Winter break is ongoing. It is time for reflecting 2014 and for planning 2015.
It's still Christmas season. How about writing something preachy and religious-ish?
There is a verse saying, "Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything."
We regularly make wishes. They become our prayers and curses.
If we wish something positive about self or others, it's called a prayer.
If we wish something negative about self or others, it's called a curse.
Worrying is a special form of curse. When someone worries, what she has in mind is something bad that is going to happen to herself or someone close. And if she worries vividly enough to cause physical and emotional fear responses, the bad thing is more likely to happen. Somehow.
We speak in two languages; logical and emotional. When we make a wish [in logical language] and put emotion to it [in emotional language], we speak louder (a religious person would say, in spiritual realm), and the wish is more likely going to come true.
The original instruction says, "Pray and THANK god". See? It is a two-step instruction with logical and emotional steps. [I think in much more secular manner, so I personally see a third step, "your action", is necessary. But let's leave it aside for now.]
Anecdotal statements and many religions, even Napoleon Hill and other authors, seem to support this. I cannot explain how or why, but I am happy with leaving this without scrutiny. Although I am a scientist, I do not feel like dissecting all aspects of human life. There are life's mechanistic aspects beyond my knowledge, and I don't mind leaving them to religions and other anecdotal statements. In practice, it does not make much difference whether I am making psychologically biased and skewed observations in life, or we are living in the Matrix in which the system bends "reality" to our wishes.
I like something that works. I was not aware how pragmatic I am.
Anyways,.. we think and reason in different ways. The thought process of a person is unique to the person. It's like a physical habit. Each of us has a default thought process. And the default can lean to either prayer-rich or curse-ridden.
If a mother is worrisome about her kid and thinking about all the possible bad things falling on the kid and telling the kid not to do this or be careful with that all the time, I'd say she is cursing the kid. She is cursing her own kid most likely without even knowing it.
If she is thinking about all the positive blessing coming in the way of the kid, her thought process will be rich in positive prayers.
Like in this example, I see many curses are fear-based. That's why we need to be aware of our fears and know how to cope with them. Contrary to some belief, runaway emotions are highly detrimental to a person.
You are praying or cursing all the time. They influence your perception and become your reality. It's time for making new year's resolutions. Be careful what you wish for.
Some dances are danced for show, for entertainment or for competition. They are different breed of dance compared with social fun dance.
Argentine Tango has two different aspects; social dance and show dance.
Most Tango songs have serious atmosphere (either dramatic or romantic). The music generally deals with serious emotions, too. Passion, love, lost love, lament, nostalgia, regret, complaints, etc etc.
Of course there are some exceptions. Happy, lighthearted Tango songs do exist (check out Biagi or Rodriguez). Yet, they are rarer, and pose challenge to some social dancers.
But I am not intending to talk about the songs today. I am going to talk about comedic style of show Tango dance. See this video for an example.
Los Guardiola: "El Choclo" (2013)
A branch of show dance presents comical side of the dance. Some Show dancers choose to present the dance in a comedic way.
Comedy is no easier than serious. Probably comedy is even more difficult than commonplace serious. It takes serious dance skills just to be credible on stage. In addition, to perform comedy, they have to know what "regular" serious dances look like, then add here or tweak there to be funny.
In fact, dance itself is hardly comedic. What makes a comedy is the preexisting context and an act that veers away from our expectation.
I like their mindset that chooses to use the high dance skills in comedic ways.
Why do I like the mindset? Probably because they are more audience-minding. They have to know the expectation of the audience, work with it, and show something that defies our expectations, ........to entertain the audience.
In other words, I find comedians (good ones) having more professional mindset; mindset as an entertainer rather than an artist (whose main focus tends to be the art itself).
Comedy, Parody, Satire, Humor....all have a place in the culture. They add depth and fun. We all need some laughter.
[Disclaimer: The YouTube video and the image are not mine. All rights belong to the original]
This is a year-end. It is time to think and plan for next year. That includes plans for some contingencies and emergencies.
***
There are some important questions in life.
"How are you going to eat?" is one of them. My graduate adviser asked this question straightforwardly to me in my grad school days. I only had a vague notion at the time, and it was somewhat shocking to me. Being good at school work and getting a PhD is one thing. But living and earning is another. I was too naive.
Capitalistic world can be cruel. No one is obligated to feed you nor to pay your bills on your behalf. If your business fails, it's on you. If you lose your job, it's on you. Although there will be an urge to make excuses and to cite unforeseeable circumstances, still it will be on you.
Notion of self-responsibility and accountability is everywhere. You'd have to think long and hard for this question for yourself. In fact, most of us are forced to think about this.
Surprisingly enough, not many answer options are there for this question.
(i) Work Work for hour in exchange to your skills, or have your business
(ii) Be dependent 1 Depends on close someone (Family member etc)
(iii) Be dependent 2 Depends on an organization (Government, Church, non-profit, etc)
(iv) Have a resource Cash, investments, pension, retirement fund etc
Option (i) "Work":
Let's assume you are not the people with silver-spoon. We are usually told at a young age by family members that working is important. They told you this because it is important for your well-being over lifetime. I'd say it is out of their love for you. It's immediately relevant for feeding self.
Many people don't bother asking the "how are you going to eat" question to someone who is not close nor significant. It can be a sensitive, even provoking, question. I am still thankful to the Professor who asked the question to me.
Option (ii) "Be dependent 1":
Stay-at-home can mean you are choosing option (ii), if you are not "working (earning)" at your home. Although important as they are, domestic choirs do not bring money from outside. This is a risky strategy, especially if you neglect to develop other means to eat.
Option (iii) "Be dependent 2":
Judging from the Republican's win in recent election, public sentiment is swinging toward cutting off social benefits by the Government or Military. Companies' pension plans can go belly up, or the payout may be "re-adjusted". Charity is arbitrary and you can lose it on their whim. This is another risky strategy.
Option (iv) "Have a resource":
We'd want to be in this position. How to get there, is another serious question.
****
This is a season for holidays; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. Giving and Charity are encouraged particularly in this season. It is also a season to think of the scary abyss in life, to be thankful for what we have now, and to make plans for a better future.
This question actually is a more specific and urgent-sounding version of a lifelong question, "what are you going to do?". But the phrasing "how are you going to eat?" was perfect for a grad school student.
I am working on a choreographed routine, so I had some time to think about dance for a show.
When we watch dance, our attention tends to be caught by flashy show/competition moves.
There are dances with strong social roots such as Argentine Tango, West coast swing or Salsa. People who dance the dance socially know what they see on social dance floor. The moves are the basics, and sometimes intermediate moves. We judge dancers by how well they perform the basic and intermediate moves, but not by what kind of advanced move they attempted. I still would't call them advanced if they attempted an advanced move and did it poorly.
On the show/competition, we will see "modified", advanced version of the basic/intermediate moves. It's an "ah-ha" moment.
But, how much can you really lead and follow the flashy move?
If you choreograph the move beforehand with your partner, anything is leadable/followable. If we assume that you both are capable of doing the move, then the execution is just a matter of sending and receiving a cue to initiate, and executing it with necessary support.
If you dance socially with a new partner, your success rate depends on the partner and her knowledge and willingness. Pure "lead/follow" may get you to a certain point of the move, but you cannot expect complete execution of the move. It's just like that.
This practicality rule is simple. But some show-oriented dancers (usually not very good ones I'd say) forget this. They expect the choreographed move would work with anyone they grab at the social party. No, it doesn't work that way. And it is your fault to have such unreasonable expectation.
Follower-Dancers with long history of social dance can have great ability of following. Yet, it is unlikely that her true ability starts shining at the very first dance. She is observing you at first, and assessing the new leader-partner whether he is trustworthy or has the ability to perform lead with care.
So, in short, no, you cannot lead the show move with certainty on the social floor. I want this to be a "common sense".
Leaders, don't assume too much. If you want the move to be done with a new partner, make sure you can lead the move correctly and she can follow the lead first. In social floor, leaders who are solid lead for basics and intermediate moves are received much better than leaders of failing flashy moves.
In fact, the same goes for followers. If her feet are not quick enough in WCS for example (meaning her basics are still developing), yet she tries to do some dance (body rolls etc), she can feel awfully heavy and resisting. Since her correct positioning is unlikely to be done on time, I don't expect the dance would look good. [I'll talk about this in a later entry.]
For me, social dance is fun, because we don't know each other well at first. The way the partner move, the smoothness, and the feel,....all the figuring out and knowing process is a major part of the fun. And if she is good, knows the flashy move and is willing to perform it, it definitely adds fun, too.
In Thanksgiving weekend, I attended Fandango de Tango event in Dallas. It was a 5-day event, but I only attended two milongas and a Tango show. It was a fun event. I saw friends whom I hadn't seen for a while, and met new friends including from New Orleans and San Diego.
***
This kind of dance event usually has three main ingredients; class (teaching-learning), show (demonstrations by professionals/visual entertainment) and milonga (social dance party/participatory entertainment). These three ingredients are different sports.
Milonga is a social dance party, and many people show up. In the setting, it can be quite evident that who is "good" at the dance, and who is at the time "not so good", with regrettable lack of better words.
I do not subscribe to a school of thought that claims everyone is good. I do see the difference between the two and many shades in between.
***
I perceive a good dancer as a dancer who moves well, knowledgeable in the dance, and who carries the air of sophistication, poise and appeal.
In addition, a good social dancer should have the sense of communication, and willingness to achieve the best dance out of the occasion. These are particularly important for Tango. Good partner dance is a well-connected and well-enjoyed dance.
So there are two aspects you can work on for improvement; solo-individual aspect, and partner-couple aspect. If you are good as a solo dancer, you may have broader options and possibilities. But if you forget the partnering aspect, you may end up with a type of poor show dancers who cannot lead/follow. In Tango, it is common that great-looking athletic guy/gal lead/follow so poorly and felt so heavy.
***
Not all performer-level professionals are willing to join social dance (many are, of course). Their dance is tuned to "good" dances, and they are used to the good lead/follow by other good dancers who know what they are doing. After many "good" dancing, they became like a precision instrument. Rough handling or wrong treatments by the "not so good" may be unbearable, especially for a good follower.
Besides, if they are professionals, their body and their dance is the main tool for their living, by which they eat and pay the bills. They wouldn't want the tool to be messed with. Being socially nice is one thing. But when the main tool for their living is at stake, it could be another story. I understand it if they want to exercise some discretion.
***
These are some of my random thoughts during the event.
