[Tango-L] Social Tango: A Cultural Perspective

[TangoDC.com]

Looks like it's time for my "spitting cobra" routine again.

Short version:

Ron, your "theory" of tango rather conveniently suits your opinion, like 
the a priori argument that it is. You start with the premise that the 
tango is an Argentine social dance, and reason your way to that 
conclusion, sidelining potent international influences and "non-salon" 
developments categorically. One might ask where El Cachafaz and 
Petroleo, along with scores of other "battling" milongueros, fit into 
your overgeneralized history. Tango nuevo is perfectly in line with any 
history of the dance that includes Them.

And where did this naive idea arise, about social dances not having 
audiences? Aren't dancers continually checking each other out?

Your nod to "other" styles is peremptory, at best. "They belong on the 
stage." Meanwhile, here in reality, I've already made the point that the 
tango has always enjoyed a multiplicity of styles-- social styles. 
Sergio even backed me up on it, and he was the one I was picking a bone 
with. Now, the main difference between Buenos Aires and America, as far 
as stylistic plurality goes, is that in BA, if eyewitness reports are to 
be believed, style varies by barrio and by venue. Here, where 
alternative music is often in the mix someplace, and where honest-to-god 
Stage music is often played at conservative milongas (such as the few 
I've attended in Miami), style usually varies _by tanda_. This is the 
result of two different aesthetics, one local (BA) and the other 
occasional (US). Americans, young or old, have not shown me they're 
squeamish about torso contact. They _have_ shown me they're intensely 
curious about the different faces of the dance.

They have also shown me that, when they become attached to one 
particular style (to the exclusion of everything else), they become 
bigoted about it, make a big stink about "authenticity," and start 
flying the Argentine flag to mask the paucity of their proof.

As for your points, Tom-- I'm saying that (certain) social dancers cause 
problems on the floor _for each other_ too. If I dance fast and open, I 
can dodge them much more easily. The majority of those who dance open, 
from what I have seen with my own eyes, are not actually hazardous on 
the floor, despite the fact that less experienced dancers are, from time 
to time, afraid of their speed. There _are_ trick-dancers who cause 
trouble, but they are quite easily corralled by conscientious leaders, 
and adapt to the context without much complaint. The problematic 
"closeys," however, are nearly impossible to deal with. If I and two 
other attentive leaders cluster around them, backs facing, to close off 
their space a bit, we just get clocked.

Furthermore, I've got videos of older couples doing trick-heavy dancing, 
much of it (to my eye) improv. The idea that only young people with good 
joints are interested in tango nuevo, or more "visually" satisfying 
stuff, is nonsense. It appeals to people with a sense of adventure and a 
sense of fun, and what country issued their passport is wholly irrelevant.

And if you want to bring up community outreach, then tell me what you 
think would happen if you began recruiting inner-city (i.e., black) high 
schoolers who've grown up dancing to hip-hop. THAT would be something to 
see. I dabbled with it in Baltimore, and I'm sorry to say I haven't been 
able to follow up. But what have you done? Recruited more of your own 
demographic?

As for context... Yes, I agree with your stated principle 
wholeheartedly, and that's why I dance more than one style. Those who 
confine themselves to one style (and no one has to, regardless of body 
type: it's a choice), I hasten to inform you, are _ignoring_ context. If 
you dance the same way to Tanturi as you do to D'Arienzo, and you're 
beyond your first year of milonga attendance, you're not pushing 
yourself hard enough to develop as a dancer, "performer" or not.

Period.

Jake Spatz
Washington, DC


Ron Weigel wrote:
> In Buenos Aires porten~os don't have difficulty separating stage tango
> and social tango. This is the culture that created tango, so perhaps
> we should listen.
>
> In the early 20th century, Europeans and North Americans had their
> first exposure to tango. It was as shocking as it was popular, often
> considered too provocative for euro-norteamericano tastes. So it was
> sanitized and standardized to fit the cultural norms of the recipient
> cultures. Thus, today ballroom dance studios teach an American tango
> where partners at times separate part of the embrace or the
> International tango with bizarre head-flicking, both danced in a march
> like fashion to marching music with a strong drum line. This dance is
> an evolutionary derivative of the tango from Argentina, perhaps much
> accurately described as a fusion of a foreign form with an indigenous
> (ballroom) form and it is still called 'tango'.
>
> In the 1980s and 90s Tango Argentino and other stage shows introduced
> Europeans and North Americans to another version of tango - tango
> fantasia, as it is sometimes called. This type of tango is not
> normally danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires. However, exposure to
> the shows created a demand from viewers to learn this type of tango
> and they did and danced it socially. This learning and further demand
> was reinforced by continued travel of tango stage performers to the US
> and Europe to teach. Thus, a modified tango fantasia became the norm
> at US & European milongas.
>
> There are probably several reasons why modified tango fantasia became
> the standard social form in the US. Part of it is due to a 'founder
> effect', i.e., it was the part of the Argentine tango culture that was
> brought to the US. However, tango fantasia also met with acceptance in
> the US because it blended well within a recipient culture that places
> a value on exhibition - whether it is dance or sports or motion
> pictures. We are a culture that enjoys and reinforces visual display.
>
> Social (milonguero and other) styles of tango have had a more
> difficult route of cultural diffusion in the US. As an instructor of
> the milonguero style in the Midwest US, I have repeatedly encountered
> resistence against the idea of dancing with maintained chest-to-chest
> contact. North Americans are uncomfortable with close physical
> contact. Dancing at a distance and making large conspicuous movements
> is less personal, less threatening, more comfortable, more consistent
> with our culture.
>
> This is not to say that tango fantasia is bad or somehow inherently
> evil. When done well on the stage, it is an art form to be admired. It
> requires great skill. It is great entertainment. However, on the
> social dance floor, it can be dangerous. Stop talking about all the
> fantasia dancers who respect the line of dance. They are few and far
> between. More likely to be encountered are dancers with limited skills
> who cannot navigate well and are a collision danger to other dancers.
> I've had to learn defensive navigation on the dance floor because of
> them.
>
> Fantasia is adapted to the stage. Social tango is adapted to the
> social dance floor.
>
> Despite exposure to the social style of tango in the US, there is
> limited acceptance. I believe one important thing North Americans fail
> to understand is that one of the unique features of social tango that
> makes it such a powerful experience that we become addicted to it is
> that there is connection primarily through the tactile and auditory
> sensory modalities, not the visual. Tactile connection with partner,
> auditory with music, with the visual sensory modality used primarily
> by leaders to navigate so as to not collide with other people on the
> floor. In what other dance can we maintain an intimate embrace with a
> partner for 10-15 minutes, synchonizing our brething and heartbeats,
> bathing in each other's sweat, flowing to passionate music? The
> porten~os understand this. North Americans have difficulty letting
> down their defenses enough to experience this.
>
> This concept is very foreign to a culture that glorifies exhibition
> and finds interpersonal contact threatening.
>
> So perhaps a modified tango fantasia or the similar 'nuevo' tango will
> define tango social dancing in the US for a long time to come, much as
> American Tango and International Tango did previously. But remember,
> this is not the tango that is danced socially in Buenos Aires. That
> may or may not mean anything to most US dancers, which is not a
> surprising revelation, since North Americans are known worldwide for
> interpreting any cultural product in their own terms. Our inability to
> understand other cultures is one of the reasons we are considered
> arrogant and have so much conflict with other cultures all around the
> world.
>
> Ron
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