[Tango-L] Tango Diversity under one big tent: Nuevo & milonguero happy together?

[Alexis Cousein]

Tango Society of Central Illinois wrote:
> There is nothing wrong in separating them into different niches, i.e.,
> separate events. Each can have its own atmosphere. Dancers can attend
> these different events and respect the environment intended by the
> event organizer. 

There's a word for that philosophy (one derived from a descendent of my
native language): apartheid.

I don't dispute the fact that you can organise events that will naturally
attract a different audience than others. That is quite inevitable and
need not even be forced - it's something that grows organically as long
as the local community is alive and kicking (and, best of all, it needn't
even cause sectarian attitudes).

But what you're suggesting should be done conjures up other thoughts, though,
that of *forced* segregation, where an "authority" would once and for all
decide where someone "belongs".

I hate to be pigeon-holed. I adapt to circumstances and the mood quite well
(either by adaptation or if necessary by voting with my feet),
thank you, and don't need someone to police me.

I've even been "policed" at *my own* milongas by people who insisted
that '50s d'Arienzo was infected and that I should stick to *instrumental*
music (God forbid you'd have to listen to a singer who makes the patterns
on which you weave your dance more rich from time to time) performed in
the '20s (the only *real* tango), so I'm not just talking about
hypothetical dangers of that general attitude.

I'm sure saying all of that will mark me as a despicable "nuevo" to
the guardians of several orthodoxies, even though they've never seen
me dance. Ah well.

-- 
Alexis Cousein                                  al at sgi.com
Senior Systems Engineer/Solutions Architect     SGI/Silicon Graphics
--
<If I have seen further, it is by standing on reference manuals>