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

Fri Sep 22 11:46:07 EDT 2006

Hi Nina,

  In my response I thought that you refered to authenticity of the technical dance.
  But you are refering to the "authenticity" of the dancer, which is even better. 

  There are authentic, "living their lives" persons in Buenos Aires, New  York, Hamburg and all the other port cities that hark back to the  portenos of yore. These are the stevedores,  the garbage men, the  construction workers, the prostitutes, the policemen, etc. 

  The problem is that few of these persons dance the Tango. Which is a  pity, since they have the forcefulness, the physique, the attitude, to  make great Tango dancers.

  To resolve the problem of incapability of the current generation of  Tango dancers to live up to the "authentic image" of the old-time  portenos, you suggest that they take acting classes...This is gooood,  very very gooood!!!! You made my weekend!

  Regards,

  Lucia 

Nina Pesochinsky <nina at earthnet.net> escribió:
  Authenticity is simple.  Do you pretend or do you 
live the role?  There are people who live 
authentic lives, and there are those who do 
not.  Which is which shows in their actions.  If 
you think that there is no "authenticity" in 
tango, or anything else, just try learning the 
Stanislavsky acting method and try to apply it to 
tango or something else! You might be amazed.

But, then, like the line from the film 'American 
Beauty" goes , "Never underestimate the power of denial!" :-)

Nina

At 08:07 AM 9/22/2006, you wrote:
>Nina,
>
>The "culture of Tango*" in Argentina is an 
>invention of romantic souls. There are Argentine 
>societal and behavioral norms and customs which 
>are part of its Culture, and Tango, as well as 
>all the other dances, are innately danced 
>conforming to those. Just like in your country.
>
>  "Authenticity" is yet another elusive romantic 
> invention. I surmise that you are knowledgeable 
> about the evolution of  the "authenticity" 
> movement in classical music. Same thing. It 
> cannot be achieved, and even if we could get 
> it, as authentic as it can be, ( via a time 
> machine?), chances are we wouldn't like it, for 
> our behavior and tastes have evolved (how would 
> you like to dance in public with a stranger who 
> presses your pelvis against his, with the hand on your derriere? but then...)
>
>Lucia :-)
>
>PS *There is a lively Business of Tango instead, maintaining the illusions....
>
>Nina Pesochinsky  escribió:
>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 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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>
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>
>
>
>http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat3.asp?id=2287
>
>
>Preguntá. Respondé. Descubrí.
>Todo lo que querías saber, y lo que ni imaginabas,
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---------------------------------
 Preguntá. Respondé. Descubrí.
 Todo lo que querías saber, y lo que ni imaginabas,
 está en Yahoo! Respuestas (Beta).
 Probalo ya! 