[Tango-L] Milonga, etc.

[Jack Dylan]

> From: Keith Elshaw <keith at totango.net>
> 
> They didn't sit and listen to milonga. They danced it.
> 
> They danced their little asses off. Which is why we have a form. > 
> 
> It's laughable to say that milonga for dancing only came to the fore in
> the 1930's.
> 

Sebastián Piana doesn't seem to agree.
 
http://www.todotango.com/english/biblioteca/cronicas/entrevista_piana.asp 
 
Excerpt:
 
"Can we talk of a "Piana's Revolution" as far as milonga is concerned?
 
It is, simply, the change from a milonga -which was regarded as belonging 
to the south and the Pampas, without dance or danced in privacy, and dug 
by gauchos and payadores-, to the milonga porteña, owed to Maffia and to me."
 
Just in case there's anyone out there who doesn't know; Sebastián Piana 
wrote his first milonga porteña in 1932.
 
Before the 1930s, it doesn't sound to me like anyone was "dancing their little 
asses off" to milonga music. And there are plenty of other sources to support
that conclusion.
 
Perhaps Keith can provide sources for his opinion.
 
Jack