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If we had some ham, we could
have ‘ham & eggs’, if we
had some eggs.
On the Submissiveness of Women
in the Tango
rebellious flirtation. The tango can express a wider
range of the feminine than any other dance, and this is
the source of its power for both man and woman
by Don Berry
The richness o f tango lies in contrast; in the
interplay of opposites. There is continual interweaving
of slow beats and quick beats; of smooth, flowing
m otion and sharp turns; o f moves of expansion and
moves o f contraction; o f freedom and discipline. In
one contrast the tango is unique among dances; and
that is the contrast between its sensuality and the
precision of its geometry. Sensuality and geometry are
not often paired in aesthetics. The creative power of
this pair of opposites, the vitality generated by their
interaction, is seen in tango as nowhere else. And they
point directly to the fundamental pair of opposites that
are always at the secret heart of tango; man and
woman. It is often said that the man "dominates"
tango, and the woman's role is "submissive." There is
some truth in that. But it is such a crude and
superficial understanding o f the relation between man
and woman in the tango that it distorts the creative act
that arises from them. Certainly the man creates the
dance. From his own sensitivity to the music and to his
partner, he recreates the history of tango every time he
takes the floor. Unlike tiie more rigidly codified
dances, every tango is a new tango. Each new pair of
partners creates it from the beginning, according to
the moment, the mood, the music, and their inner
feeling. The state o f the heart. But the very reason the
man creates the dance is to evoke the beauty, the
grace, and the inner spirit of the woman, without which
tango is only empty geometry. He evokes this inner
feminine spirit for his own enjoyment, but also so the
woman can enjoy her own femininity. He creates the
form, and she fills it with beauty. That is the shared
experience of tango. In order to make this possible,
the woman is not submissive, she is responsive. She is
in a state of heightened awareness, watchful to the
nuance o f tem po and rhythm, sensitive not only to the
music, but to the man's feeling about her and the
music, and to the dance he is creating from those
feelings. The art of following in tango is both more
subtle and more mysterious than leading. And when a
woman follows, she is not dragging along behind like
a platypus on a chain. She follows as a cloud follows
the wind, and her art is to be as responsive to the man
as the cloud is responsive to the wind. This state of
heightened responsiveness is not an exclusively
feminine skill, by any means. It is also the state of the
hunter tracking a wounded animal. (It is even the state
of the defensive backfield o f the L A Rams, and I do
not recall hearing the words "submissive" or "passive"
used in that connection.) In the tango, it is the woman
who plays this responsive role. In fact, the image of
the feminine that is evoked in the tango is at the
farthest pole from passive. It has the greatest feminine
range of any dance, at one moment swooning
languidly into his arms, at the next a sassy, pert and
NOTES ON LEADING THE TANGO. All these
things have certain practical consequences in tango,
and in particular in the lead. In the vast majority of
cases the reason a woman does not follow is because
the man is not leading. First of all, when a woman is
truly following, and in a highly responsive state, she is
easily bored. If she always knows what is coming next,
and with what timing you will lead any given figure,
you will lose her attention and she will start dancing
on her own. Perhaps that is acceptable for an
exhibition dance, but there is a great difference
between displaying the tango and dancing the tango.
An exhibition dance may show the form of tango
beautifully, but loses its heart, which is the moment to
moment flow of energy between the dancers, in which
the outcome is an adventure and a mystery. In an
exhibition the meaning is for an audience; in a dance
the meaning is for the dancers alone. That is tango. It
is the man's responsibility to be creative enough to
keep the woman's attention on the dance. She needs
surprises, an occasional unexpected delight, or she will
lapse into a routine of memorized steps, and the dance
will not be a memorable one for either of you. (One
way to improve a woman's following is to make her
close her eyes, so that she can respond only to your
lead, and not to mental images.)
The implication of this for the lead is clear. The
man has to know what he is doing, and do it decisively,
without ambiguity, and without giving confusing
signals about it. The tango, like all arts, is a
combination o f freedom and discipline. The dancers
cannot enjoy the rewards of tango freedom until they
have mastered tango discipline; specifically, for the
man, the discipline of leading with certainty. In tango,
particularly, there is survival value in certainty. For
example, when you lead the figure el gancho, you
must place the woman's body very accurately.
Otherwise, and let us be straightforward about this, you
will be kicked in the groin by a three inch spike heel
moving at an extremely high rate of speed This is not
good. And at such a moment the thought that the
woman in tango is "submissive" will not even cross
your mind We can dispense with the superficial
description o f woman's role in tango as "passive." But
we can also remember the seed of truth in the cliché:
the heart of tango is in the contrast of opposites, and
the more opposite the roles played by man and
woman, the more creative the dance will be Sensuality
alone is limited Geometry alone is limited. But in free
and disciplined combination, together they are
unlimited.
In the mythos of tango it is said that two dancers
have died from the overwhelming emotion generated
by the dance, one in Buenos Aires in 1912, the other
in Paris in 1926. Both were women
CORRECTED FOR
PACIFIC BEACH TIDES
CORRECTED FOR
PACIFIC BEACH TIDES
JANUARY 1998
JANUARY 1998
High Tides
Low Tides
WASHINGTON A OREGON COAST TIDES
W ASHINGTON A O REGON COAST TIDES
AM.
time f t
DATE
1 Til
233
5.4
2 Fr
3 Sa
4 Su
S Mo
6 Tu
7 We
8 Th
9 Fr
tOSa
11 Su
12 Mo
13Tu
14 We
15 Th
16 Fr
17Se
18 Su
19Mo
20 Tu
21 We
22 Th
23 Fr
24 Sa
25 Su
26 Mo
27 Tu
28 We
29 Th
M Fr
31 Sa
3:16
402
4:51
5.42
6.35
729
822
9:13
1002
10:48
0:31
1:11
149
2:26
302
339
4:16
455
538
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712
801
8:50
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122
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55
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5.8
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65
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PM.
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ft
DATE
1 36
63
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2 Fr
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10 Sa
11 Su
12 Wi
13 Hi
14 w a
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16 Fr
17 Sa
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20 Tu
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24 Sa
25 Su
26 Mo
27 Tu
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29 Th
30 f t
31 Sa
2:27 5 9
325 5.4
432 4.9
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7:19 4.2
8:44 4.3
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10 56 4.7
11 46 5.0
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12:13
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729
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10:43
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AM.
time f t
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PM.
time
ft
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BASEBALL
In these dark days with no baseball, the trading
goes on. The Cubs have a new second baseman, and
Ryne Sanbcrg retires again to await his nomination
to the Baseball Hall of Fame. We still wait and
wonder if Jim Leyland will be in the dugout at the
friendly confines of Wrigley Field when the opening
day Umpire calls, “Play Ball.” We wonder if he is
the Cub ntiutager next year, if this will be the next
year Cubs fans have waited for so terrible long
Go Cubbies.
THE LARGEST GROCERY S TORE'
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I trust all joy.
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• L a rg e se le c tio n o f dru g sto re p r o d u c ts . Deli.
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