Department of Music Online Lecture: Dr. Greg Downey
Professor of Anthropology, Macquarie School of Social Sciences
Argentine tango started as a partner dance in the Rio Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay but has become a global phenomenon, practiced throughout the world. One of the most technically difficult of the social dances, Argentine tango can take years to master, and the subtle interaction of leader and follower are a challenge to master. One of the most difficult skills to develop is referred to be English-speaking practitioners as ‘musicality,’ or the ability to express oneself in synchrony and aesthetically pleasing ways with, not just one’s partner, but also the music being played in a tanda, a cluster of songs during which two partners will dance together.
Drawing on ethnographic research and years of Argentine tango practice, this talk explores the dynamics of musical embodiment and the phenomenology of dance, seeking to better understand the complexity of leading and following to tango music and why dancers find it so compelling. How do couples organise themselves to move together, ideally achieving what some practitioners have called a body with ”four legs and one heart?” I will argue that Argentine tango dancing is a form of active listening that offers a case study or ideal type for understanding the relations we can take up to different forms of music. To dance Argentine tango is a demanding form of listening together, demonstrating the synergy that two bodies can develop when both are highly skilled at sensing each other, listening together, and coordinating their expression.
Biography:
Greg is a teacher, writer, and anthropologist who has conducted field research in Brazil, the United States and the Pacific. He has advocated extensively for neuroanthropology — the integration of brain and cultural research to understand how humans induce variation in their own nervous system. Greg is the author of Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art (Oxford, 2005). Greg is also the co-editor, with Daniel Lende, of The Encultured Brain: An Introduction to Neuroanthropology (MIT, 2012), and co-editor with Melissa Fisher of Frontiers of Capital: Ethnographic Reflections on the New Economy (Duke, 2006). As a teacher, Greg has helped to build Macquarie University’s strength in a range of areas, especially the teaching of human diversity, evolution, psychological variation, and human rights. In 2013, he was chosen for the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, recognition for his teaching in the Department of Anthropology and his innovative online education (through Open2Study). Greg lives in Sydney, where he’s also an avid salsa and tango dancer.
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