Dance: Dance and Theory

We went to Tulsa for the monthly milonga last Friday. They reported that there were 32 people for the party. Way to go, Tulsa.

We were watching Bill Nye The Science Guy dancing on Dancing With The Stars. That reminded me of the following thread in Facebook with my friend D.H.

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'Hiro' In dancing it is painfully clear whether he knows what he is talking about.

September 10 at 6:09pm · Like · 1

DH  Painful lengthwise, or knowledge-wise?

September 10 at 6:16pm · Like

'Hiro'  How you dance IS the physical presentation of what you know about the dance. It doesn't matter how much you think you know about the dance theoretically if you can dance only poorly. In dance you show what you got. If the show is poor, I'll discount whatever you say.

September 10 at 7:22pm · Like

DH  That sounds plausible to me, but it leaves me without a way to evaluate potential information without having personal, physical access to the results. How did you figure everything out?

September 11 at 7:18am · Like

'Hiro'  Theories for dancing are like scientific theories. Meaning the event comes first, then people make theories about it. You watch good dancing first, then figure out whether the theories hold out. If what the writing says does not explain or isn't applicable to good dancing, the writing has less meaning. You got to watch good dancing, then read about it. Not the other way around.

September 11 at 8:51am · Like

 'Hiro'  This particular writing is pretty good, though. [Note:  we started this thread from an article about dancing]

September 11 at 9:00am · Like

DH  Ah - I think I see. I don't have to watch the author's dancing. I do have to watch good dancing and see if the author's writing can explain it. Right?

September 11 at 4:09pm · Like

'Hiro'  Right. Dancing is something to be done primarily. It helps if you can see the author dance, though. If I can see the author's dancing, and if the author's dancing is pretty good, I tend to pay more respect to his writing, assuming that he has a higher level of understanding of the dance that makes it possible for him to dance well. But these two abilities, dancing and writing, are different domains of skills after all. There are cases theoretical understanding and execution are not in the same level. And as I wrote in previous comment, I base my judgement on his execution (=dancing) rather than his talk/writing.

September 11 at 4:38pm · Like

DH  Ah, I think I see the grammar of your original comment now. So by "in dancing, it is painfully clear..." you mean in actually watching him dance. This is one of the reasons you encouraged me to go to Dallas - so I could see a lot of dancing and have a reference point for understanding what is going on.

September 11 at 4:43pm · Like

'Hiro'  Yup.

Dance: Tango del Sol milonga in Dallas

This September has been quite eventful. In addition I have been doing some professional reading (something about colon and liver cancer), a lot of it. A blog entry can be delayed too easily.

Last Sunday (9/15), we (Jose, Cora and I) went to Dallas to give some gifts from the Oklahoma Tango Festival attendants to the instructor/performer couple Hugo and Celina, who were leaving to Argentina to get married. We also attended the Sunday daytime milonga, "Milonga Del Sol," which is held monthly on the third (or second) Sundays at Studio 22, and hosted by Jairelbhi and George Furlong. 

We met Hugo and Celina at the Furlong residence, where they were staying. Jairelbhi and George turned out to be very nice people. I'm glad we met them. After they set off to set up the milonga, we waited until Hugo and Celina finished a private lesson, then went to Studio 22.

The milonga was packed with about 75 people. George said usually it's around 50 people, and this time they got more dancers. Argentine Tango is somewhat of a specialty dance, and popularity-wise Salsa dancers would outnumber Argentine Tango dancers by 5-1 or maybe more. Despite the odds, the Dallas Tango community has grown to this size successfully, and I am very happy to see that.


Speaking of popularity, on the way (a 3.5 hour boring drive from OKC to Dallas) we had a discussion about the topic. Jose thought Argentine Tango is less popular than Salsa because it's more difficult and/or intimidating than Salsa. Sure, it could be one of the reasons. The entry barrier is higher for Tango. 

In addition, there are many funny antics in the current Tango culture in the US that might be serving as a part of the reason for keeping Tango as a specialty, cult-ish dance. In YouTube, the Tangocynic guys are making hilarious videos about these antics.

Many professionals are aware of these reasons. If you see the Tango as a business of sorts, addressing each of the reasons, like making efforts to correct the imbalance of the number of the leaders and the followers, would be the equivalent of listening to the customers, and should be necessary. The question is, should it be done?  Or leave it as it is?

When writing this blog entry, I was asking myself whether I want Argentine Tango to be more popular. To my surprise, I found myself somewhat split (so much for a how-to book writer). I want to write about this split feeling some time later.


Last but not least, Congratulations, Hugo and Celina! See you later, Hasta luego, Mata Aimashou!

Dance: Dallas Dance 2013

Dallas Dance is the 27th annual West Coast Swing dance event held over Labor Day weekend. It is my annual vacation, and we just got back from the event. We had fun dancing with friends and watching shows. Somehow every time I go to a big event, I feel my dancing is improved. Concentrated efforts do help, I suppose. Also it was interesting to watch some of the "cliches" in the dance in the area. A particular style of body roll and wiggling was common there, like it or not. 

Boasting 1500 dancers, it was a pretty big event. But one thing I noticed this year was that the event seemed to have shrank, at least in some major contest categories. There were no contestants for the Showcase category, and only four couples competed for the Classic category. Except for a champion couple from France, most Champion Jack and Jill contestants were familiar faces from Texas, Louisiana and Missouri. The lack of contestants from other areas in the US was noticeable. It was like the event turned back the clock to years ago, when it was more regional than national.

That reminded me of a rumor of feud between a Texas-based top dancer/instructor and some California-based superstars over judging in the contests. I read about it some time ago and forgot about it. But if (and only if) the feud is casting a shadow over this event in the form of a decrease in professionals from other areas in the US, it really is a shame.

Of course I may be wrong. It may have been just a coincidence. Or, there are many new events popping up in other cities, and if they have to take care of their local business, it is a different story. I do think the event management was great and very smooth, and the party and the music were great, too.

Since I am not involved in the dynamics of national-level contests, I don't have a solution for the shrinking of the contests. However, the "regionalization" may be a good thing. A dance can evolve faster overall with a diversity among regions. A champion breeds copycats. Many champions from many regions will result in many styles of the same dance. And I'd like to see many varieties of West Coast Swing dance. It's more interesting that way.