[Tango-L] What is Tango? (Or Tango Categories) Commentary

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Hi all,

I’ve been mulling over Peter’s essay for the past couple of days and examined how we tend to use terms on this list.  For example, we tend to use “traditionalist” to describe salon and milonguero styles and “nuevo” specifically for nuevo.  Yet, we use “Argentine Tango” to refer primarily to salon and milonguero styles, and if we include nuevo, we specifically say “Nuevo”.  We’re already treating it differently.  I think that says something about how we map our internal world of tango.

There also comes the question of suppose I treat Nuevo as I do Milonga and Vals.  Then my requirements for accepting students into a nuevo class would be much less than they are now.  They would just need to know tango basics.  Really, one could teach Nuevo completely separately from salon or milonguero.  Isn’t that part of the point of Nuevo?  To make it more accessible?

So the assertion that Nuevo dancers are more expert than others is false.  It just happens that most of those learning nuevo in the past have been the more experienced dancers.  However, if we look around, people far less experienced than the experts are learning nuevo.  I know people in my community who are working on colgadas and they don’t even know how to do turns well.  Nor can they dance milonguero, well.  Again, it suggests that Nuevo, in and of itself, is not a more advanced form of tango.  In fact, I know several excellent nuevo teachers who do not really dance milonguero all that well.  They do okay, but it's not the same energy.

As for my own skill level, I do quite well as a follower in nuevo, including the double ganchos and lifts in S & M’s video.  I admit I can't get my leg as high as Mariana.  As a leader, I do fine with the typical nuevo moves, as well, and take advanced nuevo classes as a leader (though I probably wouldn't at a Chicho or Sebastian workshop).  For me, it’s not a question of skill level.  It’s simply recognizing that there’s a distinct difference.

Trini de Pittsburgh