Social
The false promise of self-improvement
Become the best version of yourself. Invest in yourself. You are your greatest asset. You don’t need anyone else to be whole. You have probably seen or heard these, or similar, motivational messages encouraging self-improvement. From physical to psychological and social aspects of life, there is no shortage of content pushing us to upgrade ourselves.
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It’s not for the community we have…
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but last year I actually made one. I told myself: “Let’s try to start a YouTube channel… something for new or future Tango dancers. Something that connects Tango life with real life.”
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It’s not the steps you teach
A few weeks ago, Dimitris wrote a post about tango teachers complaining that “the level of Tango is declining.” His point was simple: maybe teachers judge the level based on the events they attend. Events that are often poorly curated and therefore not representative of the wider tango community.
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Self exploration
The false promise of self-improvement
Become the best version of yourself. Invest in yourself. You are your greatest asset. You don’t need anyone else to be whole. You have probably seen or heard these, or similar, motivational messages encouraging self-improvement. From physical to psychological and social aspects of life, there is no shortage of content pushing us to upgrade ourselves.
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It’s not for the community we have…
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but last year I actually made one. I told myself: “Let’s try to start a YouTube channel… something for new or future Tango dancers. Something that connects Tango life with real life.”
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It’s not the Tandas you dance
I’ll start with my unpopular opinion. I don’t like Biagi… Or Valses. (But strangely enough, I don’t mind a Vals by Biagi!) Usually, these are the moments I take a break in the milonga. Of course, there are exceptions, but that’s not the point. The real question is: how did I end up here? And…
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Musicality
The beauty and the beast
They aim also to make us look nice when we dance. Improve the aesthetics of our dance. You probably admire those dancers on the floor with nice posture and clean, straight lines when they move. So the question that always bothered me is how much of this technique is functionally necessary and how much is…
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Emotional technique
There is often an impression that technique is kind of the opposite of emotions, or that it hinders you from expressing emotions. Some weeks ago I saw a question about it on a Facebook group. Many people agree that technique is a tool to dance better, therefore communicate better and consequently express emotions. So the…
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Metaphorically dancing…
I have never really thought about the connection that metaphors can have with dancing. You can actually dance a melody literally or metaphorically. It dawned on me the other day. I was on a musicality workshop about counter melodies with Horacio Godoy and at some point he told the phrase… “you can do something metaphorical”…
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Connection
Dopamine and oxytocin
if you go into this, dancing the emotion, the risk of getting oxytocin instead of dopamin, is quite high. Enjoy it, but be aware you will fall in love, with your dance partner: the tango-love. Just enjoy it but don’t confuse it with real love.
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Counting the uncountable
Expressing emotions is a purely subjective thing. Let’s take for example love as an emotion and music as a medium/language to express it. To some people expressing their love with a tango song, might feel fitting but to others, it might be more fitting to express it with a rock ballad or a jazz song,…
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If it’s not messy… it’s not worth it!
Expressing emotions in dancing is a difficulty we have because as I also wrote there is a tendency from society to undervalue it and maybe sometimes see it as a weakness. However, it’s the only way (IMHO) to enjoy your dance.
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Language
Story telling
Dancers or story tellers?
Dancers with basic musicality can understand and express the music they hear at any given moment. However, if you really want to go a step further you need to see the song as a complete entity, as a story that tells you something, that has a key message.
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