[Tango-L] Who is leading? Who is following?

[Sergio Vandekier]

"I lead every thing. Everything! I lead her foot during the boleo...if she blinks, I lead that, too!"   Carlos Gavito

"Maybe what we are really debating is how much can Argentine Tango change, before it is no longer Argentine Tango. Unfortunately, I don't have the answer to that question."  David


As I grew up in Buenos Aires, I have had the chance to meet at one time or another, most of the great tango dancers of our times, my impression is that
they all, think like Gavito. I know this for a fact because I learned to dance from some of them.

All the ballroom dances are led by the man and followed by the woman.  I never heard anyone having any problem with that except in A. Tango.

It would be interesting to know why? only in A. Tango, and not in swing, or fox-trot or cha-cha, etc. 

Is it because the other dances are symmetrical? . While the man does some figure the woman does a mirror image of the same,  so both are doing the same, while in A.T. on the other hand, the foot work is quite asymmetrical, both members of the couple do different figures.

In Argentina    no one has  any problem with the man leading and the woman following either.  here people are proud to be either 
"a man" or "a woman" and they do not want any part of the other sex role, neither in life nor in tango, which is a reflection of life. They respect their individual feminine or masculine worlds. 

A. Tango IMO has a universal appeal in great part because it is one of the few places where the traditional roles of the man and the woman are preserved without consequences.

So in Summary the problem appears outside the place of birth of tango, where people invented all sort of euphemistic words in order to be politically correct, and many try to re-invent the dance, without success so far.  

Experimentation and evolution are good things,  but then, like David says, "how much, Argentine Tango, can change before it is no longer Argentine Tango.

Finally I get the impression that "the woman ignoring or fighting the man's lead" has a lot to do with poor leading, and perhaps this originated some different
style of tango, where the man leads, but in actuality he does not lead; where the woman follows,but in actuality she does not follow, who leads?, nobody leads ???, who follows, uhm? it seems that they both follow,  but...even in free styling dancing one dancer mimics the other most of the time.

Diversity is good.

Best regards, Sergio

















'La marca" became "an invitation" : what an invitation? IMO one that cannot be refused without upsetting the character of the dance.


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