How to interpret different orchestras?
Every tango dancer with good musicality is probably curious how can one interpret the difference in the music of the different orchestras. It is considered a bad dancing if you dance the same way no matter what the music leads you to. Even so, it is surprising how many, even professionals, dance all the music in the same manner. Of course, I’m not the ultimate authority in this… in fact, I doubt there is such a thing when it comes to musicality: every person feels the music in their on way. Saying so, doesn’t mean that there is no certain…
Am I a good DJ?
photo by Sergio Scandiuzzi © If you are a good DJ you probably often ask yourself a lots of questions. One of the most important ones is ‘Am I a good DJ?’ You probably tried to think of a way to feel the pulse of the dancers and find out can you make some adjustments to improve. If you have not come up with a consistent method – here it is. If you already have one, maybe this will help you make it sharper. I have a tango DJ friend who once told me a funny…
How to dance like a man?
photo by Sergio Scandiuzzi © I doubt that there is a tango dancer who do not asks himself how the partners feel him? The next question is usually how to dance more like a man? What is that makes a dance manly? Tango is created in early 20th century Buenos Aires, which had a strong machist culture. Of course, I am not saying that we should recreate the same relations, but part of the magic of tango is in the polarity of the mans and womans role – and we should preserve the best what tango…
The leader/follower confusion
The terms ‘leader’ and ‘follower’ are so much part of the tango vocabulary used today that I often see even some Argentinian teachers using them. In fact, most of the time when people use leader/follower, they learned them from their teachers, not because they came out with them because of how they feel them. I avoid using them whenever I can. Although to some might look like logical choices, when you think about it, they are deeply misleading. This article might be a reason for some disagreement, but hey, one shouldn’t I ran away from saying what he thinks is…
The principles of danceability
Have you ever started a dance and soon discovered that it is quite undanceable tanda? Some dancers in this situation interrupt the dance and ask their partner to dance the next one. To be honest I don’t like this kind of behavior since it’s a sign that dancers didn’t wait for the tanda to start before making the invitation. They gambled and lost. But what the DJ can do to help dancers avoid similar situations? How can (s)he differentiate between danceable from undanceable music? I’ll share my experience on what might be important. I believe there are some undeniable principles…