Conversation and Dance

Tango by Alvaro Castagnet

Cooperative Conversation

She: Talking to you is like dancing.

He: Meaning you have to watch out I don’t step on your toes?

She: No, we both seem to hear the rhythm then move together.

He: Doesn’t everyone give and take in conversation?

She: Not everyone by a long shot. Some people don’t pick up on signals. Others have no timing. Some can’t mirror. Some only compete, they don’t cooperate.

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Voice-over

A lot of talk is instrumental. Business talk. Getting things done. Production and sales.

And some talk is for fun. To charm. To entertain. Like dance.

But conversation isn’t all about showiness on the dance floor.The virtuosos can dazzle with their pirouettes, prances, pas de deux. Their spins, twirls, and leaps. Their frolics, quivers, and jiggles.

Virtuosos, divas, prima donnas.

But it takes two to tango.

...

Tango and culture

Norman and Brian, aged 50-something Aussies, during a scene change, exchange impressions of the tango performance at Al Tortoni, Buenos Aires.

...

Norman: Spectacular innit.

Brian: Awesome.

Norman: Don’t say that, mate. You sound like your daughter.

Brian: OK. Well, it’s OK.

Norman: Now you’re speaking our language again.

Brian: We didn’t have music like that growing up in Oz, did we?

Norman: Yeah, we never danced, did we? Culture like that we never had.

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Voice-over 

Adopting the jargon of a different generation happens, but for a while it doesn’t ring true. But at least Brian used “awesome” appropriately, whatever we may think about its origins referring only to god-like epiphanies.

Beyond quibbles about lexical change, Brian and Norman are engaged in a serious debate on why Australians (and New Zealanders) leave their countries on culture-seeking OE missions. 150 years of European settlement in Australia and New Zealand isn’t very long to build a culture (Latin America has had 500 years). And the British, despite having a great literature, didn’t cook or dance that well.

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