[Tango-L] IV Campeonato Mundial de Tango -- Saturday Night--Live at the Salon Tango Finals -- Part II

[Janis Kenyon]

There are two kinds of competitors: those who follow the rules and those who
dance to impress the judges even if they break the rules.  Once again the
two-bar rule was ignored.  It states that couples shall constantly move
counterclockwise and avoid remaining in the same place for over two musical
measures.  I'm a musician, so I know how to count two musical measures in
2/4 time.  I can teach anyone in about a minute how to recognize dancers who
ignor the rule.  I don't know why it exists for the world competition.  It
is never enforced.  The 2006 winners ignored it every tango they danced.
Another rule prohibits ganchos, leaps, and other stage tango possibilities.
Aren't voleos, like ganchos, something for stage?  They are dangerous on a
social dance floor.  The couple that placed fifth did their share of voleos.
I suppose the judging criteria is left to the discretion of what the judges
like and will permit.  Afterall, they are mostly retired stage performers
who teach. They're used to ganchos, voleos, saltos, etc.  Foreign
competitors seem to take the judging criteria more seriously than the
Argentines.

Dancers living in and around Buenos Aires have it easy.  They register, show
up and dance.  No hotel reservations to make, no airline tickets to buy, no
trying to find their way around a foreign city where they don't speak the
language.  Japanese competitors travel 36 hours at great expense to arrive
in BsAs, while locals take a bus for 30 minutes for 80 centavos.  I have to
give credit to the foreign participants for whom the world competition is
more than a quick trip to Palermo by bus.  The prize money would hardly
cover what they have to spend in order to participate.  They come to
represent their country.

Six of the top ten finalists in salon tango are Argentines.   Of those six,
four couples live in Buenos Aires.  The other two are from Rosario, Santa Fe
(a northern province) and General Pico, La Pampa (province west of BsAs).
It was announced that Rosario had the largest number of competitors outside
of Buenos Aires, and Colombia was the foreign country with the most
competitors.  This seems to have been reflected in the results.  Rosario
placed third, and Colombia placed seventh in the top ten.

All of the top ten finalists in salon tango are under the age of 45, if not
under 40.  The couple from La Pampa who placed second was an audience
favorite.  Although short and quite heavy, he showed great feeling for the
music. They didn't do anything fancy, and they communicated more than those
with flying legs.  The Russians who placed sixth are the first from their
country to place.  They danced some choreographic figures in the finals
compared to their elegant salon style in the semifinals.

This competition is not how well you dance, it's who you know and what you
can get away with.  That was never truer than this year concerning the
winners. They are stage performers who did their choreographic tricks to get
applause from an audience who doesn't know the difference.  If this wasn't
arranged, then I don't know politics.  They placed third last year and had
nothing to lose in competing again.  The man in his sixties seated to my
left made this comment after the announcement of the winners: they don't
dance salon tango; they gave them the prize because she's pregnant.  I have
to agree with him.