Musicality Vs. Interpretation

What you’re about to read is a very radical concept for some people, one that will cause you to reject it out of hand, until you dig a little deeper and discover the why part. So radical in fact that you’ll dismiss it as the crackpot rantings of a delusional madman who’s delivering ‘alternative facts’ in Conway fashion.

The statement ? There is no such thing as ‘Musicality’ in Argentine Tango.

To be clear. Yes, there is a word in the English Oxford Dictionary which is defined as “Musical Talent or Sensitivity”. However, as you can see, with regards to Argentine Tango, one thing does not mean what it has come to mean when we reference this word. Essentially we have bastardized this word to come to mean something entirely different than it’s English dictionary cognate.

So what do we really mean ? “To place Argentine Tango vocabulary, sequences, patterns, and figures, in time to the musical beat, pauses, and phrases of a particular song so as to create, or convey another level of meaning of the song that is either not in the song literal or is implied directly in its emotional context”.

Hmmmm…does that sound like ‘Musicality’ to you ? Or perhaps something else…

Enter, the literal definition of the word ‘Interpretation’ which means, “the action of explaining the meaning of something.” or “a stylistic representation of a creative work”.

Hmmmmm….gosh, doesn’t that sound more like the definition of ‘Musicality’ than anything else ?

So what we’re really doing is actually ‘Interpreting The Music’. How’s that ? If you consider for a moment that when you are dancing, regardless of level, you are constantly listening to what’s happening in the music, making navigational changes (regardless of role), which in turn affect your vocabulary/patterns/steps/figure choices, which in turn affects how and when you can execute anything. That entire process of affectation is Interpretation.

You’re going to ask yourself, “Who the frak cares if it’s ‘interpretation’ or ‘musicality’ ? It all means the same thing, right ? Well, actually, you should. Here’s why: When you stop and think about it, when you’re talking to someone and use the word ‘Musicality’, what do you think comes to their mind ? Any one of a dozen different ideas ranging from its literal definition above, to possible vocabulary choices, or a specific figure, or dancing milonga, or, or, or….you see where this is going right ? Lots and lots of places for confusion. Instead, if we employ the phrase “Interpreting The Music” it creates a state of absolute clarity with your language and what you intend to mean. Further still, it also gives you creative license to keep doing what you’re doing because you’re ‘Interpreting The Music’ the way you hear it. Stating ‘Musicality’ as ‘Interpretation’ removes all doubt of your intent. This is why there is a need to be crystal clear with our verbiage/language here. When describing what we’re working on, or what we want to work on, or how we would like to dance, or describing a problem that we’re having, wouldn’t it be better to be precise than to be vague ? 

MORE REMINDERS

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Physiological Contact

There is one aspect of The ‘Connection‘ Fallacy that comes up a lot and that’s the idea that there is some mystical/spiritual/magical way in which we communicate in the dance. That communication is stated as how our ‘connection’ is to someone and them to us and how well we ‘connected’ with each other. Rubbish! Not to piss in someone’s Cheerios but that’s just magical thinking.

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Connection” is a wonderful idea. We like to believe in the romanticism of this word, and all that it implies, which is as it turns out a considerable amount. However, the word itself, from a Tango perspective, has been beat up and bruised that it more than likely has lost it’s original intent. When you say the word to someone it could mean any one of eight (8) different things as it relates to the dance. However, this is not a definition of the word, for that please see the Tango Topics Definition of the word "Connection". 


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Tango Improvement

You say the words, “I want to get better”. You mouth them as you watch the latest performance tango video on youtube. While at the same time, the thought flashes in your mind that you should schedule a private or two with X. ‘X’ being the local variant that teaches what you ‘believe in’. This teacher is also the one that you have gone to before and from your perspective has ‘helped’ you.

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Getting To Buenos Aires

You’ve been dancing for a while, and you keep seeing these posts about Buenos Aires. Your dream has slowly developed to go to Buenos Aires, to experience for yourself what all the fuss is about. First there’s the dancing, you’ve heard it’s the best. There’s the shoes! OMG the shoes. Then there are friends that have been and rave about teacher X or Milonga Y. You’ve see the videos of performances at Salon Canning (but didn’t know it was Salon Canning), the pictures from Milongas, and thought to yourself that it didn’t look all that challenging than your local milonga there are just more people. You’ve heard that Spanish isn’t necessarily a requirement because there’s a lot of foreigners that speak English, and a good portion of the teachers speak it too. So you if you went, you wouldn’t really need to learn Spanish. 

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Where’s The Fun ?

Believe it or not, the ‘fun’ part is everywhere. You are focused on just the outcome of the dancing part. The immediate hit that you get from dancing. But what if you found out that you’re only scratching the surface with Tango. What if you discovered that you’re missing a very important aspect that not only can change the dance from what it is today for you but for it to go far deeper than you ever imagined. What if you found out that the drive to be better is not only a requirement, but it’s the gateway to dancing with better and better partners that you only dream of dancing with but can do because you changed your perspective a bit ?

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The Talking Cabeco/Mirada

If you’ve been dancing a little while, or for many years, at some point along the curve you’ve heard the word ‘Cabeceo’. Which roughly translates as a slight nod or nodding of the head (Cabeza) for the Lead to invite a Follower. The Follower’s side of that same invitation is referred to as a ‘Mirada’ (to look at, or ‘looked’). It’s an oddity that almost no one knows about the Follower’s side of the equation, that the Follower can ask for a tanda, employing the same methodology. It just has a slightly different name.

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Follower Bashing

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Keep something in the back of your mind: What you’re seeing in a youtube video is a couple that is performing for the 15th row for a room full of people. They’re not social dancingWhereas this website is all about ‘Social Tango’  or how to make things function on a social dance floor. Social Dance floor ? Your local milonga! They are showing you flashy moves as a presentation, to show off! But not stopping and talking about how this works which is what you need to see. This website and all of it’s content show you the how and  why you’d want to put that piece of vocabulary there, or how to make things work. This website is all about those things and more!

You could watch Tango YouTube videos and thereby spend your time, trying to infer, and figure out how things may work in that particular situation. Bend your body this way or that, twist and force this position or that. Place your foot here or there and figure it out. This is known as Tango Twister.  Which can be a lot of fun, but more than likely it won’t help you, because you’re missing something: The explanation from an experienced teacher showing you how to properly excute this stuff from a Leading Perspective as well as from a Following Perspective!

The goal of YouTube videos is to get you to study with those teachers in person. The goal of Tango Topics videos allows you to work at your own pace, in the comfort of your own space, so that you can play them over and over again to improve your understanding of the vocabulary or technique being described to therefore better your dancing experience. The goal of classes and workshops is to get you to come back over and over and over again, thereby spending more money with that teacher. This website and the videos under it are here to act as a resource for you to help you to improve your dance. Pay once and you’re done.

Eventually, one way or another you’re going to pay for this lesson, either here and now, or with them. TANSTAAFL! The difference between that lesson and this ? Is that you get to play this lesson over and over and over again. Further still, there are supporting materials (other videos) that help to explain the language and the underlying technique of how and why things work, so you can easily reference those things in the corresponding articles that go with the material, and or any language in the Tango Topics Dictionary. 

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