[Tango-L] Genre Bender

[Rod McRae]

I simply had to stop lurking after viewing these last few posts. To you so called traditionalists, I say - after the first couple danced a Tango in Argentina, everyone who followed and added or changed the way a step was done should technically be called "Nuevo", since they had altered the accepted dance step done to that point. The same with the musicians. To me all dances should be defined by the techniques employed and if you think that Argentine Tango is a totally unique way of dancing, think again. You will see theft from many different dance styles encorporated into Tango. If you want to pigeon hole Argentine Tango, and limit the way it should be performed, then call it a folk dance and by doing that you will be able to say if it isn't danced in a very particular way it is not "Tango". Every dance genre changes, dance is as much an interpretation as it is a style. Personally I prefer to define a dance by the basic technique employed. As for how to dance Tango at a milonga, the rules have been there long before I took my first dance step in 1951. They were common sense rules of traffic control, they were not invented by Argentine Tango dancers per se. I have often felt that A.T. was a result of people wanting to dance to music more commonly known as Foxtrot or Waltz, or Two Step or whatever, but didn't actually know the steps, so improvised, hence inventing Argentine Tango. No one can really prove the origin of the dance or the music definitively, it just evolved. I also believe if it is a worthwhile dance style it will continue to evolve in style, while hopefully allowing the heart of the dance, which is the feelings it evokes when the emotions of the music and the motions of the bodies combine well.