[Tango-L] World Championship - Why not?

[Chris, UK]

> Do the competitors really care whether they place 1st, 5th,
> or 40th?  I really don’t think so.

Earth calling Trini, Earth calling Trini...

--
Chris ;)







-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* [Tango-L] World Championship - Why not?
*From:* "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos at yahoo.com>
*To:* Tango-L <Tango-L at mit.edu>
*Date:* Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:52:34 -0800 (PST)

Hi listeros,

Someone asked whether there is a contest for ballet
dancers.  Yes, they are called "auditions".  In Argentina,
I imagine they hold auditions for all of those tango shows
down there, so the idea of a competing for prizes would
seem quite natural there.  Isn’t it true that tango
competitions have existed for years at the milongas? 
Similar to the ones they had in the States during the big
band era.  So why not now?  Why not on a bigger scale?

Frankly, I hand it to those competitors who have the
gumption to put their tango up for public criticism.  That
takes guts.  And it shows how proud they are of their
efforts. I think bashing Competition just because of the
idea of it takes away from these dancers efforts.  And it’s
not just personal expression but technical skill as well
that is being judged.  The latter is certainly worth
exploring.  Iif a Competition happened locally where I
could see some really good dancing, I’d go and watch.

I’ve met some terrific dancers and teachers who competed in
Argentina.  Richard & Colette of Miami and Oliver Kolke,
currently in NYC.  Wonderful people, excellent dancers,
teachers talented enough to be asked back to
Octoberfest/Valentango.  And I would never dream of telling
them that their competing in a tournament means jacksquat. 
On the contrary, I think it’s great.  Some of the comments
on this thread seem to be saying that their efforts were
jacksquat.

Do the competitors really care whether they place 1st, 5th,
or 40th?  I really don’t think so.  I think they are just
proud to have demonstrated their work to a large audience. 
One thing about a Competition is that it encourages you to
work a lot harder on your tango.  Is that so bad?

So the real issue is about how a Competition is judged. 
Rather than make comparisons with ballroom, perhaps it
would be more productive to emulate, say, ice skating
ratings.  I don’t know how the final round is judged, but
are the competitors always judged in a group?  Are the top
5, for example, asked to perform individually?  I think
that would encourage more unbiased judging just on
technical skill.  Let the judges pick the song to help keep
things improvisational.

World-wide competition on Argentine tango is still young,
correct?  So, of course there will be bugs in the system. 
I hope that with time and experience, these bugs can be
worked out.

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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