[Tango-L] Social Tango: A Cultural Perspective

[Ron Weigel]

Go back and read my original message. You are reading into it some
things I did not say. I made no claims about 'milonguero' style. I
specifically used the terms 'social tango', listing 'milonguero' as
one of these styles. Whether one likes the term or not, it is widely
used to describe a particular style of tango. Yes, it is the style I
teach. But that's not the issue I raised. It is one you raised.

On 7/12/06, El Mundo del Tango <mail at elmundodeltango.com> wrote:
> Ron...If  you  understood Argentine culture as well as you claim to, you
> would know that "Milonguero" is simply someone who goes partying and dancing
> all the time, for social purposes, whatever style he or she dances.
>  The word is used all over Southamerica , is not exclusive of Argentina and
> it may have nothing to do with Tango, depending on context.
> I think you know very well that you should be calling what you teach
> "Apilado"  o "Del Centro" but you desperately hang on to the "Milonguero "
> label to imply that you are the "real thing", "the authentic one" and the
> next guy is NOT .
> Others like you do the same thing with the labels "Close embrace" or "Buenos
> Aires style". Shame on them and you. You are excluding and offending
> millions of milongueros, who never danced such style. Not  now, not in the
> Golden ages, not in Buenos Aires, not anywhere . Anybody who doubts this,
> can refer to Pepito Avellaneda's videos or discuss the issue with living
> legend milongueros Facundo Posadas or Julio Balmaceda, to name just two.
> Salon and Nuevo,  like it or not, are also "social ", were also created
> (Salon, half a century before the so called "milonguero") and are danced in
> Buenos Aires, depending on which Milonga you attend, and  can also be danced
> in close embrace, even closer.
> I agree with you and Tom  that we all must use judgement  to  adjust to
> circumstances and context, but that has absolutely nothing to do with style.
> Horrendeous navigation come in all styles and is more a matter of attitude
> rather than skills or lack thereof.
>  To lift your partner over yor head or have her hanging around your waist I
> agree is not "social", but I heard the same thing said about boleos,
> sacadas, enrosques, colgadas, etc. It sounds to me, agreeing with Jake, like
> a lame excuse for not making the effort to aquire the skills to be able to
> do them.
>
> Gabriel
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Weigel" <tango.society at gmail.com>
> To: <tango-L at mit.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 2:37 PM
> Subject: [Tango-L] Social Tango: A Cultural Perspective
>
>
> > 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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> >
> >
>
>