[Tango-L] la dulce vita

Nina Pesochinsky nina at earthnet.net
Tue Jul 17 00:16:53 EDT 2007


Great points, Sean!

I have observed that American men, in general (with exceptions, of 
course) seem to prefer to appear casual and "down-to-earth" instead 
of dashing and debonaire.  It shows in tango.  Why do you think this 
is?  Is it the historical heritage of the country?  Is it the pop culture?

This is disappointing...I really like dashing and debonaire dandies, 
in life and in tango.

Argentine culture is so much more formal than the American culture... 
Now I am getting all teary-eyed and sentimental...

[back to reality]

About the world-class dancers - neither America, not any other 
country other than Argentina seems to have managed to produce one 
yet.  If you are not Argentine, you cannot be a world-class tango 
dancer and might as well forget about it because the world of tango, 
with all the "classy" dancing,  begins and ends in Argentina.:)  This 
is an absolute.  But it helps all the other people in the world to be 
free just to dance.

Best,

Nina






At 04:09 PM 7/16/2007, Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
>Hi Dani,
>
>Italy is not like the rest of the world. (Like you didn't
>already know that.) Even many of the traveling Porteno
>teachers agree that the Italians are among the best tango
>dancers in the world. Maybe this is because Italian men are
>so competative with each other. Maybe Italian women prefer
>good dancers. Whatever the reason, what works in Italy
>doesn't work in the rest of the world.
>
>American men don't compete to be the best dancers. They
>compete to have the biggest SUV. Maybe because American
>women prefer la viva rica to la dulce vita. OK, that
>stereotype might not be fair to the tiny minority of tango
>dancers. But it may be fairly applied to most of our
>population. And at some level those cultural values still
>influence our tango dancers.
>
>In a culture that values surplus quantity, teachers must
>work very hard to inspire their students to strive for
>quality. On the other hand, teachers who are out to sell a
>step a week can make an easy profit in the short run, at
>the cost of destroying our dance environment.
>
>Sean
>
>P.S. Don't put too much stock in Keith's "world class"
>ideal. Budwiser beer and Armani suits are both world class
>products. But I'm not ready to abandon Guiness or Zegna. I
>suppose I am one of those rare people who prefer quality
>over brand names.
>
>
>
>--- Club~Tango*La Dolce Vita~ <dani at tango-la-dolce-vita.eu>
>wrote:
>
> > Club ~Tango*La Dolce Vita~
> > ~ Dani Iannarelli ~
> >
> > Dear HongKong Keith and all othet List Tangueros,
> >
> > >Yes Sean, we read a lot on Tango-L about all the new,
> > modern methods you Americans have
> > >devised to teach Tango. Strange though that, so far, it
> > hasn't produced a single world class Tango dancer. Keith
> > HK
> >
> > Nice one, Keith...! Great stuff!
> > But... methinks there will now be a litany of flaming
> > coming your way... good luck!
>
>
>
>
>
> 
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