Letters to the Editor

Sob's (in my opinion) hasen't had a really good band in there since "Brazilian Energery" and especialy, "Samba Novo" Stopped Playing the club.

Samba Novo would bring in as many people on a regular Sat. night as Brazuca does on a NYE, You can also see Brazuca at cafe wha for $5 on monday, so why pay almost $20 at Sob. When asked why the bands don't play there any longer, we all get some strange excuse such as the "band broke up" or "only plays at parties" then we see the band at another club and they say, they don't know why, well SOBs is BORING!! only 3 bands when the best are alive and well.

thanks

Tomas Cleese

Letter to the editor:

To me, dancing is like wearing your spirit on the outside of your skin.

I'm glad I found this website. I'm enjoying it very much. Excellent writing. I especially liked the review of the Chocolate Bar @ Gabah. Keep up the great job and keep me informed.

John Kim "Po"

Dear Dr. Abrams, I enjoyed your article on Learning Theory (An application of learning theory to American Tango: short-term memory). The chunking technique is a good idea. I wrote down the steps and phrased them as you suggested. This brought up a question about the pattern discussed in the article. Are you describing a twenty beat pattern where a quick is one beat?

Thank you,

Sharon K.

Dear Sharon,

Thanks for reading my work.

Yes, I suppose you could describe the double fan as a twenty beat pattern, where the quick is one beat, although the way the timing for dance is usually counted, I think you can also say that it is a ten beat pattern where the quick is worth half a beat. After all, you usually count ONE TWO AND THREE FOUR, or whatever, where the AND denotes a division of time half the length of a full count.

However you count it, you bring up a good point about the pattern. As I understand it, Tango has an eight beat phrase. (My musical knowledge is limited, so feel free to correct me.) Thus, if your choreographic objective is to stay on phrase, you would probably want to follow up the double fan with a 6 beat pattern. Then the whole thing would fit nicely into two phrases.

Cheers,

Robert Abrams

Dear Dr. Abrams,

I will start by agreeing with you on the ten count over the twenty. When I count a tango basic out loud, I usually say, "One Two Three And Four", where the quick is worth half a beat. Also, you got right to the point where I was confused in the phrasing. I was trying to understand the pattern in relation to tango music. Yes, you could add a six beat phrase; however, a six beat phrase is uncommon. I dance this pattern without the two walks at the beginning. This results in an eight beat phrase - easier to work with.

Thank you for the response to my count question. And again, a good idea in applying the chunking technique.

Sharon K.

Sharon,

As you have probably gathered by now, analysis provides you with tools, but no one tool is necessarily intended to solve all of your problems.

As others have noted, dancers tend to know little about the music they are dancing to and instead focus on learning intricate steps. It would never have occured to me to dance the double fan without the walking steps in front of it, although it is a perfect illustration of the next article I am writing. Thanks for suggesting it.

Robert

SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR!

ExploreDance.com Home

Check out ExploreDance.com's Calendar of Upcoming Events ExploreDance.com is now offering Dance Posters for sale! Click here to purchase. Send a letter to the Editor Join the ExploreDance.com Email list. Please note that all material on ExploreDance.com is copyright ExploreDance.com and/or the respective authors at the listed publication dates. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Please email editor@ExploreDance.com for reprint permission requests.

You can use your PayPal account to support ExploreDance.com.