Thoughts on Music

I've listened to what we in the tango community term nuevo music long before I started dancing tango, in fact I started listening to dance music back when disco was all the rage.

Back in the early 90's, disco re-invented itself by calling itself techo. When I moved here in 1999, I used to scrounge the electronic/techno section at HMV looking for great techno music. Like tango music, not all of it sounds great.

In the '90's, Stephan Pompougnac released his first Hôtel Costes compilation. His third cd included the song "Last Tango in Paris" by the Gotan Project. When I started dancing tango, that connection was enough to push me in two ways. I purchased Gotan Project cds, but also purchased Stephan Pompougnac's compilations and individual cds as well.

That gave me a broad base to choose from when I started to create a playlist. But I discovered music for enjoyment doesn't always translate well to music for danceability. Techno music breaks into two categories: songs with a very regular beat, or songs with a very jazz inspired sound.

In my opinion, the jazz inspired nuevo music doesn't work for dancing tango. No beat or rhythm exists to latch on to. And the other, regular beat should never be confused with tango with its long sweeps and dramatic pauses. But they are perfect for the regularity of the milonga rhythms.

I'm On

Tonight I dj for the first time. I have my playlist locked and loaded and my iPod (two actually, just in case) charged and ready to go. Right now, I'm listening again, just to make sure that my music choices will create that amazing tango connection we all know when we experience it. And to make sure the cortina only plays 30ish seconds of the song like it is supposed to.

Not only could I create the foundation for an amazing evening, I've also got the potential to wreck an evening for an entire group. And a group with visitors. Okay, breathing now. Reminding myself I can do this. Wow, the pressure.

But hey, if nothing else, I'd dance to this.

Connection & Musicality

The last workshop at Portland was with Murat and Michelle. He walked us through the pause, that chance in the music to reconnect. This put in to words what I felt when I danced in Argentina. It is an unbelievable thing to watch an entire floor dance together. Collisions are few and far between as the dancers hear the music and dance to it. Together. The pause is just that, the pause. Collect with feet together, ocho cortado, the cross. All are ways to reconnect with both your partner and the dance floor.

I've mentioned it before, but here in Victoria, we are in a race to get to the end of the dance first. We rush through moves, don't hear the melody of the music, only the rhythm—beat, beat, beat we move. Pause and listen and you hear a room of people. You hear the underlying melody of unity. Unity to each other, to the dance, to your partner and back out again. It builds an intense energy in a room. No longer are you dancing your own little dance in your own little world, you are dancing everyone's dance. You breathe in the synergy and it builds and builds and builds.

How do I bring this home without offending anyone? How do I tell my leads (including the wonderful dancers) to wait, to breathe in the pause. How to you create a room of such synergy? Once it starts, it will look after itself. But how to start it. Guess I'm going to have to learn to lead.