[Tango-L] Masters of tango as a social dance

[el turco]

As a pedagogist, after Janis' 2nd post, i have decided to write this post in
detail.

Janis said "Sixty years experience in what?  Ricardo Suarez has danced 65
continuous years in the milongas."

Although i respect milongueros as part of the Tango culture, i analyzed that
dancing in milongas everyday over 40 years or whatever this does not
guarantee refine Tango Pedagogy skills.

No milonguero have taken classes or specialty workshops in their life. No
doubt Tango life was different those days, building skills in teaching dance
requires much more than just dancing. We know that in Tango unlike Flamenco,
mentorship wasn't popular among milongueros those days.

Of course each milonguero might have developed invaluable elements, but most
of them had no clue or tools how to transfer their experiences or knowledge
to someone from next generation. Also, "I show, You do it" is not a very
efficient pedagogic tool unfortunately. Most of them are just tango dancers
who were dancing every night for fun, meeting new people, developing the
"brotherhood", and being part of the social circle like these days'
"clubbers".

We live in 21st century, even in BsAs Tango scene continue to change, there
are more people dancing Tango outside Buones Aires. The popularity of Tango
continue to decline in other Argentine provinces, and thousands of
non-argentines start teaching Tango all over the world. The Sentimentalists
don't like this picture but Tango is NOT a folk dance of Argentina, Tango
does not have a country, it's immigrant itself. It's a socio-cultural
phenomenon along with it's music, and dance subforms.

Since it's a living culture, Tango music industry is also changing.
According to the records, In 1946, there were 650 registered Tango
orchestras in Buenos Aires, now everyone plays recorded music, killing the
tango music industry right at home of Tango.

Tango is Art form, requires expertise, systematic information flow.
Tango Pedagogy & Sustainability in Tango Communities:
As many of you can see that European Tango scene is much more healthy than
here in US not only because of 15 year- cultural gap between two continents
but also the difference in understanding of Tango Education between US and
Europe. There is no tango school concept developed in US yet, couples or
individual teachers teach by themselves rather than getting together and
combine their skills.

We need to keep looking for efficient ways to transfer our experiences,
knowledge to our students, We live in Information age, It's up to us
(dancers, teachers, organizers, community leaders and any tango aficionados)
to support Argentine Tango Culture in our home towns.

Some might get angry but, I strongly believe that the journey Argentine
Tango  has begun in Buenos Aires however, it's future depends on outside
Buenos Aires.

Bests,


Burak Ozkosem
Chicago
tangoeclectique.com



On 9/4/07, Janis Kenyon <Jantango at feedback.net.ar> wrote:
>
> Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 01:50:33 EDT
> From: Mrizik at aol.com
> Subject: [Tango-A] World-renowned maestros in Eugene, Oregon
>
> WORLD-RENOWNED  MAESTROS, PERFORMERS & CHOREOGRAPHERS
> MARIA & CARLOS RIVAROLA
> On their  world tour In Eugene, Oregon
> SEPTEMBER  26 - OCTOBER 3, 2007
> All in one package:
> 1.  Masters of tango as a social dance.
> 2.  Information and teaching from maestros of maestros.
> 3.  Indisputable experience: more than 60 years combined
> between the two of  them.
> 4.  History: Cast members of Tango Argentino, the show
> that brought tango dancing  to the international community.
> 5.  Choreographers & Dancers of the movie Tango, by Carlos Saura
> (Academy nominee) Naked Tango, and Tango Bar>>>
>
>
> Here we go again.  More big hype to get people to sign up with the stars
> of
> tango.
>
> Yes, they were members of Tango Argentino in New York City in 1986, along
> with Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau, Hector Mayoral and Elsa Maria, Juan
> Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves, Elvira and Virulazo, Nelida and Nelson
> Avila,
> Rodolfo and Gloria Dinzel.  Each danced their own choreographies in the
> show.
>
> Yes, they teach classes at Escuela Argentina de Tango at Centro Cultural
> Borges.
>
> Yes, they were choreographers and dancers in Tango by Saura.
>
> But masters of tango as a social dance?  They never dance in the milongas.
> They are ex-stage performers who teach.  They have been on the judging
> panel
> of the campeonatos.  They dance exhibitions.
>
> A friend of mine had a private lesson with Carlos Rivarola about six years
> ago.  She paid him $100 for the hour.  I asked her what she got for the
> money.  She couldn't tell me.  I asked her why she would study with
> someone
> who never dances in the milongas.  I thought she wanted to improve her
> social dancing.
>
> Sixty years experience in what?  Ricardo Suarez has danced 65 continuous
> years in the milongas.
>
> If you are interested in becoming a better social dancer, I suggest you
> find other teachers.  They have no experience in the milongas of Buenos
> Aires.  They have name recognition for being in a show that toured the
> world.
>
>
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