[Tango-L] Argentine Tango on Dancing with the Stars

[Nina Pesochinsky]

Authenticity is an illusive thing in Argentine tango.  There are 
people who fake the dance and there are also people who fake the 
culture.  I know many foreigners who are much more Argentine than the 
Argentines are.  Are they faking it?  I think not.  To preserve the 
culture, you need the authentic and the fake, and only when they 
meet, the nature of each is revealed.

The interesting thing is that we associate tango with Argentina, 
while most Argentines do not associate themselves with the 
tango.  Many Argentines profoundly dislike it.  These Argentine 
people, who live in the modern Argentine culture, do not live in the 
culture of tango.

If the dance is authentic, it speaks a universal language.  It is 
impossible to teach the culture of the dance to people who have no 
emotional connection to that culture.  But it is possible to teach 
them to dance in an authentic way.

Best regards,

Nina


At 06:17 PM 9/21/2006, you wrote:
>The fact that argentine tango is a cultural dance seems to have been totally
>overlooked by American 'teachers' too.
>
>Neil
>
>
>On 9/22/06, JFPaloma at aol.com <JFPaloma at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > I would encourage everyone who has an opinion about what was presented as
> > Argentine Tango last night on DWTS to e-mail the show.   Argentine  Tango
> > will
> > always be looked upon as a step-child by mainstream shows/films and  their
> > producers unless there is a tremendous and articulate  protest.
> >
> > We need to do this, not only to defend the dance we all love, but so that
> > what we saw last night doesn't stay inside us and eat us up.
> >
> > And we need to address the fact that when a presentation of
> > Argentine  Tango
> > is made, the music should be a TANGO.  The fact that Argentine Tango  is a
> > cultural dance seems to have been totally overlooked by the producers
> > and  the
> > music director.
> >
> >
> > If you go to abc.com and then to the Dancing With the Stars
> > message  board,
> > you will see that the thread about bad tango performances has  already
> > started.
> > But at this point there are only a few.  If the  message board is flooded
> > with postings, the producers will pay attention.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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