[Tango-L] Milonga

[c.roques@mchsi.com]

Keith is right on this one and I agree with him, but it is not just a matter of being able to do tango steps or being uncomfortable or other issues that some of you are debating.  Of course you can do any moves you want to tango...just look at all the nuevo stuff.  The issue is more about not doing certain steps because they are not done in milonga traditionally.  Milonga is a different dance from tango—it is not just speeded up tango as so many seem to think.   You do not go the cross in milonga and you don't do a resolution in milonga (to name two differences) and steps are smaller...even ochos are different.  Few people (at least in the United States) actually do milonga correctly, but that can be partly blamed on the teachers...it isn't taught correctly either.  Doing faster tango to a milonga just looks awkward and forced.  Why bother to do a dance if you are not going to follow the rules for its form and way it is danced.

..as for Pablo Pugliese, there are much better examples of milonga.  Danny El Flaco for one of the best and probably the most elegant dancer of milonga in Buenos Aires, Gustavo Chidichimo, who teaches at Gricel.  That is milonga.

cheers,
 Charles