[Tango-L] What Do You Think?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Sat, 8/1/09, Vince Bagusauskas <vytis at hotmail.com> wrote:
Interesting question on what is Argentine tango.  Reminds me of some of the guiding principles of an Australian tango club:

                Which tango?
                1. The Club's primary focus is on participatory Argentine 
social tango.
                2. The Club recognises that the definition of Argentine 
tango is contested, and will change over time.
                3. The Club recognises the importance of tango as a 
performance medium, and the fusions with other dance and theatre forms that this involves; but does not devote its resources to working in this area except to attract people.


Vince, I like this!  I was thinking whether I should finally state my own principles, which could help guide newbies in an appropriate direction for them.  The event that has kept us grounded here for many years is an annual demonstration that the tango community puts on for a big Latin American & Caribbean Festival.  We represent an Argentine Tango community to Latins, and none of us are Argentine.  We can't go in with the stereotypical American brashness of "this is how we dance and it IS Argentine Tango".  It's easy to impress beginners or non-experts, but that's not who we're trying to impress when we perform at this festival because we're also representing them.

Jack, I agree with thinking of Nuevo as part of the family of tango.  Using separate tandas in the same way we do milonga and vals is, I think, how most people incorporate it in milongas.  I've noticed that people (not just me) bring out the nuevo steps largely during those times and not when traditional music is being played.  I think this shows a clear distinction that the average dancer makes.  It's the average dancer that eventually defines tango, not the pioneers.

When nuevo dancers present that their way of evolving the dance is the only way (and that is the impression they give), I don't think they are being accurate.  There is so much out there with regular salon and so much to explore in the 70 years of dancing that it seems ludicrous that nuevo is the only wave of the future.  The other day, an excellent and experienced dancer returned from a vacation with new steps to play with, stuff I hadn't seen in 15 years of dancing.  And they had a salon feel.  So much to still explore in tango tango.

I think traditionalists wouldn't be so down on nuevo dancers if the nuevo movement recognized themselves as one way of developing the form, and not THE way of evolving tango.


Trini de Pittsburgh

P.S.  I'm also enjoying the discussion on milonga.