[Tango-L] bad Nuevo and the future

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- Heather Whitehead <heatherwhite3 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> The source of Nuevo's inferiority is that it is a
> movement based Movement. It is motivated by the
biomechanic possibilities. 

Sorry, but salon tango or any other tango has also been
motivated by biomechanic possibilities.  I don't think that
the music inspired any guy to say "Gee, I really feel like
kicking my leg between a woman's leg" (ganchos) or "I'm
really inspired to walk into her" (sacadas).  I'm pretty
sure those guys in the men-only practicas were
experimenting exactly with biomechanic possibilities, as
well as smoking cigarettes, discussing women, and doing
whatever it is guys do.

The difference between what happened then and what is
happening now is one of sheer scale.  Information is being
dissiminated faster than ever before.  People are traveling
a lot more and sharing all of this information.  And this
information is helping make tango more accessible to more
people of various backgrounds.  So it's taken a while for
it to be integrated into tango culture, but like or not, it
is happening.  I see this phase in tango as a transitional
period, the tail end of the renassaince.  What I also see
is a merging of nuevo ideas into "traditional".  Indeed,
some nuevo ideas have been in "traditional" tango all
along.  Single-axis turns is somthing Daniel Lapadula has
been doing for years and years but didn't know that it as
"nuevo".  "Linear molinetes" used to be called the
"grapevine".

And if you haven't noticed, more nuevo dancers are going
back to classic tango.  Jaimes Friedgen and Andres Amarilla
have been emphasizing the classic figures in their
teaching.  In Ann Arbor, hardly any alternative music was
played in their recent festival.  But this doesn't mean
that neuvo or alternative music is going away.  It just
means that people are now figuring out how to work it into
social tango much better than before.

And there are young male dancers out there who are getting
the thumbs up from teachers from all styles.  From the
nuevo teachers to the salon teachers to milonguero
teachers, including Susana Miller.  This is where I see
tango heading, and it looks good.

Here's a little perspective.  Years ago at a milonga, an
excellent close-embrace teacher and I were sitting down
watching one of my students.  He said "That guy could be
one of the best dancers in the East Coast if he'd only stop
doing that open stuff.  I'd give him free lessons to help
him."  And I thought, this young man hasn't had his first
real job, gotten married, had a kid, changed jobs or lived
life.  Would I encourage him to limit his life?  Heck no. 
Why would I encourage him to limit his tango?  On the
contrary, I'd like him to be the best dancer he could be. 
And he's become a wonderful dancer and colleague.  With
guys like him developing here and in other places, I'm not
worried too much about the influence Nuevo has had on
social tango.

Trini de Pittsburgh



PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
  Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh’s most popular social dance!
  http://patangos.home.comcast.net/
   



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ