Put on Bahia Blanca and notice how your body wants to move.
Then listen to Gallo Ciego, and notice the difference.
You don't need to know anything about tango to feel it. The two songs take you on completely different journeys.
Experienced tango dancers have learned to recognise music when they dance. Not everybody knows their names, but the more you dance, the more you begin to recognise the different styles and rhythmic qualities of the classic tango orchestras.
Carlos Di Sarli, Juan D'Arienzo, Osvaldo Pugliese...
Music can have a profound effect on us. A few notes can help us drop in, settle, and feel at home. Another piece can invite us outward, towards movement and expansion.
But there is something else.
Music doesn't arrive in an empty space.
How we meet a song depends on where we are when we hear it.
As Alla Petcheniouk puts it:
The traditional orchestras grew on me, gradually. I started to appreciate the melancholy, the drama, the sadness in the music. It took many years, countless musicality classes, and probably infinite hours of listening before I could distinguish the orchestras and recognise their characteristic details.
And yet, I still notice how differently music lands in my body depending on where I am.
The same song can land differently when we are tired, open, anxious, playful, grieving, distracted...
So listening isn't only about hearing what comes to us.
It is also noticing who is listening.
What is happening in us as the music arrives?
And what happens to our dance when we listen from there?
On Tuesday, 15 September, we’ll circle online and explore it together.
Tuesday, September 15
We’ll meet on Zoom at 6 pm UK time.
Stay attuned
Jesus Acosta
