[Tango-L] what makes milonguero, milonguero

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

Labeling a way of dancing tango as 'milonguero' gets one quickly into a
briar patch. In the US Susana Miller introduced the label 'milonguero style'
tango in the mid-1990s, involving close embrace in apilado frame directly in
front of the partner (i.e., not offset), with the woman's usual head
orientation being over the man's right shoulder (vs. inward towards the
man's center), and walking forward with the weight landing on the heels
first, among other things. To some degree one observes this 'style' of
dancing to be quite common among porten~os in certain popular milongas
occuring on an almost daily basis in or near downtown Buenos Aires (e.g., El
Beso, Plaza Bohemia, Lo de Celia, Club Gricel). However, those who dance
'milonguero style' in the US lack the richness and uniqueness of the styles
of the more experienced older porten~os dancing in these Buenos Aires
milongas, particularly with respect to musicality and improvisation, so that
in the US one sees a fairly homogeneous style of tango in close embrace that
is distinct from the more common and more diverse variants of tango danced
in an open frame, which has had input from a wider variety of instructors
from various various 'schools' or lineages of tango.

In Buenos Aires there is more continous variation among a much larger
population of dancers. The so-labeled for export 'milonguero style' exists
in significant numbers as a subset of variation in Buenos Aires, but the
posture, embrace, balance, walking and to some degree musicality and
vocabulary vary considerably among dancers, due in part to age, experience,
and neighborhood. However, it would be correct to say that the overwhelming
majority of porten~os (probably > 95%) dance tango in some variant of a
close embrace, with a minority opening slightly momentarily, typically only
on one side, for ochos and turns.

It should be noted that instructors using the label 'milonguero style' and
'tango milonguero' cover a wider range of stylistic variations than those
who use this label in traveling abroad.

The thickety area of thorns and bristles centers around the use of the term
'milonguero'. It is quite common, although not universally accepted in
Buenos Aires, to only call someone a 'milonguero' if that person was dancing
tango during the Golden Age (ending in the mid-1950's) and continued to
dance tango during the period of mid-1950s - mid-1980s when tango was in
recession. Another characteristic of a 'milonguero' is that tango is the
center of this person's life.

Some would say that only those dancing in an apilado frame are dancing the
style of the milongueros, although others would argue that offset frame,
more figure oriented styles characteristic of the outer neighborhoods
(marketed to some degree in the US as 'estilo de Villa Urquiza') is also
danced by 'milongueros' from these outer neighborhoods.


On 9/20/07, TimmyTango at aol.com <TimmyTango at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> My feeling about milonguero style is that a lot of people are not educated
> in
> knowing what the difference is between Milonguero vs Salon or close
> embrace
> style.
> I feel that a lot of people think they are dancing milongero only because
> they are dancing close to their partner. This is false in my book.
>
> To me:
> close embrace is not Milonguero.
> but
> Milonguero is close embrace
>
> Ask this to most people and I think a lot of people could not answer this
> well.
>
> It would be interesting to hear from the L list what you feel the
> difference
> is between close embrace (salon) vs. what makes it Milonguero and lets
> educate
> those who don't really know.
>
> It's my feelings that
> 1. A Milonguero is basically just walking his entire dance, very close,
> and
>   not separating or opening very much. (yes, they breath a little, but
> not much)
> 2. A Milonguero steps all of his turn to the beat of the music.
> 3. A Milonguero walks a higher percentage of the dance in the cross
> walking system vs. Parallel.
> 4. a Milonguero stops or pauses the lady on one foot, he is on two.
> 5.  A Milonguero does not do Gaunchos, or throw the lady up in the air
>     and land her on his knee. And a lot more embellishments.
> 6. Yes, a milonguero can do Boleos, but the women's foot stays on the
>     floor, not lifting up in the air.
> 7. a Milonguero dances for his partner, not the audience.
>
> NOW, would you like to correct any of my differences or add to the list.
> Please, I'd like to hear your thoughts
>
> Timmy in Cleveland
>
>
>
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