[Tango-L] Tango Styles II

[Sergio Vandekier]

Jack you say "You can intellectualize it any way you want but there have been thousands of posts on Tango-L covering the subject of these 3 'styles' of dancing Tango.  Is everybody wrong?"
 
No, Jack everybody is not wrong, just few people are.
 
There are those that (in the mid 90s.) when I started talking about  tango styles that were developing in B.A. denied that there were different tango styles. Their argument was that "Tango was tango it did not matter the form or shape you dance. After all it is an improvised dance and there are many ways to dance".
 
The result of that attitude was a great confusion for the students and the organizers of teaching events. Just to give a couple of simple examples:
 
One week the students were told by Nito and Elba (traditional tango) to step toe first, to keep a variable embrace in V, to execute long steps,etc.
 
The following week Susana Miller (Milonguero tango) told those same students to step flat footed, to keep a continuous close embrace during the whole dance,to execute short steps, etc.
 
Then there were those that at the time heard Gustavo Naveira saying that 'Nuevo' was not a new style, it was a way of teaching traditional tango.  
He stated many times that he did not intend to develop a new tango style.
 
This group, not realizing that despite the initial intention of the creator;   that way of teaching traditional tango did indeed originate a new style,"Nuevo Tango" continue even today repeating the same: Nuevo is a way of teaching not a style.
 
Never mind that it is taught and learnt as a different style, that there are places where it is danced as a style. 
 
I find totally absurd that some people criticize the way others dance tango;
You may say I like/dislike the way so and so dances but you should have respect for the other dancers and their preferences. 
 
You dance the way you prefer as well, using a style that is appropriated to a particular milonga under certain conditions or room available to dance.
 
I consider legitimate complains in reference to some people not knowing how to navigate the floor; but the criticism should be directed against the lack of training of a particular dancer and not against a specific tango style.
 
Best regards, Sergio
 
  		 	   		  
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