I have no
musical education so the basic singing and some dancing are the only active
experiences of music before tango.
For some reason
I started to walk to music and I soon noticed that at certain times the steps
got a deep meaning for me. Then suddenly I felt again how ridiculous it was to
walk around to music, alone at home. I started to chase these meaningful steps
because those steps must connect to the music in right way. I became an
intuitive dancer and I mostly placed my steps according to the structures other
then basic count.
I had also
lost my childhood musical memory so I never knew what was coming next - I felt
as if being an audio head in an old tape recorder. This forced me to dance
without any plans, but just concentrating on the music sounding NOW. You don't
necessarily need to know what is coming next; Followers are actually doing that
all the time - they seldom know what movements are coming next. Leader's
relation to music is similar as the followers relation to my steps.
For these
reasons I was TOTALLY unaware of beat, phrases and the parts of tango.
How was I
doing then?
In the
beginning of a song I let my body move on the spot and find the music, find the
feeling of meaningful movements and then go. Some times I was pointed out as
the only (!?) one on the small pista who was stepping on the beat all the time.
I got positive feedback on my phrasing and my dancing was great fun for
followers too.
But to
participate on a musicality workshop was a living hell to me!
Walk on
beat .......? Walk only on 1 ....?? I was painfully aware of being
different, I was out. I tried to look how others were doing and asked my
follower. The last two years of that period I was aware of that others heard
something very vital in music, but what? I couldn't form a question and nobody
asked me how I was doing.
About two
years ago a tango friend gave me Joaquin Amenabars book Tango:Let's Dance to
the Music! I started to do the practical exercises and two weeks later I heard
first time the beat - I was totally exhilarated! Totally! Several years of
frustration was canalised in work with that book. I have done it several times
alone and several times with tango friends.
But there
is one big devil!
My early
tango was magical, something between my body and the music. I did not have
control of it, the first time in my life my aware brain did not have anything
to say when the feet were dancing. Quite interesting, nice!
3 comments:
The little knowledge you have of the music from Joaquin's workshop isn't going to hurt your dance. I have years of musical and dance training. I'm not thinking about my feet or body, nor am I worrying about the beat. I surrender myself to the embrace of my partner and go along for the ride.
I think the critical thing in training is the ..balance .. which should be more on feeling and emotions but only a fraction of that in theoretical, structural training.
It can be that a person who has gained her/his training during several years and early in life is more stable, the knowledge is integrated. I think the musical beginner later in life is more vulnerable and an uneducated music *teacher* can create sevier problems for the beginner.
The workshops before Amenabar were the most risky ones. His book was stimulating and I did other exericases to keep the balance. During his workshops we mostly did practical exercises and because he focuses totally the subject, not talking about enything else, we did lot of exercises. After working on Saturday and Sunday my *hearing* was on higher level. I could on Monday recognise things not audible on the Friday before but this effect was declining then. These workshops must be repeated to get the effekt permanent.
To make clear the two situations
1.
Okey, the violin has now done 2 beats so the end of the phrase will be after two more. I need to find out something there.
2.
Such a fantastic violin! What a delicate melody It gets more quiet ..
(and my steps gets more quiet..)
I want definitely stay at 2. !
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