The Facebook method
We’ve seen this movie before. Facebook rolls out new changes, its users kick and scream, Facebook walks the changes back a bit, and then everyone gets on with their lives. Facebook just introduced a new homepage with a layout that sends you a stream of “top news” in the main center column of the page. Facebook decides which stories you see.Facebook users don’t like the site choosing their top stories for them. They think that Facebook is like those people who, barely out of eight count basic and leg wrap school, become tango evangelists and devote their time putting down quality in their obsessed quest for raw quantity, as if bringing more and more bad dancing to the room will make them shine like the top of the Chrysler building.
Facebook has a brilliant business goal on mind, and that is to serve voracious business entities a targeted quality and captive audience. Some people can still smell a rat, “HEY MORONS, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO ME FACEBOOK? CAN YOU READ OUR MINDS?” Whether Facebook will care about their free loaders users is not the topic of this post. What’s great about Facebook is that it’s free and people get exactly what they pay for it, and what it’s worth, just like…
Not to be confused, the tango is full of illusions. It is a different kind of lie. What we do is not what people see. “We” are the ones who study, learn and understand the importance of technique. In our execution of movements we don’t imitate what we see but use technique to create the illusion that others see. We don’t decide which illusion you should copy. We actually teach you how to dance the Argentine tango with pride and respect, using a sleight of legs.
In the days when we considered learning a must before venturing onto the dance floor or “teaching” others what we didn’t know, it was common for many women to try to imitate a beloved teacher or dancer. If the teacher wrapped her arm around the neck of her man in the sexiest embrace, this was all that the student saw (sigh) and in turn tried to imitate. They did not realize that the woman was always completely on her own axis and well matched in height to her partner. For the woman, the point of contact of the embrace, regardless of its closeness, is with the inside of her left triceps located directly over the man’s biceps. Her arm has to be placed on top of his biceps, with her elbow positioned down.
She embraces the man’s arm with her arm and always has contact there. If there is any space under the arm, or if her arm does not make contact with his arm, it is very difficult to receive the body mark transmitted through his shoulder and arm. Even in the closest of embraces, this position is still valid. When the woman feels the man creating space by opening his shoulders or sliding his arm away, she should in turn slide her left arm out while maintaining contact. Do not hang on for dear life and impede the effort of the man to mark the step. If he creates space, take it and make use of it. And always remember to keep your weight on the leg closest to the man. A follower carries her weight on the back leg, a tango dancer carries her weight on the front leg. And that’s how to tell the difference.
