[Tango-L] What is Tango? (Or Tango Categories) - Part 3 Final

[Jack Dylan]

> From: Anton Stanley anton at alidas.com.au
 So in my opinion categorisation doesn't 
> answer the increasingly difficult questions of !
> what is tango. I believe it is in urgent need of some form of definition.
> 

IMHO, this is getting a little silly and overly intellectualised. 

'Argentine Tango' is an Argentine artform and they have 2 categories - 
Social Tango and Tango Escenario. Most of us on this list are non-Argentine 
amateur dancers interested in Social Tango and, if you want to know what it 
is, just walk into any of the 20 or so milongas that are held every day in BsAs 
and you'll see people dancing Tango. It's not a secret; it's in the open for all 
to see. In other parts of the city you might find dance events called practicas 
where people dance something called 'Nuevo'. So if you want to categorise 
or define something, I suggest you change your question to 'What is Nuevo?' 
Is it a new category of Tango or is it something else? Just because people 
outside Argentina dance Nuevo in their milongas doesn't necessarily make 
it Tango. Tango is a dance of the Argentine people and the tangueros of 
Argentina have already defined Social Tango by what they dance in their 
milongas. Who are we non-Argentines to even question that? 

Many social dancers outside Argentina also like to incorporate some 
well-known elements of Escenario, which were formerly part of Social 
Tango in BsAs, such as Ganchos, Arristre, Lapiz, Sandwich, etc. They're 
combining the 2 categories of Tango - Social and Escenario, so it's still 
Tango.

But, 'What is Nuevo' is the question, not 'What is Tango'

Jack