(Faena Hotel, 27 July 2014)
Just like all social dances, tango has evolved to please the dancers, not the audience. To convert such a dance into a show, one must mix it with ballet, which has evolved to please the audience, not the dancers. Lyrical and adaptable to any tempo---within a phrase---tango is uniquely suited for such a cross.
Tango has evolved to court the female spirit, intensely and desperately---not a particular woman. Restrained, tango loses its soul.
Whether created with prostitutes in mind, tango is rather suited for brothels. It can strip the parties of their anonymity or confer upon them anonymising rôles---whichever they choose---thereby elevating the transaction above consensual mutual rape.
29 July 2014
14 July 2014
The World Cup Final
(Le Pain Quotidian in Armenia, 13 July 2014)
The defeat in the Falklands conflict has put an end to the dictatorship that bet on the success of its military campaign. Lives improved.
The defeat in the World Cup Final is not an analogous blessing in disguise. However much governments may wish to deploy football as the opium of the people, national teams are not government-led. A national team is an enterprise of a couple of dozen of Everyman capable of rallying near-universal support. A national team gives its people the confidence that they are substantial enough to make democracy work.
Football is a zero-sum game most of the time; it indulges the instinct not only to do well, but also to crush others. Art may directly or indirectly cater to the desire to crush in its narrative. If the high from the crush is sought also in art creation, art becomes sport. If a player plays a game that is richer than the one narrowly prescribed by the rules, his sport becomes art. When guided by intelligence and the passion to create---not the mere instinct to crush---a sport acquires a narrative and becomes positive-sum.
Sport is not about learning to lose. Life delivers numerous opportunities to practice that. (Besides, winning is the hard part.) Sport teaches how to take responsibility while the game is still being played.
The defeat in the Falklands conflict has put an end to the dictatorship that bet on the success of its military campaign. Lives improved.
The defeat in the World Cup Final is not an analogous blessing in disguise. However much governments may wish to deploy football as the opium of the people, national teams are not government-led. A national team is an enterprise of a couple of dozen of Everyman capable of rallying near-universal support. A national team gives its people the confidence that they are substantial enough to make democracy work.
Football is a zero-sum game most of the time; it indulges the instinct not only to do well, but also to crush others. Art may directly or indirectly cater to the desire to crush in its narrative. If the high from the crush is sought also in art creation, art becomes sport. If a player plays a game that is richer than the one narrowly prescribed by the rules, his sport becomes art. When guided by intelligence and the passion to create---not the mere instinct to crush---a sport acquires a narrative and becomes positive-sum.
Sport is not about learning to lose. Life delivers numerous opportunities to practice that. (Besides, winning is the hard part.) Sport teaches how to take responsibility while the game is still being played.
7 July 2014
Tango Porteño
(Tango Porteño, 6 July 2014)
Life's autonomy makes living beautiful. One cannot subjugate the events; one is manipulated by them. One is surprised; relieved of responsibility. One learns.
The exercise of basic liberties confirms one's existence. The exercise of power---physical, emotional, intellectual---in various proportions---multiplies this existence. So does trust.
One may seek balance. Or one may assimilate the extremes and tango: not dejected-apparatchik tango, but unleashed ballet-deity tango, as in the blindfold dance, spoken as if one has been given but a single chance to speak. One has.
Life's autonomy makes living beautiful. One cannot subjugate the events; one is manipulated by them. One is surprised; relieved of responsibility. One learns.
The exercise of basic liberties confirms one's existence. The exercise of power---physical, emotional, intellectual---in various proportions---multiplies this existence. So does trust.
One may seek balance. Or one may assimilate the extremes and tango: not dejected-apparatchik tango, but unleashed ballet-deity tango, as in the blindfold dance, spoken as if one has been given but a single chance to speak. One has.
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