[Tango-L] Will close embrace go the way of the dinosaur?

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:39 PM, Mario <sopelote at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ...
>  Anyway, the new stuff is all happening in Nuevo, that's why it's called Nuevo...
>
>  My personal fear is that the close-embrace will be relagated to a few speak-easys in BsAs
>  and more and more dancers will be expecting distance between the leader and follower.
>  My turn-on is the connection. The music is wonderful but the Tango connection is like  making love,
>  even better in some ways. If this connection goes, we lose a lot...at least, I do.

By most accounts, what is now called 'tango milonguero' developed in
the 1950s, with roots in the late 40s by some accounts, so it is 55-60
years old. It survived 25 years of being out of custom in Argentine
society. Some form of tango in close embrace goes back in time even
further, quite possibly to the origins of tango in the late 19th
century.

There is no other dance that provides the close connection that tango
does. The longer a tango dancer has danced tango, the more likely a
close embrace is in his repertoire, and the more likely it is to be
used and preferred. These people are not likely to give up tango
anytime soon. The enjoyment provided by the close embrace is something
unique. It is also addictive.

Right now nuevo is popular because it is new and exciting. When nuevo
starts running out of new possibilities, it will lose some of its
appeal. A lot of people interested in nuevo are young and they have
life changes (marriage, children, career) ahead of them. Some of those
life changes will interfere with nuevo, not the least of which is the
physical changes that come with aging. Nuevo is for the young. Tango
in close embrace is for life.

I would predict that a greater percentage of dancers preferring tango
milonguero will be dancing in 5 years than those dancing nuevo. I also
think that if tango goes through a population decrease, nuevo will
drop in popularity faster than tango milonguero.

I think it is more likely nuevo will represent a tango evolutionary
experiment, one that may survive in some form, but in lower frequency
than it exists now. Perhaps it will evolve even more so that it will
be no longer recognizable as tango. Some say it is already there.

Ron