[Tango-L] Gender Roles

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Gender Roles

I agree with Sergio's assertion that separate male 
and female roles are essential to the Argentine 
tango. For the record, I am not reversing my prior 
position that I prefer to dance with women who lead. 
If people find these two conditions contradictory, 
maybe I will try to resolve that later. For now, I 
will try to briefly defend the argument that these 
two roles are necessarily distinct.

First, some a priori assumptions:

1. Argentine tango is an art, not a craft. 
(This distinction has been made before on 
the list. Use the archive.)
2. The essence of art is the elevation of 
the mundane to the sublime. 
3. Argentine tango is the sublimation of the 
mundane biological act of mating into the art 
of dance. If anyone is outraged by this assumption,
go look up "sublimation" before you flame.

Conclusions in reverse order:

3. There are very few rules about the relationship
between art and the mundane. But one is that the 
object of sublimation must be recognizable in the 
interpreted representation. There is a biological 
necessity for male and female roles in the act of 
mating. Any representation of mating, however 
sublime, must preserve those roles to have any 
meaning. This does not mean that the roles must be 
played by the respective genders, only that they 
must be played.

2. When Jake de DC described tango as the exact 
opposite of sublimation: the precipitation of 
voyeurism from art, I interpreted it as a clever 
inside joke for those who "get it". Did I give you 
too much credit Jake? I am referring to your idea of 
displaying the woman's legs. If you were serious, 
then you don't yet "get it".

1. You must be an artist to dance the Argentine 
tango. I believe that artistry is a basic element of 
human nature. It is often suppressed by unnatural 
forces, such as the drive for economic productivity 
(there are no artists in the oil industry). If an 
individual's drive for artistry is completely 
repressed, perhaps he may no longer be considered 
human. Interpreted this way, I accept Lucia's Faustian
argument. I believe that the rising 
popularity of Argentine tango is due to its ability 
to release long suppressed artistic urges. Through 
the pursuit of tango, economic resources revert into 
human beings. Thus the feeling among many tangueros: 
that they were not truly alive until (except when) 
they danced tango. Other forms of dance, which may be 
practiced as a craft, do not necessarily have this 
capacity for the re-humanization of their 
practitioners. Although, if practised as an art, the
type of dance is not relevant. Thus some (not me) may
find their humanity through ballroom or other dances.

Sean

PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society 
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance. 
http://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm


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