[Tango-L] Different styles of tango in Buenos Aires (was: Now that I'm here in

[Chris, UK]

Meredith Klein wrote:

> As the number of practicas explodes (at least 11 now, up from one or
> two in 2004)

Wow. At that rate Buenos Aires will soon catch up with Berlin ;)

(... where there are currently about 25 practicas a week.)

Chris


-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* [Tango-L] Different styles of tango in Buenos Aires (was: Now that I'm here in BA)
*From:* "Meredith Klein" <meredithleeklein at gmail.com>
*To:* Tango-L at mit.edu
*Date:* Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:16:02 -0300

Caroline is absolutely right that, in the milongas she describes (Club
Gricel, Nino Bien, Salon Canning, Confiteria Ideal) and in many
others, it's not appropriate to dance in open embrace or to throw
ganchos or boleos.  In these milongas, people dance in close embrace,
use fairly simple steps, and prioritize the flow of the entire dance
floor.  If people didn't respect these rules, it would be impossible
for hundreds of people to dance on the same floor, as regularly
happens at these milongas.

However, there is another set of milongas and practicas in Buenos
Aires where different rules apply.  At Villa Malcolm, Practica X, Soho
Tango, La Viruta, La Marshall, and many more, the dancers are younger
(mostly between 18 and 40) and get bored if they have to dance in
close embrace all night, doing simple steps.  They are always pushing
themselves and both competing and collaborating with each other to
find new possibilities in tango.  This includes creating new kinds of
movements, finding new ways to put familiar movements together, and
exploring new ways to interpret traditional tango music (usually at
least 80% of the music played in these milongas is golden age, just
like at the traditional milongas).

Does the inclusion of ganchos, boleos, volcadas, colgadas, soltadas,
llevadas, apoyaditas, and steps that don't have names yet mean that
the dancers automatically lose their connection to the music and to
each other?  By no means.  Sure, some of the dancers at Malcolm have
no musicality, but some of the Argentines at Canning can't step on the
beat either.  Many of the dancers at the practicas and altenative
milongas possess the same commitment to musicality and to connecting
with their partners that Caroline describes.

I want to make this point because I often hear dancers from the US
claim that the only true tango is the one that they see at Nino Bien
(close embrace, simple steps, using movements appropriate for a small
space) and it's simply not true.  As the number of practicas explodes
(at least 11 now, up from one or two in 2004) and the number of
younger dancers continues to increase dramatically, the diversity in
the tango scene here will only continue to grow.

What is very true is that Argentines and foreigners who know the
milonga scene in Buenos Aires are very sensitive to and respectful of
the rules that apply in each venue.  On Monday nights, the practica at
Villa Malcolm ends earlier than on other nights, so afterwards dozens
of dancers head over to Salon Canning several blocks away.  When they
arrive, you wouldn't know that they were the same dancers.  The women
who were wearing dance sneakers at Malcolm are now in Comme Il Fauts,
and perhaps they even put on makeup and changed their clothes to
better fit into the milonga environment.  People who were practicing
jumps, 360-degree underarm turns and colgadas at Malcolm are now
sedately and happily executing their ocho cortados.  Perhaps at 5:30
am, they'll start tearing up the floor again, but by then pretty much
everyone has gone home and no one cares.

Another point has to do with floorcraft.  In the practicas, as in the
milongas, the same rules about navigation apply (staying in your lane,
not passing the couple in front of you, continuing to move around the
floor so that the people behind you don't get stuck with nowhere to
go, and the most important one, not leading any movement that cannot
be safely executed in the space available).  Sure, it's possible to
get stepped on or kicked at a practica, but in my experience, it
doesn't happen more often than at a milonga.  I've seen every
conceivable kind of tango movement led and followed successfully in
the practicas without a floorcraft incident.  The difference is that
there tends to be more space per couple available on the practica
dance floor, making more things possible.  Nevertheless, on
exceptionally crowded nights at the practicas, the dancers end up
dancing more and more like they dance at Canning, for lack of any safe
alternative.

If you think of a tango teacher you've heard of or studied with who's
under 40, and you want to watch them dance, you're more likely to find
them at one of the practicas than at the milongas.  The level of
dancing in the practicas is often extremely high because half the
people in the room are professional dancers.  If you're into that kind
of thing, it's exhilirating to be in the same room with people like
Chicho Frumboli, Lucia Mazer, Eugenia Parrilla, and many more, and
know that you're watching the evolution of tango.  Even if you don't
like where it's going, you have to admit that every art form and
community must continue to grow and develop.  If not, it fades and
dies.

For this reason, I believe that, in general, the dancers in their 60s,
70s, and 80s do not disapprove of what the younger dancers are doing.
The great majority of the older dancers have absolutely no interest in
learning to do a colgada, and probably think it's a stupid thing to
spend your time doing.  They feel equally strongly about the stupidity
of making, listening to and dancing to electronic tango.  But these
people watched tango nearly die out do the prohibitions around
milongas and classes during the military regime.  Not only that but,
as hard as it is for us to believe, tango has for a long time been
totally uncool in Buenos Aires.  If you ask a teenager or young adult
here what they think about tango, they are most likely to answer that
it's boring, it's what old people do, and they would never want to do
it.  In this context, it's pretty miraculous that the youth tango
scene here is as vibrant as it is.  And for this reason, I believe
that, even if the older dancers hate lots of things about the younger
dancers (their clothes, music, steps, etc.), they're still glad that
the younger generation is out dancing.

A guide to the practica and alternative milonga scene here is
available on my husband's website:
http://www.andresamarilla.com/theguidepracticas.htm
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