[Tango-L] Social Tango

[larrynla@juno.com]

Carol Shepherd writes ---------> I compare dance 'styles' to dialects of the 
same language.

Beautiful analogy. Or maybe more, a fundamental reality. Thinking of dance as a 
language of the body puts a lot of matters in perspective.

The special nature of tango is that it has an enormously bigger vocabulary and 
ways to use that vocabulary than any other social dance.

Show tango is like a play. Its "author" is a choreographer who tries to create a 
work of art that pleases herself and others. Performers may do their job 
mechanically or try to add something special to the same moves done in the same 
order every night. A particular play may include sequences which are realistic 
or at least try to stay close to they way most people really dance. Or sequences 
that are fantastic, with lifts that show a woman seemingly floating through the 
air.

The show may done on an elevated stage so more people can see. Or it may be done 
in closed-off pedestrian street. Or in the middle of a dance floor by guest 
teachers visiting a city, who may improvise the show on the spot the way Irish 
bards were reputed to do.


Joe Grohens writes ---------> I dance differently with different women. I  
find that the embrace is absolutely unique with each partner I dance  
with. I don't know what the embrace will be -- I explore the  
possibilities on the first dance. I explore them further with each  
successive dance...

I feel the same way. More, the same woman may be very different in different 
times, maybe depressed early in the evening and jubilant later.


Sergio Vandekier writes ---------> At certain time and after being exposed to 
different types of tango you may have the chance to select the style you wish to 
dance.

More, you will CREATE your own style that takes a little from all your 
experiences. You (or someone else) may consider you to be dancing exclusively 
"nuevo tango" but a closer look will show you are putting your own unique stamp 
on it. This is why many of us get so angry when someone points out problems or 
limits with a particular style. We are so identified with that style that we
feel they are attacking us.


As in other languages, some people have more or at least different talents to 
bring to their dancing. Some are more creative, or athletic, or dedicated. Some 
feel freer to express themselves. Some are poets on the dance floor, others poor 
plodders, or tongue-tied.


Finally, styles are useful short-hand and convenient labels. But we must not  
mistake the labels for the reality. That would enslave us to abstracts, the way 
meteorological categories can blind us to the evanescent never-to-be-repeated
glory of a sunset.


Larry de Los Angeles


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