[Tango-L] There is only tango...

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 2:06 PM, David Thorn <thorn-inside at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  >From Meredith's postings, and from having spent time understanding Andres' background ( andresamarilla.com ), I assume that Meredith has a fairly good and broad understanding of the entire BsAs tango world.  In particular, I would need significantly more evidence than I have seen to believe that the under 40 year-old dancers, and especially the under 30 y.o. dancers,  do not dance open / nuevo when a particular Milonga's etiquette permits.  And her posts seem to indicate that at some Milongas, etiquette does so permit.
>
>  The result is that I am very sceptical of such blanket remarks as:
>
>
>  "Forms of tango where the embrace is opened, often classified as 'tango
>  fantasia' or 'tango nuevo' are reserved for the stage or for
>  exhibitions at some milongas."

Please do not quote out of context. Earlier in the same message I stated:

"In Buenos Aires, there is 'tango de salon', the tango danced in the
milongas, and there is tango for the stage or exhibition. There are
also practicas (Villa Malcolm, Practica X), where 'nuevo tango' is
danced, that latter considered inappropriate for milongas."

Also, consider the statements of Andres Amarilla, tango partner and
husband of Meredith Klein:

http://www.andresamarilla.com/theguide.htm
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One of the best things about dancing tango in Buenos Aires is the
variety of "scenes" to choose from. If you go to Club Sunderland on a
Saturday night, for instance, you'll see that everyone is dancing in a
close embrace and more than 75 couples may be crowded on the floor.
Although some younger dancers go to Sunderland, most of the attendees
at this milonga are over 50. Both the music and the dancing are firmly
grounded in tradition. It would be totally inappropriate to open the
embrace here or to lead moves like ganchos or boleos, which require
more space. Rather, it's best to relish the opportunity to dance on
the same floor with—and in the same style as—these extraordinary
dancers, many of whom have been dancing for decades.

More and more, however, young dancers in Buenos Aires are interested
in dancing in environments where there is space to dance in open
embrace and to try new steps. If you walk into Villa Malcolm on a
Friday night, for instance, you'll see about 50 couples—mostly in
their 20s and 30s—flying around the dance floor. One pair will be
trying to make their new "colgada-then volcada-straight into two
ganchos" combination work, while another pair may be incorporating
lifts taken straight from contact improvisation into their tango. If
you talk to these dancers, some will say they are dancing "tango
nuevo"; others will say that they are simply dancing tango. Since
these kinds of movement and exploration are often called nuevo tango,
we have adopted that terminology for this guide.

In Buenos Aires, nuevo tango is generally danced in practicas, as
opposed to milongas (although there are a couple of milongas aimed at
the nuevo tango dancers). The practica scene in Buenos Aires has
exploded in the last two years. Whereas in 2004, there were only a
couple of practicas each week, now you can choose among two or more
different practicas on some nights.
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In Buenos Aires, nuevo tango dancers (for the most part) respect the
norms for the environment they are dancing in. Nuevo tango and tango
de salon are danced at different events. There are over 100 advertised
milongas per week in Buenos Aires, and some more that are not
advertised. Among events called 'milongas', there are apparently 3
'milongas' (La Viruta, La Catedral & La Marshall) where the
traditional rules of social tango are not in effect. Between these
practicas and alternative milongas it is possible to go to Buenos
Aires and dance nuevo tango every night of the week and come home and
say that you did not see any traditional tango. You may even meet a
lot of people from your home country at these events.

Ron