[Tango-L] Social Tango

[Sergio Vandekier]

 Finally we are getting to the point.  . " The war must be in your imagination, not in mine. This discussion started because somebody showed a Video of "Stage Tango" and one or two membersdecided that that was not tango. Obviously they did not know that other tango styles existed. I then tried to explain that there are several tango styles and that they are very different from each other as they serve a different purpose.

 It would be interesting to know what you consider "social", I imagine that you would include Traditional Tango as taught by 75% of instructors as a social form, given the presence of available space.  

  The "milonga setting" in Buenos Aires is quite different from most milongas in the USA. There the milonga is very crowded and you can only dance milonguero. What seems to be odd is that here in USA there is plenty of room to dance and people put chairs and tables all over to leave a tiny corridor at the periphery to simulate the situation in B.A. So then they teach three steps and make their students dance all night long those same three steps in the "Crowded periphery" while the room is almost empty. 
 
 Very true, you could not dance Traditional Tango (Urquiza or fantasia, whatever name you wish to use) in the crowded milieu of the milongas downtown B.A.but you did not have any problem dancing in the USA where there is plenty of room to dance socially, with the boleos, the amagues and the needles,if you wish.

  People Dowtown B.A do not have any other choice, the room is crowded they have to dance milonguero. 

I went all summer to dance in Mar del Plata last year to Chique, Edad Madura, and "L'Alliance Francaise" and there, people dance traditional tango or fantasia. Why? because there is room to dance. 

  If you are ignorant about the existence of styles, you cannot make a conscious choice. Not when you see stage tango, traditional or canyengue, and you think that that is not tango. Because you have been told that milonguero is the only Authentic tango. 

 ""Authentic" tango is about energy, musicality, feeling, and the social energy of what Argentines call a milonga, not about style." 

 Right! and those elements exist in all the tango styles, not only in the Milonguero Style like some people want you to believe. 

People in the USA dance for about 50 weeks a year at home where there is plenty of room to dance, and two weeks in Buenos Aires.  Then they are told that the only true, authentic tango is Milonguero as danced in B.A., they frequently are taught three steps and given the title of Tango Dancer. 

 My intention is not to "create an imaginary war of tango styles" it is : 

 1 - To show that there are several tango styles, that can be used for social dancing, not only one. Traditional tango as taught by 75% of the teachers from Argentina (as per your calculations) is one of them.  

2 - that traditional tango will teach you a very rich form of tango that may be used both for social dancing and for exhibition. 

3- That the situation of room available to dance is different here than in B.A. - Here you do have a choice of style, there you are to dance milonguero because there is no room to dance. 3- Once you learn milonguero most likely you will dance that style for the rest of your life. Ther is nothing wrong with that, "if" tha tis your preference and not due to the convenience of the improvised instructor. 

4- For the hundreth time, I dance milonguero most of the time but when I feel like and there is room I like to do a boleo, an amague and a needle here and in Argentina......and I assure you, I disturb no one.   

Best regards, Sergio    
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