[Tango-L] What do you think?

[jb34528@att.net]

Sorry, a little late - the milonga became the rage right now.
On the video now so widely discussed sebastian and Mariana dance a beautiful Argentine tango. Perhaps a little more performance oriented. And they may be moving the bounds. The year is 2009. Tango has been evolving and they are on the cutting edge. I wish I could dance like that! 
Here is a parable: The Ford model T was an automobile that started it all and changed the world. Now you inspect a shiny new Chevy – No running boards!, the wheels? – where are the beautifully crafted hardwood spokes? And so on. The conclusion: “This is not an automobile – it is something different and it should have a different name!” BTW, tango is older than the model T. 
Nuevo? The good “nuevo dancers” dance anything from the close embrace club style to “nuevo” based on their mood and available space. I.e., they dance tango.
For example, M & S did an underarm turn – they did it “tango like” IMHO. Underarm turn is done in many dances. And none has an exclusive license for it. As a matter of fact, we should feel left behind and disappointed that the stubborn insistence on “true tango" traditions left the field open for salseros, lindy hoppers and others to discover all those cool moves! ;-)
I took a number of classes from Sebastian and Mariana and believe that what they teach and dance is tango. The “non  nuevo”, especially its most conservative forms should be called historical tango. And a dance event imposing the conservative limits should be called historical milonga. This might be hard to take for those who made an emotional investment at the time of their initial indoctrination and never got over it.
Jan