[Tango-L] Social Tango

[Joe Grohens]

Sergio enumerated many advantages to classifying tango into "types".  
It helps people know what they are getting into, it avoids confusion  
from accidentally hiring teachers of the wrong style. It allows people  
to know the purpose of the dance technique they are learning. Etc.

I would like to add an advantage to thinking in terms of styles. Using  
a named distinction between tango styles can help people focus their  
attention on certain properties that you want them to see. If you say  
"you see, in milonguero style, the couples maintain constant torso  
contact, and in salon style they have the freedom to separate," those  
categories are part of the  language used to point out a feature in  
the actual dancing. It is undeniable that people can learn a lot by  
talking and thinking about stylistic or typological differences in the  
tango dancing that they observe.

But I think problems arise when people start to believe that the  
styles are real things. I think the reality of styles is primarily in  
the context of discussion and observation, and not inherent in what's  
being done on the dance floor. (Unless someone is doing a rules-based  
imitation of an academic style.)

A style is an invented classification that people use to try to sort  
dancers and their behaviors into groups.
Styles are based on opposition. You have tango for the stage and tango  
for the salon. You have tango done by the people in the suburbs  
(orillero) and you have tango as it's done in the city center (salon).  
You have tango from the old times (traditional) and you have tango  
from today (new). You have tango salon style and tango club style.

In every rhetorical context the meaning of such types is going to  
change. It is not like looking at breeds of dogs and saying, yep, this  
is a wolfhound, this is a terrier. Our classifications of tango are  
ambiguous, subjective (one man's close embrace is another man's open),  
and almost purely intellectual constructs imposed on a freely-evolving  
dance language. The validity of the types of tango depends on what you  
are trying to say about the tango.

At the beginning someone said "OK guys, you've been learning stage  
tango, I'm going to show you how milongueros would dance it." Then  
later "milonguero style" became codified according to the personal  
style of one teacher.

In reality, there is no one way that milongueros dance. There is no  
"one" way that social tango is danced in Buenos Aires. Diversity and  
individuality obtain everywhere you look.

....

When I dance I do not think "I am going to dance milonguero style." I  
do not think "When I go there tonight, I will dance salon style." I do  
not think "That milonga is going to be tango nuevo style." I do not  
think "with that woman I will be able to dance xyz."

I do not think about that!! I go to dance where I think the music will  
be good, the dancers will be good, and the floor will be good. I never  
think about what style will we be dancing.

I do not know how I am going to dance when I get on the floor. I do  
not know how I am going to dance when I hear the music. I do not know  
what I am going to do when I get her in my arms. I do not even know  
what style of tango I am dancing while I am dancing. That is because I  
am not dancing "a style".

Often people come up to me and ask "Joe, what style of tango is it  
that you dance?" I have never had an answer for that. I used to think  
that was my problem, and that I needed to find my "style".  Actually,  
it is not my problem. It is a problem caused by teachers and marketers  
and catalogers constantly imposing the idea that  tango is segregated  
into mutually exclusive styles, and implying that dancers have to pick  
a teacher according to his or her style, have to choose a style for  
themselves to dance, have to dedicate yourself to a style, and have to  
eschew all other styles. ("But buy mine, while it's hot.")

The worst part is when I ask someone to dance, and she says "I hope  
that you aren't going to dance open embrace with me." Or "I hope that  
you aren't going to dance close embrace with me." Or "I only know how  
to dance close embrace style." (or it's opposite, I get both.) Or I'm  
on the floor dancing and the woman I'm dancing with says - "Oh, you  
are dancing milonguero style." (or it's opposite)

I want to scream and pull my hair out. I am not dancing "a style." I  
am dancing with you.

I want to say "Stop talking about styles and just dance with me. I  
don't care what it's called, I'm going to find a way to dance with  
you, and it's going to be good if you don't poison it preconceived  
ideas."

Instead I say "Oh, OK, well, I hope I will be able to dance in a way  
that you will like."

-joe