[Tango-L] Reflections on competition and art form.

[Amaury de Siqueira]

I wonder... what is the side-effect of taking a socially grounded art form and making it a competition?

In a few instances that I know of the competitive execution of art forms have eventually transformed the fundamental way in which artist practices and execute the art form. 

Emphasis on competition may have the following side-effects: execution becomes geared towards fitting particular guidelines and standards (stifling creativity); scoring points become the ultimate measurement of a dancer; and the financial requirements of such competitions alienate talented dancers of low social economic status.  Anyone needing examples of what the future will look like for tango competition -- look at dance sport (formerly know as ballroom) and judo (competition vs. art form practice).

Amaury


--- On Tue, 6/10/08, Astrid <astrid at ruby.plala.or.jp> wrote:

> From: Astrid <astrid at ruby.plala.or.jp>
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Marketing or hype?
> To: tl2 at chrisjj.com, Tango-L at mit.edu
> Cc: tl2 at chrisjj.com
> Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 12:38 AM
> The URL for the 2007 World Argentine tango show
> championship's list of 
> winners  is this:
> 
> http://www.mundialdetango.gov.ar/tango_escenario_e.php
> 
> The Japanese winners and finalists are all dancers I know
> personally, 
> Chizuko still  works at the studio I go to for their
> milongas while her 
> partner Sebastian has returned to BA. The Korean couple who
> won 1st prize a 
> couple of years ago paid our milonga a visit on their way
> home to Seoul. 
> Gonzalo who won 2nd place last year with a Japanese partner
> never returned 
> to Tokyo after that. Cristian Lopez who won 4th place the
> year before that 
> with Rika has been bought up by another studio in Tokyo, I
> used to dance 
> with him every week.
> So, don't rush to conclusions if you just lack
> information, Chris. The video 
> of the teaching couple you posted does not look like they
> would be able to 
> win the Mundial in BA, but then you never know. Sometimes
> dancers just have 
> to know the right people and take lessons with someone who
> is on the jury to 
> score in these kind of events.
> There are also "world tango competitions" held in
> Florida, or were, at any 
> case,  the teacher who organised them would then proudly
> announce on tango-l 
> that all the winning couples had been among his students,
> except for Gavito 
> and Marcella and such...
> So, no need to take these results all that seriously, but
> these competitions 
> do exist. The proper name for th BA event is Campeonato
> Mundial de Baile de 
> Tango. Copes, Sergio Cortazzo and such people are on the
> jury.
> I would love to know more about the salon tango
> competitions but 
> unfortunately, teachers from Japan (Japanese or Argentine)
> do not usually 
> compete in that, but there were a few who went and one or
> two couples 
> scored.
> 
> Chris wrote:
> this UK teaching couple http://tinyurl.com/5pmbh4 who
> > claim to have won the World Argentine Tango Show
> Championship. Despite
> > there being no record of a World Argentine Tango Show
> Championship ever
> > having been held.
> 
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