[Tango-L] Expanding social dancing to exhibition level?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Hi all,

I hosted Jon & Judy a couple of years ago and found them to
be a nice couple.  My impression was that they were just
not very informed about the level of teaching going on in
the U.S.  Seeing that they moved to BsAs quite a few years
ago, I can see why that might be.

They did a nice job with conveying feeling and intensity
between the couple – sentimentio, I think is the word they
use.  It’s that aspect that could be perceived as more
"milonguero".   They both studied tango in the States when
the teaching as pattern-based, so their approach is more
"milonguero" in comparison to how they learned it.

As far as the "exhibition" side, I think Jon & Judy are
aware of the need to do demos to attract people to tango. 
So they add a few things to spice it up.  From what I’ve
seen milongueros seem to do the same thing.  Tete’s spun
Silvia around in a performance in Ann Arbor (to the delight
of their audience).  

I give Jon & Judy credit for specifying that these elements
are for exhibition, unlike earlier teachers who taught big
open figures and didn’t bother telling people that they
couldn’t be used in a crowded milonga.

Overall, my impression was that they were actually dancing
salon.

I didn’t have any issues dancing with Jon after making two
small adjustments:  1) going to the cross automatically
when we were outside partner and 2) loosening the embrace
slightly at times to make some figures work more easily.

The automatic crossing was what I found a little curious. 
When I started tango many moons ago, automatically crossing
was the norm.  In the States it is not for the most part. 
However, Jon indicated that in BsAs, it was still the norm.
 Any comments about this?

Trini de Pittsburgh



PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
  Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh’s most popular social dance!
  http://patangos.home.comcast.net/
   



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