Is your Milonga on Mars or Venus?

Tangueros are not from Mars, nor tangueras from Venus.
Both are from Earth.

Your milonga is on Earth.

Earth is a great middle-point meeting place for Martian and Venusian dancers to visit a milonga.   The Morning Star and the Red Planet send representatives to meet here at milongas, and it is really pretty cool.  I have been an astute observer of the differences of "Venusians" since I was a small child, and yes, these differences seem to bring the warmer Venusian climate to my cool Martian body temperature.  I have to admit, in all honesty however, that the more I know about neurological research and cross-cultural research, I have learned that men and women are remarkably similar.

For dancers the most important myth of differences is that women have more talent and respond to music better.  If you are from Latin America, you will have a hard time understanding what I am talking about.  In your culture men do not need to repress their masculine expression of dance.  So at least when it comes to dance, I am mostly speaking to much of America and Europe, where the Venus/Martian Myth is obvious as ... as the flat Earth:  That is, very obvious for the untrained observer.

One of the great truths of this century will be that we will "discover" that men and women are remarkably similar. But why wait for the later part of this century to figure it out? We earthlings are remarkably the same no matter what common sense has told you all of your life and what many people say.

Often I hear perceptions about behaviors and "natural" roles of men and women which are disproven in the light of sound research or simply looking at another culture on Earth.  The human brain is very adaptable, and we are only starting to understand what is truly different between men and women. Much (maybe even most) of what we think is true is only lore.  Men and women are remarkably the same.  For example, the belief that women as better at multi-tasking under the microscope of research becomes only a myth (that many believe).  From centuries of focusing on our differences, not only men and women but countries, religions, races and cultures are perpetually clashing.

Why do we expect our politicians to focus on common ground of our humanity, when we are not doing the same with the person who sleeps next to us?   Acknowledging the overwhelming commonality of our species is not only practical but may be central to our own survival that we finally agree:  Men and women, earthlings, are very much the same.

One of my favorite theses of my PhD* (philosophy of dance) is that men and women are equal in their love and ability to dance.  This truth is counter to the "common sense" of the majority of those who are reading this blog (especially if their native tongue in English).  The majority of cultures of the world understand that both men and women can dance wonderfully.  God did not favor one sex or sexual orientation.  If you teach boys that women and gay men dance better, it will be so.  And, sadly, so it is!

I challenge you to develop your own PhD that has more to do with Earthlings than Martians or some other planet.  Earthlings respond to music somatically.  This natural response--not shared with others in the animal kingdom on the Blue Planet--is called "dance" and the sexes are remarkably similar. Welcome to the new century and neuroscience.

Anita Diament wrote:  "Until very recently men and women inhabited very separate spheres. There was always interconnection, passion, love. But men and women didn't hang out at the end of the day and chat about what their day was like at the office."

Well . . . now men and women are hanging out, chatting and . . . dancing together at a milonga on Earth.  And why?  Because men and women for the most part are from Earth.




*Regarding my PhD:  In 2015 I will have a series on my Philosophy of Dance (PhD). Today's theme will be an important tenant of my major theses:  Men and women are naturally equal in their love of dance when they are not harmed by anti-dance philosophies held by both men and women in Many European and North American (excluding Mexico).  Although, one might not think of anti-dance PhD's as "harmful," these philosophies are tantamount to telling a child not to speak much or not at all for the rest of their lives.  Dancing and speaking are at the epicenter of what it is to be human.  Even the banter of some teachers and female tango blog writers about Venusians being better dancers is extremely harmful and helps to forever maintain the gender imbalance at your milonga.

Photo credit:  Men are from Mars, women Venus.