Adornments are a popular topic to write about. Recently Johanna wrote the following:
Adornos were “earned”, through an organic process of self-discovery over the course of time. A LOT of time. They emerged by learning how our bodies move, and how our listening translated into motion through our nervous and musculo-skeletal systems. And how different partners affected our ability to incorporate them into our dance. As a result, there was an infinite variety of individual embellishments, and the way we expressed ourselves with different partners.
To me that reads a lot like how one develops ones signature. That quasi-legible scrawl that you use as your mark, your insignia on documents. Did you recieve any instruction in the development of your signature? No one suggested to me that the i in my signature should devolve to a vestigial dot after the v that precedes it, but it has.
Your adornments are your signature, the emphasis being on your.
So true, Limerick. But people seem less and less inclined to let time turn them into a master of their own style, preferring instead to take classes to copy the style of the latest performer/teacher du jour.
I hadn’t thought of it–being an occasional dancer these days, I don’t get to observe much–but I do have a wee signature adorno. Doesn’t show up in every tanda. But it’s mine.