[Tango-L] Dancing socially to Piazzolla

[Joe Grohens]

Carol Sheperd wrote:

> As to whether or not Piazzolla wanted Piazzolla's music to be danced  
> to: it's common now for composers and musicians to avoid making  
> danceable music. The development of jazz made the individual  
> performers' improvisational explorations the raison d'etre of  
> contemporary music. A lot of musicians feel that accommodating  
> dancers constrains their creativity and limits their own  
> intellectual enjoyment of the live music experience. It also takes  
> the spotlight off them, the rest of the crowd always watches the  
> dancers rather than the stage.

There is a lot of truth in Carol Shepherd's post about musicans and  
dancers, and basically agree with everything she said.

I just want to add that I know a lot of jazz musicians who manage to  
survive by playing for weddings and dances. (I know plenty of "legit"  
players who do the same.) These gigs aren't blowing sessions. They  
might play some cocktail music, but there is also a demand for pop  
tunes and songs where people can dance waltz, fox trot, swing, etc. It  
depends on what the person who hired the bandleader asked for, and  
what the bandleader comes up with to make the attendees enjoy  
themselves. And musicians do love to see people dancing in these  
situations. It means they're doing their job. That's better than  
playing just background music.

In other words, many jazz and classical musicians may have musical  
ambitions unrelated to dance music, but that doesn't mean they don't  
know how to play dance music.

But I think that a problem with a lot of today's tango groups is that  
they don't have any idea what it means to play for dancing. (No  
offense. I respect the fact that they are playing live music. I just  
usually would rather that it not be at a milonga.) If a music ensemble  
plays Piazzolla at a milonga - for people to dance to and not as a  
concert break, I think it means that they just don't get it.

It would be like playing, I don't know, Giant Steps, at a swing dance.  
Yeah, it's technically still swing music, but who can dance swing to  
it, really?