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

[Meredith Klein]

> Chris, UK <tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
> Wow. At that rate Buenos Aires will soon catch up with Berlin ;)
>
> (... where there are currently about 25 practicas a week.)

Excuse me, I misspoke.  There are actually many more practicas every
week in Buenos Aires.  I was only referring to the ones specifically
aimed at the younger generation.  Other practicas take place in more
traditional venues and are attended by people who want to dance more
traditionally or are just learning to dance.


On Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:38 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
> 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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