[Tango-L] rose in mouth, singlehandedly from one film?

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

On 1/9/08, Michael <tangomaniac at cavtel.net> wrote:
> Martin wrote:
> > what im  curious about is the genesis of the silly head
> snap the
> > public seems to associate with tango...
> *****************************************************************
> The "silly head snap" is part of International style tango.
> This style is used in competitive ballroom competitions. The
> social tango style, sometimes called American, doesn't have
> any head snaps. In the competitive style, the couples aren't
> allowed to separate but they can in American.

>From a (mostly former) ballroom dancer:

International ballroom dance can be used for social dancing, as it is
throughout most of the world outside North America (and sometimes even
in the US & Canada)

American ballroom dance (read "Fred Astaire" & "Arthur Murray"
schools) can be competitive. As far as I know, American ballroom dance
is rare, if not completely absent outside North America.

It is true that there is less American ballroom dance competition and
more of an emphasis on social dancing than in International ballroom
dance, with International Ballroom often (I believe predominantly)
used for competition in the US, but both ballroom styles are used for
both social and competititive dance.

Ron