left them for another man or took all of their hard earned pay. This woman that they sang about symbolized the plantation owners. I found a lot of similarities between the tango Milonguita and the blues woman. Both were created to escape from the hardness of life, both were representations of deep feelings, and both are widely popular even still today.
ReplyDeleteThis week was a very complex and interesting week. We dove into very deep and almost philosophical ideas about the tango, but moreover about the essential element of the tango...touch. Our Tuesday class discussion was very interesting in that there were so many different thoughts and ideas about the Manning chapter and about this notion of the "politics of touch" that it was truly fascinating to hear all these different ideas about it. Even reading Olivia's paper was cool to me, because even though we both read the same chapter we went in COMPLETELY opposite directions of interpreting her, and understanding this notion of the politics of touch. I liked our discussion of touch as being something violent, but not in the common conception of harming touch, but instead touch that invades one's personal space. Touch simply as this intrusive yet not harmful way of touching. That entire class discussion was all very interesting and made me truly see how the tango has this political element to it, which would make sense, because the tango is so a part of the Argentinean culture that it would then consequently be a part of its politics. The idea that touch, the tango, politics and violence all have a certain commonality with one another, one of which could be based on the commonality that they are all forms of communication in some sense and are ways to open conversation between people with either words or with touch, is very fascinating to me, and was even more fascinating to hear all the different opinions about this topic in class.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I really enjoyed this Thursday's reading on the lyrics of Tango. Originally, I, along with many other listeners of Tango lyrics, interpreted the lyrics as rather depressing. Yes, the lyrics cover a range of emotions, but more often than not, emotions of nostalgia and loneliness are reoccurring themes. I interpreted it as Tango almost trying to tell us that we are on our own. This is somewhat true, yet also is somewhat not true. Dujovne's chapters taught me that the lyrics are actually telling us that we are all in this together. That even though we may be alone or lonely, we are alone or lonely TOGETHER. We break out of ourselves and conjoin together. We leave our state of isolation to comfort each other as "brothers and sisters". I really fell in love with this concept. The brotherhood or sisterhood that exists in the Tango lyrics and thus between the members in the Tango world reminded me a lot of the sisterhood I have within my sorority. No matter what the situation or emotion, you feel like you never are going through it alone. And just like each tango dance is different and you construct something completely new, I feel this is the same idea with my sorority. There’s something like 150 alpha phi chapters across the United States and although we all do the same activities, run our chapters the same, and have the same founders and values, each chapter is special and different in their own way. Each chapter was founded new at one point in time and had to construct something completely new from nothing. Each chapter of women has its own individual qualities and the women are close in their own way, yet we are all Alpha Phis in the end. Tango is danced differently each time between different partners, but in the end everyone is still dancing the Tango.
ReplyDeleteSomething a little bit off this topic, but that caught me off guard was a type of contradiction I found in Dujovne’s chapter on the Conversation of Song. In many parts of the chapter, Dujovne speaks about how tango lyrics speak to EVERYONE in some way and they accept everybody’s humanity. Yet, one sentence caught me off guard because it is contradictory to her entire thesis about Tango lyrics bringing everyone together. On page 155, she says: “What tango lyrics show contempt for is the person who was born with privilege, the person who remains ignorant that other do not have it so easy”. So, I do understand that Tango definitely appealed to the lower classes, but this statement goes further and implies exclusivity against a certain group. This is confusing to me because I thought Tango prided itself on accepting everyone? I thought the Tango world was all about leaving stereotypes at the door and treating everyone as equals as long as they are good dancers?
Natalie, I usually don't reply but I understand your concern and think you need to notice the second half of the sentence--"the person who remains ignorant that other do not have it so easy." She, and the lyricists are not dismissive of those born with privilege per se but rather those who are clueness about those who don't have what they have.
DeletePost Three: Always watching...
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I found fascinating in our readings this past week is the influence of the milonga organizer. I obviously assumed that there was an organizer of these social dances, but I did not quite realize how much power he has. He determines the tone and formality of the milonga, he meets people at the door and escorts them to their seats, he keeps an eye on the dance floor at all times to make sure that people are sticking to the codes of the tango.
I think what I find so interesting about this role is its juxtaposition with the intimacy of the dance. The tango is always considered to be a dance between two people, who for those three minutes only care about each other. Yet, you also have people who are watching the dancers, eyeing up who they would like to dance with next as well as making sure that people stick to the rules (flashback to middle-school dances, with all those chaperones). Under all that scrutiny, I originally thought that this intimacy must be quite difficult to obtain but the code is such an important aspect of the dance that I think it actually heightens the intimacy. It is reassuring to know that there are people watching who will step in if a man starts groping his partner or if a couple starts bashing into other couples in their enthusiasm for the dance. This provides the necessary security that allows dancers to lose themselves in the connection with each other. Like the idea of the nest and the containment that the dancers mention in “Documentary Part 5: The Tango Embrace,” the safety that the milonga organizer provides allows the dancers to strive towards that ideal connection and embrace. Instead of breaking the intimacy of the milonga, the organizer’s presence heightens it.
This week was a thrilling one for me! I really enjoyed the exercises we did on Tuesday when we, as followers, tried closing our eyes in order to be forced to actually FEEL the dance and to respond only to the leader's movements. This worked really well for me. I had done this with Dan to a degree (he also likes to close his eyes every once in a while in order to truly feel the dance.)
ReplyDeleteI think this was a chance to actually get to enact what we've been talking about with the importance of the embrace and of feeling the dance. I also appreciated the approach we took towards actually listening to the music and moving to it. II think this is something that we had not quite been doing up to this moment, but now that we have, I see how essential it is.
I also appreciated acting as the leader a bit, considering I hadn't done so in a while. Overall, I'd say my experience this week was one of "tying together" different elements. I feel like we are finally making baby steps into being capable of actually tango dancing.
This week was good. I really enjoyed being able to dance in close embrace. For the first time I began to feel and moreover understand what the tango is suppose to feel like. Tuesday’s class of mixing talk and dance was very interesting, and was nice to start to understand the tango in a firsthand account. The other interesting thing that I found was the vast history of tango in African culture. This was shocking to me, because again that main description of the starting of tango is being started by immigrants whom came to Argentina in the 1900s. It was very cool to watch the film about this other side of the tango and its culture. I have a good friend who is Argentinean, and is the first generation of her family to be born in the US. She goes to Buenos Aries every year and tells me all about her trips, but she has never mentioned ever seeing black Argentineans, so it is interesting to know that at one time Buenos Aries was completely populated by blacks, and now it seems that that is not the case. Another interesting element about the tango’s African roots is how none of the drumming was kept in the tango’s music. Now the tango music and orchestra has no drums in it and has made a dramatic shift from its African and candbombe roots in this way. I wonder way that is, and more specifically when this shift of tango truly began to happen. Could be an interesting research paper topic to look more into…
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this week was having our mini milongas. I think up until this week I had in my head an idea of how they might work and honestly didn't really think too much about the code and how it relates to the initiation of the dance. It was quiet different to actually experience it. Although this was not the real thing and we all felt a little goofy doing it it was fun to get a little taste of what a milonga is like. The other thing that I really enjoyed was being able to be both the leader and the follower in the milonga. The asker and the one to be asked. It is interesting to have opportunity to play both roles. All of the girls in the class have had this experience, I think it would be a intriguing (and perhaps a little comical) to have the men in the class switch roles as well. Gender roles in tango have been a important issue that we have as a class spent a lot of time discussing and exploring from many different perspectives. I think having the men switch roles in our mini milongas would be an awesome way to explore gender roles even further and in a practical way. Just an idea!!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this week of class. I think that the milongas have really improved not only my dancing but my appreciation for the dance. At first, I was nervous about trying steps. I would walk straight, maybe lead my partner to a cross and simply shift weight during the all too common "traffic jams." However, after a few songs, I was able to add some interest to the "traffic jams" with either front or back ochos and I was able to do some more interesting side steps and the milonga steps. I can see how this dance pulls one in and never lets one go. During the song, I feel as Juan Copes says, I wish the orchestra never reaches the thcan-thcan. The closer embrace feels better to me. With the practice embrace, I felt lost, like I didn't have a solid partner. I needed to over exaggerate my suggestions and it felt too far away. Since the closer embrace, my suggestions have become more subtle. I hope that I am still transmitting my intentions effectively, however I feel as though for the most part I am. I am very much enjoying the integration of the dancing to reinforce classroom learning.
ReplyDeleteMuch like rock and roll, tango has seen immense popularity for a long period of time. Something about the dance makes us want to attend Milongas night after night and something about the music makes us want to dance. I have decided to research the music of tango. I will be looking at the structure and theory behind the music and why the music is so appealing. To support my arguments and findings, I will look specifically at some popular songs and instruments such as "La Cumparsita" and the bandoneon. Also, I will look at the basic rhythms and form of the tango. Using these empirical findings, I will formulate an argument as to why the tango has endured for so long as one of the most popular dances.
ReplyDeletePost Five (for Week Five): Gardel
ReplyDeleteThose of you who were in class know that I disagreed with Taylor’s “Tango: Theme of Class and Nation,” especially its views of the gender dynamic between male and female dancers (and the fact that it buys into the myth of tango’s origins, but I am willing to let that slip seeing as this article was written in the 1970s). However, there was one part I found interesting: the part about the Gardelian myth. I had heard Gardel’s name bantered around, but I really liked how Taylor illustrated just exactly why he is the mythic figure that he is, even so many years after his death. I think, like Evita, he was an example of someone who came from nothing to be an international star, yet did not lose his roots (though that is debatable with Evita). He also embodied all of the qualities that most people believe an Argentine should be: faithful to his friends, his country, and most importantly his mother. And, like Evita, his death only did more to immortalize him in the minds of not only the Argentinians who were alive then, but also the generations of today. I would like to know more about this man whose face lines the streets of Buenos Aires. His story, like Evita’s, seems to be so much a mixture of myth and fact that I wonder whether a true version of events can ever be obtained.
Post Six: Week Six
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading the Taylor article, there was one particular sentence that struck me: “the milonga’s atmosphere of unconstrained emotion as a ‘soap opera in real time’” (128). I can see her perspective…to some extent. The cabaceo’s silent codes can be very dramatic, as well as the intense concentration and passion that can come out when two people dance. A milonga could also be viewed as a soap opera in the sense that it is at its heart unpredictable; a dancer does not necessarily know who he or she will dance with throughout the course of the evening, or what songs will be played and what order they will be played in, or whether someone will break code and drama will ensue.
Yet, when I think of a soap opera, I think of screaming, rumors, and vengeance, all things that I’m sure can happen at a milonga, especially if a person feels slighted by another who is all of a sudden not accepting his invitation to dance. But this seems to go against the true nature of this social occasion and to fight against the embrace and connection for which most dancers strive. While this might be Taylor’s experience (or may simply help her argument), in my opinion it goes against the essence of the dance, and if I were a milonga manager, I would kick people out of the event in order to maintain the necessary atmosphere with the correct balance of peace, passion, and excitement.
The information session on Tuesday was very helpful and gave me the topic of tango and its relation to health. I have done some research and there is actually a lot on the tango being therapeutic in various cases, such as in treating symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and even Parkinson's disease. Reading a few articles on tango's benefits for Parkinson's disease was very interesting and again expands upon the notion that the tango is not simply just a dance but has so much more to it and has a lot to offers various different people. The blog on sex tourism and tango was also interesting to read, and from our class on Tuesday, that topic seems to definitely a popular and almost controversial topic. It will be very interesting to see all the student presentations at the end of the quarter, and hear about what other people researched about the tango.
ReplyDeleteSomething we never got to talk about was the blog that we read for thursday about Tango being "sex tourism". I found the first post to be interesting, from what I have read I find it to be very unlikely. Taylor says in her article that if a man and women do meet at a milonga they must be careful not to leave together. They may meet up in a different spot but if they leave together and want to dance with others they better not get caught. I think because milongas have such a strict code it would be hard for this "sex tourism" to go on. Also, thinking of tango in this way kind of ruins the mystery and allure to the dance. Without the codes and "sex tourism" taking place some of the passion that goes into the dance is killed.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed doing a small milonga, it was fun because we were not having to stop so often and stay in place. We were able to keep moving and keep feeling the music. It is fun to practice what we have learned and to try and go with the beat of the music. It is still hard for me to get out of my head, but I am trying. I do the best when I am able to just feel the dance rather than think about the dance. It also helps me to be a little bit closer to the person that I am dancing with. Not in super close embrace but in a close enough embrace that I can truly feel their movements!
This week we learned about engendering in Manning's "Politics of Touch." Manning states, "To engender is to explore the potentialities of form and matter at the level of individuations rather than identities." My interpretation of this is that when two bodies combine to form one solid mass on the dance floor, gender roles are almost non-existent. When two bodies come together, a performance of leader and follower are combined to tell a story. The audience's interpretation of what they are experiencing or feeling leaves an impression of passion, intrigue, and mystery. I feel that it is an indescribable experience to communicate one's feelings of awe, inspiration, and elegance while watching people dance the tango because of the spiritual level it reaches in each individual.
ReplyDeleteI also learned that the tango has a way of refreshing one's soul. In Argentina, people said that the tango takes a lot out of them. I feel that it could be addicting to people who need to have some form of therapy on a regular basis due to their stress level at school, work, or at home. For example, a person may want to get rid of their "loneliness" by attending a milonga. This is where a person may meet other people, filling that empty space that need companionship, and literally dancing away their problems and worries. Taylor states, "the embrace can be reinforced by feelings of togetherness and belonging..." It is that simply embracing another person is enough to be happy with oneself without having to succumb to the pressure of societal norms. For example, when going to a milonga, people feel free to do whatever they feel like without having the pressure of getting someone's phone number to "hook up," like most people do when they go out to clubs.
I wasn't sure where to post my week 6 blog, so I'm posting it here too, sorry!
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to blog about this week relates to what I found during some research I was doing this week. As I was researching a few of my potential topics, I was on the tango Colorado website. I was playing around and came across the “Tango Etiquette” page. It is an entire (and rather lengthy) page dedicated solely to the codes of the Tango. The codes seemed so intimidating to me! That was my initial reaction. I thought it my head, “gosh how could I really enter into the world of the embrace if I’m worrying about breaking one of the many codes! Yet, as I read on, I really enjoyed what I was reading. I googled some other dances and their codes such as cha cha, rumba, salsa, and ballroom dances. When researching each different dance’s codes, I found there to be many differences from one source to another. There were obvious similarities such as “No socializing on the dance floor” for Salsa. Yet each source had certain imperative rules of the dance that other sources didn’t even mention, or one source had a different take on a certain rule compared to another source. Tango, on the other hand, seems to have a very consistent set of codes and multiple sources seem to all agree on this set. I really enjoyed this because it seemed to allude to the cohesiveness of the Tango community. There is this mutual respect and understanding among all members of the Tango community and the codes are a symbol of that. Additionally, other codes of other dances really emphasized your affect on the other dancers. Tango was really the only one that has codes focused on you so that you are able to have the most enjoyable dance or the most enjoyable milonga. For example, one code focused more internally on the two partners rather than externally on what not to do so that you don’t screw up their dance. This specific code says: “Good leaders always dance at the level of the follower. It is rude to dance above her level to impress her, show off to others or boost one's ego.” I loved this when I read it because unlike other dances’ codes, it doesn’t use the word “DON’T” and it focuses on what the pair can do to make the dance most enjoyable for each individual dancer.
So back to my original statement about how my initial reaction was intimidation because of the lengthy and very specific codes of Tango. After thinking about it, I realized that the codes are one of the reasons why the Tango is such an enjoyable dance and the milonga is such a fun and fulfilling event. The codes were created for a reason: to avoid problems that either were problems in the past or to avoid potential foreseeable problems. Each code, no matter how specific or long, enables each dancer and thus the community as a whole to enjoy the best possible Tango. Additionally, the consistency of the Tango codes among different communities eliminates any confusion when dancing with different partners or in different parts of the world or at different milongas. Again, this helps to that every individual dancer plus every couple plus the entire group of people at the milonga all focus on one thing only: having the best Tango dance(s).
This is my week 6 blog!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was just reading what Natalie said above, and it really struck me! It reminded me of exactly how I have felt when we've discussed the cabeceo and other etiquette processes like where to look, not talking during the dance, posture and the number of dances to dance. Honestly, these are all things that intimidate me enough at the moment to deter me from going to a milonga. It feels like there are so many things that you need to know before you are considered a "respectable" enough of a tango dancer to go to milongas that I assume I am not ready--both in my knowledge of the dance and of the customs that go along with it.
However, I wonder if I might be wrong in this respect? I recognize that learning about tango requires participating in tango, and by extension, making mistakes doing so. Right now, I would love to go to the Sunday night lessons we've talked about in class when they happen in early March. I think that would be a fairly nice, non-intimidating environment to try my hand at the milonga scene for the first time.
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ReplyDeleteHaving Chuck there to help us yesterday was a great experience. He taught us how to add flair to our beginner's technique and how to perfect certain moves. However, the most important lesson I took away from yesterday's class was the idea of the men being the choreographers and the women being the dancers. I had never thought of tango in this way; I had always thought about it as an equal partnership with equal responsibilities, but it appears now that most of the responsibility lies with the men. If a mistake is made it is up to them to correct it with their next move. As Chuck said, there is no wrong move, only the next move. I believe this is a great way to think about tango. And when you sit back and watch tango it makes sense. You can see the man clearly telling the woman nonverbally what steps to take and where to put her feet, and it's like watching any other choreographed dance. This seems hard though since men have to choreograph extemporaneously.
ReplyDeleteIt was also great to see Ann and Chuck dance together, you can tell they have a real connection both on and off the dance floor. I hope one day I'll be able to dance with someone like that.
As week 7 is coming to a close I am starting to do more research and organization for my final essay. I'm glad we all got to pick our own topics. It's much more interesting that way. I'm looking forward to presentation day and finding out what topics everyone else chose. It's been a great tango week so far! Looking forward to tomorrow's class working even more on perfecting our technique. Can we learn that leg wrap move? :)
week 7 blog:
ReplyDeleteI LOVED THIS WEEK!! That's really the best way to summarize how this week went. Content wise, I really enjoyed the movie out of everything we watched and read. Although it didn't have really anything to do with the Tango, I enjoyed analyzing it through a Tango lens in class. The most insight it offered me into Argentine culture was the passion the culture has. You can really understand why the Tango is a dance of such passion; because it is the baby of this passionate and fervent culture.
The biggest highlight of this week was watching Ann and Chuck dance. Even though I was in the Tango FSEM, I actually never saw Ann and Chuck dance a full Tango dance. They would teach and demonstrate different movements, but never really demonstrated a dance together. I was so excited when Ann said they were going to dance a Tango, Vals, and Milonga! And wow- they were phenomenal. There is something so different about viewing Tango dances through videos on the internet and actually getting to see an advanced couple dance right in front of you! The only other time I saw a live Tango dance was freshman year when Ann brought in a very experienced couple to dance for us. It is still the most memorable event from the entire FSEM class. So, going back to Ann and Chuck. What I loved so much about watching them dance was their technique and their contentment in the embrace. When they first started dancing, of course all I could focus on was Ann's pristine footwork and Chuck's deliberate and "present" style of leading. Literally every single step Ann took looked glorious to me. Just a simple back step was executed with grace and exactness. Then, looking at Chuck, he led with such intent that it really looked like what Amber once mentioned in class about the two partners: the man is like the frame holding the woman who is the beautiful piece of art. Chuck was this steady and secure frame within which Ann was able to dance beautifully in.
As their dancing went on, I then shifted my attention to away from the physical appearance of their dance and more towards observing what they seemed to be feeling, how they were communicating, and how the embrace was between them. Immediately I noticed the expression on Ann's face: eyes closed, face relaxed, and a slight and content smile. You could tell she wasn't anticipating what was coming next, nor was she analyzing the movement, but rather she was just riding along. It just looked so natural and it was like she was in her element.Then, I looked at their embrace and the first word I thought was: puzzle. They looked like this perfect puzzle- like they fit right into one another. It was so cool to think about how the embrace did that. The embrace enabled them to physically and emotionally fit together and thus allow for this intense form of communication between the two.
So, overall, I would have never guessed they had not danced together in a long time! They looked amazing and in terms of the Tango dance, seeing Ann and Chuck dance together gives you this energy. You want to work hard so that your techniques become steps and your steps become the dance and your dance becomes perfected into a beautiful Tango. Sometimes its frustrating in class because I leave thinking, well we didn't really dance the Tango, we just did the Tango steps. It was awesome to see them dance a full Tango and then to have a lot of time this week to also dance full Tangos!
Week Seven blog:
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this week! It was a lot of fun having Chuck there and I think that it was beneficial to watch two talented tango dancers dance. I am a very visual person so it helped me to learn the steps better. Knowing what they looked like enabled me to really understand what I was supposed to be doing. I also thought that it was beneficial to dance for an entire class period. I liked how we did the rapid two lines dancing together at a time. It made it so that the women were able to get a lot more practice. Although sometimes it does help me to be able to watch others before I go. I was having issues with one of the steps, but once I was told what I was doing wrong it really helped.
My biggest issue still though is trying to get out of my head. I find it particularly hard to do when I am learning a new dance move. Because I am trying to think about what I am doing but also trying to let the man lead I get confused and step ahead due to my tendency to over think. I still feel that once I allow the man to leave the dance feels a lot better and so does the connection with my partner. I hope that I will learn to just let go and not think so much because I believe that it could improve my dancing.
I also tried wearing high heels for the firs time and I actually found them to be a lot easier to move and dance in. I thought that they would be harder, but they allowed me to roll my foot better and help to keep my posture. This is because it is harder to wear heels than flats so I had to be more aware of my posture and my presence. If I had no presence I was much more likely to get off balance and stumble around. I think that it might actually be beneficial dancing in the heels and teach me better habits than dancing without them. They also helped because they moved much more nicely across the floor.
This week it was really awesome to have Chuck around. It was nice to see both Ann and Check dance together so we could all see what the moves are really suppose to look like. I feel like our confidence has all gone up and our dancing is definitely getting better. The guys, I feel like, have all gained a level of confidence in their leading and the women have found how to let go and follow with grace. It was also nice to have Chuck lead some of the moves because it really prompts me to get out of my head and just follow. This week has been very fun because of all of the dancing we got to do.
ReplyDeleteMy research for my paper has also been very interesting and has opened my eyes to the true therapeutic nature of the tango. This dance truly has so many different elements to it, that it is nice to be finally able to truly understand it from doing it and well as from learning about it.
Post Seven: Week Seven
ReplyDeleteTango Dislikers Anonymous
I feel like I may get shunned for saying this, or that I am at some kind of AA meeting, but here it goes: I don’t like tango. This week has further proved to me that I really just do not enjoy tango. I like knowing the history and hearing the music in much the same way that I like looking at Beethoven’s conversation books and hearing his symphonies; it engages my brain, but not my heart. But, this knowledge and even the dance itself does not fill me with any kind of emotion except for one of “eh.” Everyone else is so enthusiastic about this dance, yet week to week, I continue to feel frustrated that I am unable to match their excitement. I keep searching for the spark I feel when I learn about, see, or participate in theatre, that fire that keeps me wanting to learn more, see more, experience more…but it’s just not there, and I can’t force it to be there. I feel bad for my partner when I’m dancing, because they can most likely feel that I’m not really into the dance.
The one thing that did excite me this week was the film “The Silence in Their Eyes,” which, though some of its themes can be applied to tango, was not about the dance. And I think the reason I loved it was for its theatrical qualities – its pacing, its subtleties of storytelling, its characterization – not for any of the connections to tango that we made during class.
Tango is a dance I have longed to learn for such a long time, so I’m quite disappointed that I don’t have the enthusiasm for it that I always thought I would have.
In week 7 everything is finally coming together. I have a lot of confidence that I have almost mastered the tango. My footwork has dramatically improved. My posture is awesome. I am not tripping over someone's toes and I love the comments "Looks good Todd!" It gives me great pleasure to have experienced a different culture through dance. I will always carry with me the wonderful knowledge of knowing the history, culture, and now performing the great dance called the tango. I have to keep my bragging rights to myself of this new found glory. As I step into the final phase of my advanced seminar class, I have a little bit of anxiety wanting my friends and family to watch my performance of dancing the tango. I know I will do a wonderful performance.
ReplyDeleteThis week in class, I really enjoyed the movie "The Secret in Their Eyes." It really made me think of how one passion can consume, control, or become an obsession of one's life. This makes me think deep down into what are my passions really are in life. I hope when I find out what my passion truly is, that it will be a very uplifting, positive experience that I can share with friends and family. I know that having a positive passion in life can bring much happiness, joy and talent naturally without much effort.
In addition, I plan to continue practicing dancing the tango as it has really improved my social skills, physical strength, and overall happiness. With this in mind, I will highly recommend taking the advanced seminar tango class to anyone and everyone who is looking for a unique perspective of dance.
Week 7 was amazing, if I may say so myself! Like others have said, it was really great to have Chuck here to speak with us all and to give his take on tango. It was also wonderful to see Chuck and Ann dance... They are wonderful together! I also really enjoyed dancing with Chuck. He really does a wonderful job of leading, and it was really thrilling to see how it felt to turn off my brain and to simply let him lead me. I felt like we were truly dancing that way!
ReplyDeleteI also really noticed how much all of the guys improved their leading this week! They all are doing such an amazing job for the short time they've learned, and I really appreciate it. I find myself looking forward to our performance more and more, and--at the risk of sounding sappy--I really have been enjoying the camaraderie we've all developed in this time. I know our performance and last couple weeks of classes will be wonderful.
week 8 blog
ReplyDelete2/26/14
I've been communicating with Ann about which Tango colorado events to go to in order to find some people to interview. So, yesterday I went to the turnvereine with the expectation of just speaking to a few people in order to set up some interviews. However, before class ended on Tuesday, Ann said that someone will probably ask me to dance, so I should be prepared and bring some shoes. I FREAKED OUT. This made so nervous. I love the Tango and I love practicing, but am a wimp and will not leave the comfort zone of our class setting or Tango club. The though of being on the dance floor with very experienced dancers watching me, AND possibly asking me to dance absolutely terrified me. I decided to pull the friend card and begged Via to come along with me. The entire drive there we were nervous, yet excited. When we arrived, Ann and Chuck were not there yet and this made us a little nervous. We were definitely very out of our element. We had come their to find people to interview, so we decided to start striking some conversations with some people who looked like experienced dancers. People were very confused by us, yet they were so nice! If they couldn't offer any help with our research, they would point us in the direction of someone who could. After a while, Chuck and Ann arrived and I knew Ann was going to make us get on the dance floor. Via and I were putting on our shoes as we stared in amazement at these INCREDIBLE dancers. They weren't just good, they we amazing. They were doing such complex footwork and movements, I was having trouble following what was even going on. Sure, there were some beginners, but they were off in their corner and we were with Ann on the "experienced" side. I thought to myself: what did I get myself into?! Almost immediately, Via and I were both asked to dance. The man who asked me to dance was one of Ann's friends and was very nice, but I was praying that he wasn't very experienced... He was. He was trying to be nice and talk to me while we were dancing, but I was trying to concentrate on not messing up! He could tell I was really nervous, so he slowed down and said, "Just walk. Just extend each leg one after another and just walk." The song was finished and I was so excited so sit down, until I realized it was only the first song in the Tanda! I still had two more songs to dance with this man! Each song got easier and I became less nervous. Afterwords, Via and I sat down and were both sweating and we just started laughing so hard. Via and I were encouraging each other and Ann was making us feel fine about being beginners. We knew we looked and sounded ridiculous, but we couldn't help from having fun with it! I realized that honestly nobody cares about how experienced you are, nor how many times you mess up. I was so vain to think that everyone would be staring at me when the reality is that everyone goes their for themselves, not to stare at other people. No one was observing me nor Via. Everyone was just focused on one thing and one thing only: the Tango. The atmosphere was so fun and relaxed and each person was nicer than the last. I kept hearing the nicest statement over and over again from different people: "Hey, I was a beginner too at some point. It's a hard dance!". Via and I knew we had to go home to do homework, but we didn't want to leave! We were having good conversation after good conversation, were being led and taught by amazing dancers, and smiling literally the entire time. When we got in the car, we sat in the parking lot for so long giggling, still high on adrenaline. We talked about every dance we had and about the funny personalities we met and about the amazing dancers we witnessed. We concluded that it was definitely a very, very good night.
So, the night that I dreaded going to ended being one of the funnest things I've done in college. It was so exhilarating to put myself out there and to let go and have fun dancing Tango!
This week has been full of prepping, for the final paper and for final performance. These last few weeks of the quarter always just seem to fly by, and I feel like I need to be more focused than ever before to get everything done and done to my best ability. I do really like the fact that now we have our performance dance partners, because now I can get use to their lead, get into a consistent rhythm with them and make our steps very precise. I feel pretty good about my paper, which is a nice relief, because now I will be able to focus more on the dancing element of this class. I also really enjoyed hearing about Natalie’s experience at the milonga and really makes me what to venture out to one sometime, dance tango with some expert dancers and experience to true atmosphere of the milonga.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the novels and blogs for my paper the last weekend and week I discovered that tango is an obsession for some people. I understood that people get hooked and some may even say addicted to the dance but I did not realize how much. Some people give up on having a career so they can go and live "the tango life" in Buenos Aires, or travel to festivals around the world. To me it was just insane and beautiful to read about. I think that being so passionate about something is fantastic. Through reading the novels I realized that everyone tangos for a different reason. I guess it is not something I really ever thought about before. I just assumed that people tangoed because they loved to! But I never thought of asking why! Hearing a bunch of people's opinions on why they love the dance so much was also fascinating, because they all had so many different reasons.
ReplyDeleteI am also excited that we are preparing for the dance! I think that it will be fun to focus on the performance for the next week and to get to perform. Although I know that I will be nervous, I still think that it should be a lot of fun!
This week was one of the first times I really felt like everything we have learned is finally coming together in terms of the dance. I don't have to really think about what I am doing it is FINALLY starting to feel natural. It is really exciting to finally feel comfortable dancing and not so forced, which I think is the essence of tango. It reminds me of one of the documentary we watched at the very beginning of the course when asked about the embrace a very skilled dancer was almost puzzled and replied "I don't ever think about it I feel it". I know that I am no where near his level but I finally understand where he is coming from. When we first started learning to dance it felt very forced and for me it was very frustrating, I really had a hard time enjoying myself dancing but this week I feel like I had a breakthrough. I am able to just feel the music and not anticipate when my partner is going to do. I am actually learning to interpret body language and respond in the appropriate way. Even though our first day a preparing for the final performance was a little rocky I really am excited for it. I think Natalie made a wonderful suggestion not having everyone dancing during the final song. I think having the couples change girls halfway through will not only make the dance less chaotic but also adds some humor. I think it is a fun twist because having another woman step in during a dance is something absolutely unheard of in traditional milongas but our class is all about exploring tradition but also exploring the modernization of the dance and I think this a perfect way to end dance and our class.
ReplyDeleteIn week 8, I am having great success with writing my paper as well as excitement with the results I am finding in my research. The writing has been pretty good overall. It comes to my surprise that the more information I find, the more my thesis is proving itself to be correct. This paper has been a secret success because of my active participation in my advanced seminar class. It has been an exciting journey from knowing nothing about the tango, to performing live in front of an audience, not once but twice! I always like to reminisce about the first day of class where I was terrified of dancing to begin with. My social skills, physical and mental health have dramatically improved over the course of this quarter. I find it easier now to cope with stress and other situations that require my full attention. In the back of my mind, I find it comforting to know that if I encounter any stress, that the tango is only a block away from campus.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Professor Dobyns' talk about what she is looking for when critiquing our research paper. I agree with her statement about not having to prove how much better we are at the tango. Rather, it is about what we have come to know about tango, our realizations, our experience, and how the tango has affected our lives. I think every person in the class has a much more open mind about the culture of South America: its many positive aspects, and how exciting it would be to actually visit Argentina.
I loved being able to practice for the performance this weekend. I did a lot better on Tuesday than on Thursday though which made me a little bit more anxious! But I realized that to dance tango I have to really be in the right mindset and for some reason on thursday I was not able to concentrate. I think on monday I should and I will be a lot better! But I felt really bad for my partners because I felt like I kept messing us up. So that all made me a little bit anxious! I really like how we choreographed some of the dance and I think that it looks really good when we all go out together. I also like the non choreographed bit as well. Overall, I think that it will be a lot of fun to do the performance and I cannot wait!
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the movie that we watched for thursday. I thought that it was a good one to watch at the end of the quarter, after we had learned so much about the tango. It was a lot more interesting for me to watch the people dancing in the movie because I could tell what they were doing more and what was happening. Watching the performances in this movie really made me appreciate the tango that much more. One of my favorite scenes is when the guys is dancing with the two girls. It really shows off the elegance and the true beauty of the tango.
I am sad that the class is over after this next week and hope to pursue tango more after I get out of the class. It is nice to know that Colorado has a pretty good tango community. If I do go to a milonga I know that I will be nervous so I hope that the people I am dancing with will be forgiving.
Blog for week 9
ReplyDelete3/9/14
This week I want to write my blog about the movie we watched: Tango by Carlos Saura.
The layout of the movie was rather confusing to me, but in terms of demonstrating the Tango and the essence of the dance it was a great movie for that. It was the most dance filled movie we’ve watched and there were two scenes in particular that were my favorite dance scenes. The first was the dance at around 20 minutes in where the maestro dances with a woman he chooses from the crowd. I liked it so much because of the fact that it was a slower dance and no one else was on the dance floor. Their steps were very clear and deliberate and I was able to see each step and identify each combination! Which for me felt really cool. The camera work also did a great job in that scene is how it would switch from focusing solely on their upper body and then to solely focusing on their lower body. I appreciated this because often when I am watching really great dancers, I am so overwhelmed with where I should look! I want to look at their feet, yet also their embrace, yet also their faces, yet also their frame as a whole. The specific camera focus helped me to really focus on and identify the elements of each section of their bodies. I thought it was a little strange that they were looking straight into each others eyes during the dance, however. I am not sure why that was, but the best dances I observe is when the connection chest to chest and face to face. This way, the element of distraction is taken out of it and each partner can focus on feeling the connection and on communicating rather than focus on looking around or looking in the eyes of their partner.
My second favorite dance scene is where the dancers are trying out and the room is split into men and women. This scene fascinated me because I think it unintentionally illustrates a very important fact about tango. Tango is indeed all about the connection and the embrace and is obviously a partner dance. However, a dancer must feel confident and secure in their own dancing abilities in order to properly lead or properly follow. I found it interesting too that the man who was instructing the dancers said that the women need to dance with more energy and more presence. I loved this line because there is a huge focus on energy and presence within the embrace, yet this energy and presence originally needs to be brought to the embrace by each individual dancer. Then, in this scene, the dancers pair up and something that the instructor said really brought the whole ASEM class full circle. He stated the quote from the first inquiry paper: “you must look like one body with four legs”. I had this really cute “aww!” moment in my head. So, even though this dance was choreographed, the essence of the Tango - no matter how it is performed - must be danced by one body with four legs.
Overall, I liked this movie. Maybe I liked it for the wrong reasons because I didn’t care so much for the plot, but rather just loved watching all the different dances. It was a great movie to end the class on because it does a great job in capturing the passion of the Tango.
Post Eight: Week Eight
ReplyDeleteI really liked the Dujovne readings for this week, especially the portion where she describes all the different tango street artists at this Sunday festival in San Telmo. There are people dancing tango, people dressed like Carlos Gardel, a puppeteer, a woman dressed like a character from a famous tango song, as well as many other acts. I loved all of her descriptions of these acts, and the fact that tango has become a means of making a living beyond teaching, dancing professionally, putting on tango shows, and films. It has become such a part of the tourist economy of Argentina that it is a way from street performers to make a living as well. Of course, most tourists may not go anywhere near these street performances, but I think they are a really interesting part of the tango economy and an important part of understanding tango’s place in Buenos Aires’ culture today.
I also really liked Dujovne’s ability to tell the history of the people of who helped create tango and how this affected the dance through a blurring between the present and the past. For someone who has not visited Buenos Aires or Argentina, this method really gave me a way of viewing this culture in a way other than strict history or statistics. After reading it, I feel like I have a better understanding of the dynamics between tango dancers as well as the codes to which they conform.
Post Nine: Week Nine
ReplyDeleteMeta-Tango
As I was watching this week’s film “Tango,” I began to compare it to “The Tango Lesson” and I began to wonder: why do so many famous tango films use a meta-language in order to talk about the dance? Both “Tango Lesson” and “Tango” blur the lines between reality and fiction. In “Tango Lesson” the main female character, who is learning tango, is also the director of the film and is documenting (after the fact) her experiences of learning this dance. In “Tango” the main character is a director who is creating a new tango show/film. Both of these films are about making films, and the dances within them about creating/choreographing these dances. In this way, one is never sure what is part of the reality of making the film and choreographing the dance and what is fiction (the fictional part of the film or dance in its purer form).
The film “Tango” also uses a meta-language in the way that it uses dance to explore tango’s history, intricacies, and passions. The final scene especially depicts immigrants arriving on the shores of Buenos Aires (waves of them appearing at the top of rake), the beginnings of tango, as well as the passion that is usually involved when a jealous man stabs the leading female dancer. There are also two men dancing tango at one point (during the black and white dance) that is a reminder of the beginnings of tango where men danced with men.
I wonder whether a film about tango can truly be made without this meta-language and still have a plot that revolves around the dance. I’m sure one exists of which I am just not aware. It would be interesting to compare it to these two well-known films.
Week 8/9:
ReplyDeleteI realized I had not written on the blog this previous weekend (it was a little crazy with my engagement and all!) so I thought I would include it in my Week 9 post.
I, like Elspeth above, really appreciated the Dujovene readings. I related a lot of what she said about the tango's present and past to the discussions I have in my paper. If there is anything that I have learned in these weeks, it's been that tango, the culture and both of their histories are distinctly, completely tied together and seemingly always will be. You can't have tango without the tango culture or an appreciation for its history.
"Tango" for Week 9 blew my mind a bit. I found myself questioning what was going on throughout it for quite a bit of it, but I appreciated this complicated storytelling approach. This movie hinted back at what I mentioned before: the ties between tango's history and the way the dance is still danced to this day.
Now, for this Performance Day, I must admit that I am extremely excited. In my previous history of performances, I've always been super nervous going into the actual final productions, but today... I'm just plain happy and excited to show what we've learned. It'll be a fun celebration of what has been an amazing class and experience.
week 9!
ReplyDeleteIts amazing to think that our tango journey is almost over. To be completely honest the class ended up being completely different from what I expected. I didn't think we would be focusing the majority of our time on learning the dance, how cool is it that a significant amount of our grade is is based on the performance tonight? This is definitely one of the most interesting and unique class I have taken at DU. I think when I signed up for the this class I imagined that we would be focusing the majority of the time on historical aspects of Argentina and Buenos Aires and how the politics of the country have affected the culture specifically the tango. I was surprised that we really focused more so on the emotionality and passion of the tango. I am so used to only examining issues from a very analytical and scientific standpoint so it definitely a challenge for me to switch gears and study the tango from a almost poetic and philosophical perspective.
I am so excited for the performance tonight!! I think it is incredible to see how all of our hard work is coming together, and I can't express how impressed I am with everyone in the class. I really hope that someone will record the performance so we can watch it, I would love to see it from a audience's view. I feel like everyone in the class has really given it their all and even though we have felt a little silly at times I think it is very evident in our performance that everyone is literally putting our best foot forward to showcase the skills we have learned.
And it's all coming to an end now... It is very sad, however the performance was GREAT! I felt confident in it, with my partner and with the rest of the group. I loved our little addition of corky-ness to it all. Watching all of it happen on stage real showed me how much we have learned in the short amount of time dancing. We have grasped various topics about the tango, learned numerous steps of the tango and have finally become comfortable with dancing it all. I just remember how we were at the first day of class, a bit awkward and shy, now we are confident beginner tango dancers who have taken in a small glimpse of the tango world. I am really glad that I took this class, I learned a lot, and was able to finally have fun in a class and get to know some of the people around me. I would definitely like to try to keep tango in my life for the future years; it is truly a beautiful dance, and like I noted in my paper, it is a dance that helps get out of the past, future and stress of reality, which right now is finals, and just enjoy the moment here and now. Thank you Ann for a great class, one I will definitely always remember, and hopefully remember a few of the tango steps as well.
ReplyDeleteThe final performance exuded greatness, talent, and it showed how dedicated everyone was from day one. I felt relieved and a little sad knowing that all good things must come to an end. Throughout my learning experience, I felt for the first time, a positive change in myself. All positive experiences seem to come together in and outside of the classroom. Maybe it is the way I look at the world differently? Now I feel so empowered to do more things with my dancing experience. It was such a great experience being able to show my parents what I have learned in my advanced seminar class. I hope that future students in our advanced seminar tango class can get the same experience that all of us had. I also felt that I did something so memorable that I can share my story of tango dancing to family and friends for many years. I think having first hand experience with performance and dance, that I have gained the knowledge necessary for future travels around the world.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if were supposed to do a post for week 10, but here it is!
ReplyDeleteThis quarter has been probably the fastest quarter for me in all of college so far. You come back from studying abroad and the real world hits and next thing you know you're almost a senior. The stress of the world began to weigh down on me as my major became harder, my internship was demanding, and large life choices seemed imminent. I was so thankful every Tuesday and Thursday to get some time away from that. Tango is something that is really good for people for like me: people who think to much, are easily stressed, and can never take a second to be in the present moment. Tango slows time down and slows me down. Even if we were just practicing walking and never entered into an embrace the whole class, I still felt somewhat fulfilled. I love the idea of the practice of mindfulness and how really was intrigued by how Amber and Daniel both talked about that in their papers. I cannot think of a better practice of mindfulness than Tango. You have to feel what is now, think what is now, and do what is now. The class atmosphere was also amazing. I loved the dynamic of our class and it was such a pleasure getting to know and dance with everyone. As a business major, classes can get a little impersonal at times. It was refreshing to have a class where I actually know everyone's names! I am really sad it is over, but am going to try to make myself commit to making it to Tango club or Tango events and I really hope to see some of you all there as well!!
I was not sure if I was suppose to post for week ten but here it is:
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of fun in this class overall and it was a great ASEM. After my last post I was explaining how I was anxious for the performance, but in the end it ended up being a great experience. It was a lot of fun to have my family come and it will be great memory in the years to come. I think that the dance went really well and I heard really great things about it! I guess the moral is, there was no reason to get as nervous or anxious as I did!
Also, I loved hearing everyone's presentations in class on Tuesday and it was interesting to hear all of the ways that people approached the topic of Tango. It was also fun to learn new things that I have never learned before or though about when it comes to tango.
I just really enjoyed this class and it was fun to be active in a class and get to know everyone and have an experience that I do not generally get in really any of my classes now that I finished my major. Anyways it was a good experience!