“That, is not tango.”
Artist: Grete Stern, from series Sueños
[RANT]
Tango milonguero, tango salon, tango nuevo, tango fantasia… Close embrace tango, open embrace tango… Ballroom tango, swango, salsango, pomodoro, ravioli, spaghetti.
Pfft.
I don’t understand what the whole argument is about tango styles. That’s just what they are: styles. They are all tango. Why is there an argument at all?
I do understand that individuals have their own tastes and preferences for certain styles. I, for one, favor the close embrace salon style, for dancing. I love closing my eyes and feeling the rhythm of my partner’s body in a very close embrace, the wheeling hips, the cat-like torso, the connection spreading all the way around my shoulder blades and extending along the length of my left arm around his neck.
And sometimes, I love dancing in open embrace, exhilarated by the feeling of expansion, dancing into the big warm hand on my back, being led to create figures that are (at least in the imaginary sphere of my mind) art in motion.
I lovelovelove watching tango fantasia on a stage — the highly stylized showcase demonstrating the physical, musical, artistic capacities of this dance. And I love the way a particular person dances milonguero on a crowded dancefloor. And the way that couple dances open-embrace nuevo at that alternative milonga. And putting lots of ground pepper over my pesto linguine.
Ofcourse, there are practical solutions for particular situations. Huge figures are rude on a crowded dancefloor. Some people are over 70 years-old, and they stick to small tiny steps and a close embrace because they would dislocate a hip if they did a big boleo. Others do crazy steps because they can, and because they can do them well (or not so very well, a-hem). Some people love the chest-to-chest connection, but also want to do interesting figures, so they open up a little within the embrace…
There is no Real Tango. There is just good dancing, and bad dancing. We enter into a space, a space with a floor and music, and we dance. And that is it.
So to listen to people go all out and claim that tango nuevo isn’t tango, or that open embrace is not a tango embrace, or that the milonguero style is outdated, or that tango salon isn’t really tango because it has limited figural capacities, is just ridiculous to me. It is so annoying on so many different levels. In particular, numbers 2 and 6 and 22 and 23 and 25 and 26 and 30 and 35 and 37.
No one is forcing anyone to like it. So please don’t force others out of their joy by claiming that what they are doing is not what they are doing.
And did I mention I am going to unsubscribe from Tango-L?
Immediately.
[/RANT]
Here is an interesting link about The Argument:
Tango Styles & Attitudes, by Peter Bengtson of Stockholm.
It’s funny, one of my favorite teachers was saying that she loved her most recent trip to BsAs because they are so much more open and creative there – that people here get so uptight about doing it the “right” or “real” way. My teacher does all kinds of dance (modern, ballet, contact improv, etc) and was excited to see a lot of fusion in BsAs. Experimenting. Playing. Dancing. Because I agree, it is about dancing in a given moment under specific circumstances – and doing what is right for that moment. I also agree that lots of ground pepper is tasty on pesto linguine. ;)
Modern Tanguera
18 March 2008 at 2:08 pm
Bravo! This is one of my tango hobby horses, as you probably know. :) In my opinion one of the biggest problems in the tango scene outside South America is the mistaken idea that there is ‘One True Way’. One day I’ll get round to writing my own rant on the subject!
Psyche
18 March 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hola Nuit,
I’m the one who started the thread on Tango-L “There is only tango…” with this…”There is no open or close embrace…no traditional or nuevo…no milonguero
or salon…there is only tango…make this your mantra…”
I’m disgusted that this thread has digressed right back into this same old debate. I had hoped to shed light in a reverse psychology approach on the fact that the debate is stupid and divisive. I almost posted again to the list today. I was going to explain that my original post was not meant to be taken literally. But, I decided not to. One asshole on the list replied to my post with a link to a YouTube video of “cumbaya”.
The only saving grace (for me) is that the discourse on Tango-L does not reflect the real world. We don’t see this divisiveness at milongas. Sure, I get frustrated with a bad lead who has no floorcraft or navigation skills – but it doesn’t matter to me if he is dancing nuevo, salon, milonguero or whatever.
It’s sad that Tango-L is (almost) nothing but bitching, griping, complaining, oneupsmanship, who knows more, slapping people down, flaming, etc. There is really not much said there that is productive or beneficialy anymore.
Alex
19 March 2008 at 9:08 pm
*APPLAUSE*
RedShoes
19 March 2008 at 11:17 pm
I regard Tango-L as almost pure entertainment; it’s like the old days of Usenet, but with deeper cluelessness. There are interesting things on it sometimes – I loved the bellydance video. I’m not sure why there isn’t more artistic trolling than there is, given the participants’ willingness to lose their minds. Maybe because there aren’t enough regular posters.
msHedgehog
22 March 2008 at 12:55 pm
Absolutely true, tango is an evolution that continues. My only beef is with those who come to the crowded milongas and insist on doing ganchos and boleos. First and formost we must respect everyone one the floor.
Fantasia and show tango has its place, but surely that place is where there is space and it can be seen, on stage or on the street.
tangobob
28 February 2009 at 6:44 pm