[Tango-L] obsession with nuevo

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Mon, 12/1/08, Tango Society of Central Illinois <tango.society at gmail.com> wrote:

The tango instructors from Argentina teaching in the US represent the sampling error in teaching primarily nuevo and fantasia, explicitly or
> implicitly represented as social tango, which it is not in Buenos
> Aires. ... The driving force is economic. Tango is a commodity to sell and the Argentine instructors sell nuevo and fantasia step patterns because
> there is a market of consumers with dollars (or euros or pounds or
> yen) in their hands willing to pay for something that fits cultural
> expectations.
> 
> Ron


I think you're correct, Ron.  My experience in working with salon teachers new to our community is that they tend to offer workshops with nuevo elements.  They seem a bit surprised when I eschew the nuevo classes for more basic steps or more technique-oriented classes.   And they seem quite happy about it.  The young American teachers on the circuit tend to make that same assumption, too, though I suspect that is mostly friends asking friends to teach.  I wish these elegant salon teachers would have more faith in the style that they do.  

Trini de Pittsburgh