Limerick Tango

Black Box Recorder - The Art of Driving
Sarah Nixey - Luke Haines

La la la, la la la la la
La la la, la la la la la

You’re quite precocious
I know which button should be pressed
Let’s go out driving
I’ll wait until you’ve passed your test
We can get a hood down
Throw away those learner plates
You got the hang of steering
Now try stepping on the brakes

You’ve been driving me too fast
You’ve been pushing me too hard
You’ve been taking things too far
Who do you think you are?

La la la, la la la la la
La la la, la la la la la

Do you believe in love at first sight?
Do you believe in fate?
I believe the good things
Only come to those who wait
We’ve got to plan the journey
Eliminate all mistakes
Take the scenic route
It’s called the art of driving

Maybe wait until the summertime
Maybe wait until December
Because a heartfelt seduction
Lasts a life time

You’ve been driving way too fast
You’ve been pushing way too hard
You’ve been taking things too far
Who do you think you are?

It’s called the art of driving
The art of driving
It’s just the art of driving

La la la, la la la la la
La la la, la la la la la

I wish you’d learn to slow down
You might get there in the end
Don’t think the accelerator pedal
Is a man’s best friend
You don’t have to break the speed limit
You don’t have to break your neck
Another dead boy-racer
Cut out from the wreak

You’ve been driving me too fast
You’ve been pushing me too hard
You’ve been taking things too far
Who do you think you are?

Maybe wait until the summertime
Maybe wait until December
Because a heartfelt seduction
Lasts a life time

It’s called the art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
The art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
Just the art of driving
It’s just the art of driving
The art of driving
The art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
The art of driving
The art of driving
The art of driving
It’s called the art of driving
It’s called the art of driving

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNjyDPOL2Ms

One of the problems of being a man of many parts is that every so often one part collides and gets in the way of another. In this case it is my camera and 3 tonnes of fireworks colliding with the Cork Tango festival. It just so happens that the National Lottery Skyfest fireworks display, to be held this year in Limerick, and the Cork Tango festival ball are both on the night of Saturday 13th March.

That being said the fireworks will probably be over by 9 and the ball doesn’t start until 9.30-ish

From BBC news

Scientists discovered that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform “planned actions”.

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8493092.stm

Perhaps this explains some of the differences between leading and following. Why some followers bolt at the slightest intention and why some leaders are constantly frustrated.

To those who complicate tango it can always be made simpler

To those who simplify tango it will always reveal complexities.

Written about swing rather than tango, it’s an interesting read all the same

www.eijkhout.net/lead_follow/teaching_misteaching.html

A good dancer is not the sum of their steps.

Technique will only make you not bad.

Being able to earnestly and honestly engage with your partner is the mark of a good dancer.

Dear God I needed that.

Tango is sensory overload. Be it through multiplicity of steps or depth of embrace.

["Just enough education to perform" was the title of the third album by Welsh band Stereophoincs]

My position regarding the teaching of tango is the typical Irish response of “Well, if I was going to there, I wouldn’t be starting from here”. People can take their tango where they like to but if they don’t have a good starting point, if they don’t set their students first steps in the right direction, then they are doing them a disservice.

A long time ago I established that the basic-eight is not the corner-stone of tango. That instead the foundations of tango lie in the walk. But because my education had been step based there was still something missing.

That missing piece was the bedrock on which the foundations were laid. That missing piece was a simple understanding of the music. Not a complex understanding,  I had been introduced to answer-response phrasing, a simple one. Something that could be put forward to a student in their first class. A key that would help them unlock the three minutes of music ahead of them.

Oddly enough that key is offered to every student, except it it is disguised. It is hopefully safe to say that there isn’t a teacher of tango who doesn’t at some point during a students first class tell them to step on/off (delete to taste) the stressed beat. And with that piece of information the student marches off like a metronomic mechanical monster chewing their way through steps.

The hidden key is implied in the statement “step on/off the stressed beat”. If you are to step on/off the beat, then when there is no beat do not step.

Yes this is linked to further concepts like cadencia and medio tempo. But at its simplest it unlocks the tango puzzle. Allows you to hear the instruments breathe, talk to one another, talk to you. Suddenly you don’t have to fill the silence with step on step because you are both in conversation with the music.

The galling thing is that it is such a simple direction, such a simple concept that I really have to wonder why no one mentioned it to me before now.

[Acknowledgements] Adrian & Amanda Costa’s musicality class.

Which comes first: the music or the dance?