Category Archives: Weighty Discussion

A mistake that is made in describing or philosophising about tango is that that description, explanation or philosophy defines what tango is. No, the map is not the territory. The map is not an objective picture of the landscape, it … Continue reading →

Written about swing rather than tango, it’s an interesting read all the same www.eijkhout.net/lead_follow/teaching_misteaching.html

[Backdated] When I was a younger dancer and being taught sequences I had a terrible habit of just going blank. This was because I knew what the sequence involved and thought I could let my mind wander. To use an … Continue reading →

With my involvement in Limerick does strictly come dancing I have had to do something that I haven’t before and that is rehearse. And I really, really, don’t like it. The spontaneity of tango means that I never know what … Continue reading →

I’m not a particularly big fan of performances. I think that they are, at times, misused and misunderstood. Their own merits are perfectly valid. Show tango with its big lights and fishnet tights can make good theatre. As a storytelling … Continue reading →

At times I feel like the native guide, leading adventurers to discover the watering holes of my youth and following them to where they would want me to go.

Every tango teacher of argentine origin that I have worked with has begun by apologising for the weakness of their english. Yet only in one case has it actually been a problem in the class. This is due to a … Continue reading →

It is not acceptable to approach tango on your own terms. To absorb and adapt to tango you must be prepared to shift your ground. But so too must tango, and especially its travelling teachers, adapt its explanations to those … Continue reading →

I have five lessons to teach. What lessons they choose to learn is entirely up to them. -Nanny McPhee The lessons that I have learned in tango have not always been those that were being taught. What can be taught … Continue reading →