Public Displays we are always THRILLED to See...

PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION



PERSONAL GROOMING ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT IN
MAJOR LEAGUE SPORTS

GILBERT GOTTFRIED

FABIO'S FANCY FALUTIN', HIGH-KICKING, SPACE CONSUMING, MACHO TANGO BALLET OF HYPER-VIRILITY...

...in the middle of this on a Friday night!*

* "Wow, Fabio's soooooooooooooooo amazing - look how the all the people dancing around him give way so that he would have more space to do that triple colgada triple enganche combo! Talk about Moses parting the Red Sea! Can we dance a little bit closer so we can see the whole Fabio show? I know I'm going to get my head sliced open by his partner's stilletto - but it's going to be totally worth it!!!!"

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!!!!

Remember The Borg? The ultimate villains of the Star Trek universe, subject of multitudinous episodes of The Next Generation, spinoff movies and books - who can forget them?

Just in case you forgot, this is a handy overview from a trekky website:

The Borg's need for new technological advancements, and their obsession with the perfection of the 'body', has ultimately cost them their humanity. They now lack any emotional responses or individuality, which is why they are easily the most feared species in the Star Trek universe. The Borg's dependence on technology serves as a warning to humanity not to sacrifice our individuality and our emotions--in essence our humanity--for perfection through inorganic enhancements.

You know what? Seems like the Tango universe has been invaded by the Borg these days. Did everyone start taking lessons from the Academy of Borg?


There's Show Tango Borg:

Note: "My hair is greasy and slicked back - check. My suit is tight and just right - check. No expression on my face - check. Am I doing moves that induce LSD flashbacks to Tangox2 and every single other Tango show ever known to humankind? - check."



Villa Urquiza Tango Borg:

Note: "Look, we may be upright but we are just so not 'Show Tango' - we don't jump around or do back sacadas, you know! Don't tell us how to dance in a 'Salon' - of course we can, since we are very sensible and we keep our feet on the floor and do lots of giros. We are the TRUE authentic Villa Urquiza - can't you tell by our constant adorning? Oh yes, we take our perfection very seriously, and we don't need to smile because we are PERFECT."



And believe it or not, there's even Milonguero-style Tango Borg!!!:

Note: "We must be dancing Milonguero Style because we are dancing so very very close, you can't wedge a toothpick between us. And we are doing the same three steps over and over again! Can't crack a smile - must look dead serious, perfection is a serious matter and not to be joked about! Because if we deviate the Borg-meister will tear out our entrails and feed them to a pack of wild dogs. Mommy, I'm scared!"



And last and not least, hasn't the Camponeato Mundial become "El Carnival de Borg"?:



Only a mere 20 years ago, people danced like this:



So what if your posture isn't perfect? So what if your arms in the embrace are not exactly "just so"? So what if you are smiling and enjoying yourselves and doing funny little moves and separations not codified by the Academy of Borg? So what if everyone is dancing totally differently from everyone else? Isn't tango about savoring the music with your partner in the dance?

Apparently not, tango nowadays is all about adhering PERFECTLY to THE CODE OF BORG, Chapter XVIII, Section 4.2, paragraph A subsection d.

(What? You don't own a copy of THE CODE OF BORG? Shame on you. You are't allowed to dance tango unless you have memorized it from cover to cover and back again.)

If the Academy of Borg catches anyone these days dancing like the people in this videoclip, chances are the Borg-meister will start cracking the whip and yelling - WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!! And then you will have to take thousands of dollars worth of private classes to get in line with THE CODE OF BORG, because we don't want to dance all WRONG, do we?

I'm guessing at the rate we are going, by 2015, we will all be assimilated by The Borg and we will have to dance tango like this:

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!!!!

Pointing Fingers, Passing the Buck...

I once took an undergraduate course in psychology (decades ago!) in which one of the topics was theories of personality.

I don't quite remember who the theorist was, and I can't be bothered to dig up all my old psychology textbooks to find out - but I remember vaguely that there is a theory in which people's personalities are formed by various "constructs" of what they believe themselves to be. People will interact with others and the world around them accordingly according to this personality "construct" - and the reactions that the person receives from the "outside" will normally reinforce this "construct" as it is something that usually self-perpetuates. It's what gives a person a consistent "personality".

The trouble starts when events and things on the "outside" happen to challenge the reality of this person's personality "construct", for example: Do you believe you are God's gift to men/women? Then why haven't you been getting any dates? When there is a discrepancy between the "construct" and "reality", it will disturb a person's sense of self. "Normal" individuals can usually adapt to this discrepancy by a number of tactics, i.e. revising the "construct" to make it consistent with "reality", or by denial and avoiding encounters with the cause of the discrepancy, etc.

Denial is an easy tactic to adopt - and blame is one of the consequences. Didn't dance so well tonight with that leader? Well, it's because he has no chest lead and he's doing too many steps. Couldn't do the triple enganche triple colgada combo with that follower? She must be a lousy follow because she hasn't taken enough women's technique classes.

I used to blame Man Yung a lot for the frustrating things that happen in the dance. I too have concluded that I couldn't follow because "He has no lead in his right arm" or "His left arm is too stiff/too forward/too high" or "He's doing too many steps" or "He is not dancing in the right style for me". There were other things to blame too: "My shoes are no good" or "My feet hurt" or "The music is not right". Anything to blame except myself for not being able to follow.

The big change for me came when Elina Roldan came to town. She could obviously follow EVERYTHING. She danced with some dancers who were quite challenging, or whom I knew had less than perfect leads, but she never faltered, she never blamed. She never stopped a man in the middle of the tanda because his hand was too high/too forward/too stiff or his embrace was not ideal to give him a little lecture on what she considered the right lead/embrace for her so that she can follow it.

That was quite an example for me. Yes, it is true that some leads out there are less than perfect, in much need of correction - but I find that blaming the lead has the effect of inhibiting my own progress as a follower. Instead of working on being able to follow, I was making excuses why I can't and blaming the leader. It was a waste of my effort and time to engage in denial activities, when I could use that energy in practicing and learning how to follow. Even those leads that were not perfect, even those leads that were ridiculous.

I found that the less I engaged in blaming, the more I grew as a follower.

Leaders too should take heed: one of the most heinous activities in tango is "teaching on the dance floor". If the leader can't lead what they want to lead, and have to resort to stopping the dance and giving detailed verbal instructions to the follower on what the follower "should be doing in the move", you are not only doing the follower a disservice, you are also doing yourself a disservice. You are dealing with choreography and no longer improvising, which is one of the cornerstones of tango. You will never be able to lead what you want to lead because you are training the follower to do the moves automatically irrespective of lead - and you will never be able to gauge what is wrong with your lead.

So, if you want to become a better dancer, don't waste time and energy and stop blaming! Work on yourself instead.