(Trigger Warning! What I’m about to say is going piss off a lot of ppl. Except for those dancers that have experienced and practice ‘Intention’).
Scenario >
You’re at a práctica after a class on Over-Rotated Ochos (or the like) and you hear your partner use this phrase: “I need more resistance from you”.
Or
You’re walking along with your partner down the line of dance in close embrace and you can’t ‘feel’ them. You lose the conversation, and you say out loud, “Could you resist more, I can’t feel you”.
—-
There are a whole bunch more of these scenarios where your dance partner of the moment voices that the level of ‘resistance’ is less than optimal in their opinion.
What are they talking about ?
‘Resistance’ in all instances generally means that there is a tactile amount of physical rigidity which translates to pressure and compression to ‘push back’ into your partner in one of two ways:
1.) Usually this starts in the shoulders, which is then communicated down thru the arms into the hands and out through the embrace to one’s partner.
2.) Cuerpa-de-cuerpa or body-on-body. One pushes (or leans forward) and the partner pushes back (or leans forward into their partner with a lot of emphasis) to generate the sensation that you’re with your partner or a closeness. This is the beginning of the fallacy that is ‘connection’.
Sometimes erroneously the term ‘resistance’ is applied to the floor as well as ‘pushing from the floor’.
The reason why Resistance is used is to create the illusion of clear, physical communication in a myriad of ways. So as to ‘feel’ the presence of one’s partner in a particular movement or vocabulary.
There are a few benefits to using Resistance. One of them is that it can help in generating Performance Tango in creating straight body lines and shapes of the couple as they move. Still another is that it can aid, at the beginning of one’s development, of learning how to control one’s own body. Still another is that can aid in creating a (negative) feedback loop. Unfortunately in most cases, aside from Performance Tango reasoning, it is diametrically the opposite of what needs to happen in Social Tango.
Ok now that we have a baseline of understanding, why am I talking about Resistance ?
Answer: Because resistance is a lie!
You don’t need it in Social Tango.
At all.
Ever.
Below is a video on ‘Resistance’ which shows you what I’m on about here. Because talking about this stuff without showing it is pointless!
To borrow a line from Star Trek:
“Resistance is Futile”.
Here’s why.
In order to enjoin resistance with your partner, if you are leading, you have to match your partner’s level of resistance and THEN add more to overcome it JUST to communicate your intent! And if you’re following, 9 times out of 10 you feel like a piñata!
Here’s a thought > why do this ? It’s a waste of energy and intent. It’s much simpler to drop all that and go!
The fact is that you use more energy to communicate your ideas using resistance than you do without. Here’s a thought, why use it at all ?
“This is all fine and good Miles but if I don’t want to use Resistance in my dance, how am I supposed to communicate with my partner?”.
Answer: INTENTION!
Think of ‘Intention’ as the idea to do something and then not. That’s an over simplification but an apt one.
Intention in its simplest form, allows the dancer to be self reliant, and self responsible to be able to engage in ‘entregarse’!
If you’re wondering what the word ‘Entregarse’ means or you think you know what it means, your translation is wrong. It’s been mistranslated for decades.
It’s properly translated in these two posts:
Factually a lot of people have spent hundreds, or in some cases thousands of dollars, on classes, private lessons, to study with X or Y! And in all that ‘training’ they have heard that you must generate ‘Resistance’, over and over again. They’ve had teachers telling them, “No! More resistance!”. Hmmm have you ever stopped to consider the source ? Why is this person telling me to generate resistance ? More than likely you have and then discarded it because the ‘teacher’ knows better and that’s just how it’s supposed to be done. You don’t know any better. Right ? Here’s the funny part, you do.
Here’s how you know > Resistance is a lot of work. Period. Full stop. Why on earth do you need to do all that work if all you’re doing is walking with your partner ? So that you can ‘feel’ them and they can ‘feel’ you ? Really ? Ok. Re-read that and ask yourself if it makes sense. If you still end up saying “yah that makes sense”. Then go for a walk with a close friend and hold their hand as you do. Now does it make sense ?
Circling back, if you’re qualifying the source of your data, the teacher is more than likely Argentine or Argentine taught, and 1 of 2 (or both) things has happened:
1.) The source teacher is teaching Performance Tango which is being masqueraded as Social Tango fluffed up to look fancy with flashy moves to justify the price tag of the ‘lesson’.
2.) It is easier to get people to push and pull than it is to teach them intention, containment, hyper self awareness, and self-control.
So here comes Miles telling you that not only do you not need resistance, and that it’s a lie, but there’s a better way that’s more easeful!
I realize that what I’m saying is controversial. I know that a lot of people have invested a lot of time, energy, and money (!!!!) to learn Resistance Based Dancing. I also realize that reading an article on Facebook or a website is not going to get you to change your thinking. I’m not stupid. I know there’s going to be a lot of, pardon the missive, resistance to this idea. And I also know that this particular conversation is going to be dismissed out of hand, discarded because it’s not the norm, and definitely a TLDR;.
I also know that it’s going to take many years to completely remove and replace Resistance as a functional tool. Especially as more and more Intention Based Dancers come online and begin to teach a different way to engage the dance.
Note: Comment below if you want, and I know that some of you will want to argue your point. However consider this before you comment.
Mr. Miles has spent nearly 17 years talking about this stuff. Has done his homework, and spent years doing the necessary kinesthetic research to validate his points. Have you ? Which is to say if your only challenge to this idea is that ‘Armando told you to do it and he’s been dancing forever.’ Then I would remind you to consider the source and the 2 instances which are happening mentioned above.
Lastly, I welcome the challenge of a discussion. However, keep something in mind. My motivations for bringing this stuff up is not to get private lessons out of it or to sell videos. My motivation is to change the quality of dance in the room from being one of what can best be described as an acrobatic side show of ‘work’ to one of ‘ease’.
Further if you think the way that you are dancing today is easy and easeful, then you’re good. And you’ve just wasted your time reading and watching a video that does nothing for you. You can dismiss it as ‘crazy talk’!
However I’d like you to consider something before you toss this idea out the window. What if what I’m saying is true? What if by making a simple change you could generate more pleasure and more smiles with less work, sweat, and fewer grimaces ? What if you could open the doorway to transcendence far easier than you ever thought possible? Is that worth it to you ? If so, then consider the idea for exploration, an idea worthy of study.
That said, I hope you all have a lovely day and one day I may actually see you on the dance floor.
Video by Miles Stories and Gracious Tango Assistant Anna Townes.