[Tango-L] Outside Influences (was The Original Tango Festival)

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

The following is not meant to start flame-wars, so read no
further if you’re inclined to find controversy where none
is intended.


In the article, Fabian commented that he started CITA
because there were tango festivals going on worldwide but
not in BsAs.  What I found particularly interesting was
that his comment clearly showed that he was influenced by
what was happening outside of BsAs.  (For obvious reasons,
there is less of a need for a festival in BsAs than there
is in other countries.)  I also realized that the teachers
at CITA are quite accustomed to festivals from their
experiences in other countries.  Argentine tango teachers
are also doing their own festivals now in BsAs (Pulpo’s
Tango Week, Milongueando) and are actively recruiting as
they tour.  This is also relatively new.

Argentine teachers who tour have also become accustomed to
more relaxed customs.  Among them:
- asking a person verbally to dance,
- women asking men to dance,
- same sex dancing at milongas,
- women teachers.
No teacher that I know of has an issue with any of these. 
When the teachers are back in BsAs, I’m sure they follow
the local codes there.  However, it will be interesting to
see what happens over time as these teachers influence
generations of tangueros, who become the new milongueros.

Let’s look at women teachers in BsAs.  From what I
understand, women who teach without a male partner are not
held in the same regard as they would be in other
countries.  Graciela Gonzalez got a lot of flack when she
began teaching a class for women.  I recall a workshop in
Cleveland a few years ago with Milena Plebs and Ezequiel
Farfaro, who had only been dancing for about 5 years at
that point.  I had expected Milena to do most of the
teaching, but to my surprise, Ezequiel did the teaching.  A
more observant friend explained to me later that Milena was
feeding Ezequiel what to say next while people were busy
with the material.  He thought it was to preserve that
Argentine machismo.  In the U.S., it doesn’t phase people
to have a woman teacher as the main guest for a weekend of
workshops.  Perhaps this outside support has encouraged
more Argentine women to teach as the main teacher. 

So it is an interesting relationship, one in which the
outside world is influencing what is happening in BsAs
indirectly.  Has those living in BsAs noticed any other
changes due to how tango is being taught or danced
elsewhere?

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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