[Tango-L] Musicality. What is it?

[meaning of life]

please, no flame war!

why do some believe that you are only "doing tango" if it is done to "tango music"?

first, what is "tango music"? does it have to be pre 50's music from argentina that includes a bandeon? what if the music comes from another country? what if it is "post 50's"? what if it has electronics or drums, does that invalidate it being tango music?

isn't tango the dance of the "people"? weren't many of the dances played by local "pickup bands" just like the folk dance music of the u.s.? don't you think the bands played "fun stuff" and the dancers danced to it and everyone laughed and danced if it was danceable and booed and threw vegetables if it sucked and was undanceable?

if a ballerina dances to something that does not have "sugar plum fairies" is she not doing ballet? in my occasionally less than humble opinion, it is her heart, body and feet that make it ballet, not the sugar plum fairies; i think she is doing ballet.

when my ballerina dances ballet to tango music, is she doing ballet because that is what her heart and body are doing, or is it tango because of the music? again it looks and feels like ballet to me.

when pablo veron coreographs carmen on broadway in an musical that combines opera, ballet and tango, is the dance that looks like tango, not tango?

i think that tango is about spirit and intent, there are identifiable moves, customs and behaviors. it is these things that make it tango, not necessarily the music.

i think that tango is so personal and hard to define "specifically" that if the spirit and intent are there and it has the moves, etc. no matter what the music; it can be tango.


The Tangonista
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