[Tango-L] "Nuevo" Dancing to Di Sarli: "Don Juan" - Gustavo&Giselle

[Brian Dunn]

Anton wrote:
"Brian, could you name a few social milongas where you have seen Gustavo &
Giselle dance like in the video..."
I have seen them dance at several milongas in both Boulder and Denver - but
within a social context, as I said: "with consummate taste, complete
awareness of the ronda, and inspiring improvisational skill".  Obviously,
there is no "ronda" in this video - there are no other dancers with whom to
form a ronda (an expression referring to the mutual decision by all dancers
to follow line-of-dance as they share the floor, and GENERALLY to keep
moving "downstream" together).

 Anton continues:
"If indeed they danced like that at a typical, say Buenos Aires milonga, I
would call them a menace and it would completely destroy my dance experience
on the floor with them. On the other
hand, if I were part of the audience in the video, I would be enraptured to
watch them all day long."

In the milongas I mention, what often happens is that, for their own
reasons, some dancers stop dancing because they prefer to sit in order not
to miss watching (but, you know, it's a delicate thing- if EVERYONE sits,
then it feels like a performance, which changes the vibe - so sometimes if
it's a milonga we're hosting, I'll keep dancing just to keep the
social-dance vibe going).  I have to say it's a VERY cool sensation to be
social-dancing near them - very inspiring and satisfying in a way that's
difficult to describe - and speaking as a leader, BOY, do I feel secure on
the side facing them!

Anton, what I meant to express was not that they dance "like this" at a
typical Buenos Aires milonga WHEN IT IS CROWDED.  But their skills in
evidence on the video ALSO contribute to making them EXQUISITE social
dancers - as anyone who has had a chance to social dance with either of them
will attest.  In the case of Gustavo, we're talking about someone who danced
virtually EVERY NIGHT in all the hot milongas of Buenos Aires for FIFTEEN
YEARS. The guy knows what he is doing, you know? Of COURSE they don't dance
like that when it's crowded - it would be physically impossible.

On the other hand, anyone who stays late enough at a typical Buenos Aires
milonga may well see a similar level of non-crowding AT SOME POINT. Such a
milonga visitor may well also see those dancers that can dance this well
altering their choices, as Sergio writes, to take expressive advantage of
their greater share of the space available - but really, this is common
sense, right?  Does anyone drive exactly the same on a four-lane empty rural
highway as they do in urban bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic? Do we need
to frame this in the context of "driving style" to explain the difference in
choices drivers are making?


Anton further writes:
"I would like to add for consideration, that "ratified by Buenos Aires
Tango"
doesn't mean very much, and maybe the thought should be more on the lines of
"what's mostly danced". Just because something might be in the R&D stage of
development, doesn't make it a successful product."

I purposely said that "ratified by Buenos Aires Tango" will mean different
things to different people.  Perhaps for you it will mean whether people
dance this way at your favorite late-night milonga.  Someone else may define
it as what's happening in classic places like Sunderland or afternoon
milongas like El Arranque. Someone else may define it as what the maestros
are doing at CITA.  Someone else may define it as what the major established
Buenos Aires tango schools are teaching in their curricula.  Someone else
may define it as what the talented young tango people have been doing with
each other in Buenos Aires for a year or more.  But I think we agree with
Trini that "Buenos Aires Tango" is the common frame of reference, because
IMHO it's Buenos Aires where ALL the tango pots (dance, music, tradition,
innovation) are boiling the hottest.

All the best,
Brian Dunn
Dance of the Heart
www.danceoftheheart.com
"Building a Better World, One Tango at a Time"