[Tango-L] Revised List of North American Tango Festivals
Stephen.P.Brown@dal.frb.org
Stephen.P.Brown at dal.frb.org
Thu Jun 15 16:28:26 EDT 2006
After many years of highly active participation, I have been mostly absent
from Tango-L over the past two years.
Burak may have a point that identifying events as emphasizing social
dancing can be interpreted as partisan on Tango-L--particularly after all
the endless and pointless debates about salon, milonguero and nuevo tango
styles. Personally, I don't accept any of these styles as being
preferable. IMO, these so-called "styles" are dialects that have largely
resulted from incomplete learning.
To recapitulate an idea that I expressed on Tango-L some time ago:
>>I think there are three principal methods for learning Argentine tango:
step patterns, small elements, and structural systems. These three
approaches are analagous to three pedagogical approaches that are used in
learning to play jazz music. Learing step patterns is like learning to
play memorized pieces of music including complete compositions and the
solos played by great jazz artists. Learning small elements is like
learning to play in short tasty phrases. Learning structural systems are
like learning scales and chord progressions.
Those aspiring to play jazz study complete compositions and the solos
played by great artists, short tasty phrases and the scales and chord
progressions. No one would expect to develop sufficient skill in taking
only one of these three approahces.
In tango, however, many dancers develop most of their knowledge of the
dance through only one of the three principal approaches of learning
Argentine tango. What is the consequence? Those who only learn step
patterns often appear to show good depth of composition and form, but find
trouble with improvisation, navigation and rhythm. Those who only learn
small elements often have good navigational and rhythm skills, but the
dancing can lack a sense of composition, form, style or depth of
improvisation. It's just noodling. Those who only learn a structural
system understand a complex set of possibilities, but may lack form and
have trouble fitting the concepts to the available space or the rhythm of
the music.
With persistent work, many people will break through the limitations of
the method by which they learned tango, but I think it is much easier to
develop a well-rounded mastery by pursuing all three methods of
learning.<<
Personally, I dance in a community that is largely non-partisan with
regard to style (we prefer to keep or partisanship personal), and I have
the arrogance to consider myself not limited as to style. Consequently, I
really don't think about the highly partisan aspects of Tango-L. My
identification of festivals known for emphazising social dancing was
simply intended to refer to those festivals that emphasize milongas over
classes--as is underscored by the heavy reliance on instructors who lack
performance credentials to lift them to prominence, (Some of the nuevo
and nuevo-milonguero festivals don't neatly fit such classification.) Of
course, the people organizing the events that empasize affordable dancing
over instruction are marketing their events as being for social dancing.
That is what they have to offer.
With best regards,
Steve
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