[Tango-L] Tango Styles

[larrynla@juno.com]

Tom Stermitz, Sergio Vandekier, your evident knowledge, common sense, and sheer clarity of expression fill me with admiration.  That last is saying much, considering that I've been a professional editor and writer in a technical field, and now am working long and hard to turn my fiction-writing avocation into a vocation.

One comment.  Tom wrote "tango of each neighborhood always had its own 
distinguishing aspects" and Sergio agrees, also writing "this 
is less obvious in modern times".

Buenos Aires the megaplex is pretty big, holding about a third of the 40+ million Argentines, and taking up a few dozen miles in each direction. You can see why individual milongas might develop their own individual styles.

Countering that is the size of the core city itself.  Shaped like an ocagon that got badly battered in a fight, it is less than ten miles through.  Still plenty big enough so that until fairly recently most people only went to the milongas in easy walking distance.  (And many if not most still do that.)

Countering THAT is the public transportation system of BsAs.  The underground is extensive and being expanded and rides are cheap and as cheap as those of buses.  They do quit running at 10:00 pm, however, and the lines don't go all the way to city edge.  The cab system is extensive and cheap, also, with about 40,000 taxis.

Another factor countering the compartmentalization of tango styles is the communication system in Sergio's "modern times."  It has pretty much kept pace with those of other modern countries.  You could see black-and-white films in the 1930s with tango dancing in them and Argentina's film industry is quite healthy.  TV reception in the city has long been available, and it includes a 24-hour channel, Solo Tango, devoted to tango.  This includes shows on the history, personalities, music, culture, and dancing of tango.  Of course, most of the dancing is done by professionals doing choreographed routines, but they still provide some common expectations by viewers of what tango dancing is.

In addition Argentina is a very computer literate nation and there are often several internet cafes on each city block in the downtown area.  YouTube and similar video services can be seen on these computers, though I suspect playing the music aloud is frowned upon!  Plus date rates are low, especially when shared with sometimes a few dozen other people in the cafe.

Then, of course, Argentines (many of whom are English-literate) have access to foreigners yacking about tango in forums like this one.  No doubt they are highly impressed by us - though whether positively or the reverse is a question I am not eager to see answered!

Also - Huck Kennedy's question.  Yes, that's a short segment of paso doble Gloria and Eduardo did in the video you linked to.  (Notice that it had a few tango adornments.)  What a lot of people seem not to know, or to forget, is that Argentina is a modern country with many sophisticated, educated people fully conversant with what is happening around the world, and have long been.  That includes all kind of dancing, social as well as ballet and modern dance.  There is a big group of salsa fans in Argentina, and also of (ugh!) "International Ballroom" dancers.  And some of the best swing dancing I've ever seen has been in some milongas in Argentina.

And now the mention of canyengue adds yet another ribbon to the tapestry of tango.

All of this talking I have done on the communication and transportation systems of Argentina is to one point.  Tango dancers there have a sophisticated menu of dance moves each dancer can use to create their own unique personal style - such as, for instance, to move the arms usually raised up in most tango styles down to the waist level.

That experiment, like all experiments, will probably fail to show us any advantage in the efficiency and beauty of tango dancing.  But it might.  And those who lack the courage to risk failure by making such experiments are doomed, eventually, to a static and sterile kind of dancing.  That is fine.  It is their right to make that choice.  I choose otherwise.

Larry de Los Angeles
http://shapechangers.wordpress.com


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