Saturday, May 2, 2009

Dancing in the "AND"

Finally I understand the beauty of the "and". The "and" is the center of the dance and the 1, 2, 3, 4 just get us to the "and". The "and" is the place where Mike can pause and I might put in a tiny adorno. If there's no adorno, I might only stand there (slightly moving somewhere) with the concentrated anticipation I watch on the face of Marcela Duran during her Gavito days. The last adorno I learned from Jesus is a gentle circle of the foot only- no movement of the leg or ankle. This one is hard to accomplish- especially trying to keep the movement soft and continuous. More pause. Feel the music. I here this over and over in my head. When Mike and I had our last chance to practice at the Escuela on Florida on Tuesday before we left, "Malena" came on a D'Arienzo cd that we had never heard. ?Los Cantores de D'Arienzo? Mike was so taken by the emotion of the music and tango he said, "I'll never dance like that again." Yes, you will I think. Yes, you will, because now you understand the "and".
And one more thing.
Mike found this Gavito quote that he remembered from our year of Gavito infatuation. "The secret of tango is in this impossible moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible, to dance silence...A good dancer is one who listens to the music...We dance the music not the steps." Carlos Gavito

No comments:

Post a Comment