[Tango-L] SA- Nuevo Theory vs Practice: Creating a Social

[RonTango]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Tony Rathburn <webmaster at tonyrathburn.com>

> 
> Jack wrote:
> 
> > > Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Buenos Aires already solved 
> > > this problem by allowing for the separation of traditional dancers 
> > > and nuevo dancers? 
> 
> Actually, in Buenos Aires... currently... no... they haven't.  Many milongas are 
> attended by a group that dances a particular similar style... but all styles are 
> present at all milongas... you tend to see less "nuevo" at more popular 
> traditional milongas... you tend to see less 'traditional' at more well known 
> younger milongas.  I can't call the ones i've attended nuevo milongas... they 
> play almost exclusively traditional music... not 'alternative' music or 
> electronic tango... aside from the style of dance that is predominant, the most 
> obvious difference is the average age of the attendees...
> 


There are over 100 milongas per week in Buenos Aires. In recent years I have been to milongas downtown, near downtown, and away from downtown and technically one could say 'stylistic variation is present at very milonga' but in my experience I have seen very little nuevo at milongas - one here and one there, and in almost every case it was tourists, not porten~os. Where I have seen nuevo in noticeable numbers is at late night milongas at Ideal and Porten~o y Bailarin. Those are tourist milongas. And, oh yes, La Viruta, which is a milonga for young porten~os. Where I have not seen nuevo beyond the occasional couple (if any at all) is El Beso, Plaza Bohemia (have not been at Wed night altenative milonga), Nuevo Salon Argentina, Casa Galicia, Centro Region Leonesa, Lo de Celia, Gricel, Viejo Correo, Saraza, Salon El Pial, Glorias Argentinas, Sin Rumbo, Sunderland, Centro Montan~es, and Salon Canning. I've heard reports of 'chaotic dancing' at Canning on
 Tuesday nights; perhaps that is nuevo. There are also another 20-30 clubes del barrio where I have not been but which by all reports are not visited by nuevo dancers. I don't doubt there are additional places similar to Ideal, Porten~o y Bailarin and La Viruta where there is free-ranging nuevo, but to give the impression that nuevo is a part of the overwhelming majority of milongas in Buenos Aires other than a stray curiosity is misleading.

Could you please tell us which milongas have a significant representation of nuevo dancers so that tango de salon dancers will be able to avoid them.

> 
> >From Ron:
> 
> > "Not in the best interest of tango"?
> > 
> > How about a rationale behind that assertion?
> > 
> > Should we second guess the porten~os? 
> > 
> > What is in the best interest of tango? How about allowing people to 
> > create their own niche rather than forcing the will of the majority (or  
> > space consuming minority) on everyone? It takes nearly an entire room of  
> > traditional dancers to create a traditional milonga, but it only takes 3 or 4 
> > couples to turn it inot a nuevo fiesta. 
> > 


 
> wow Ron.. at least Jan put out an idea that that was clearly a thought in 
> process... and open to discussion... and a concern for the best interest of 
> tango generally... not based on intolerance and the opinions of a few to be 
> imposed on everyone...

The intolerance card. This is a handy card to play when ignoring the cultural traditions of tango. Allow the porten~os to tell us what tango is. Outside Argentina, people make tango into whatever they want it to be and call it 'Argentine tango'. They are misrepresenting the culture but that is not seen as the offense, rather some imagined intolerance is. 

> 
> but if you're going in attack mode... to prove your right... same suggestion... 
> how about a rationale to back up your assertion?
> 
> which portenos should we put in charge of setting global standards?
> 

The only global standard is to use the term 'Argentine tango' when it is similar to the tango danced in the porten~o milongas and to use the term 'milonga' only when all music played for dancing tango is classic tango music from the 30s, 40s, and 50s and, at the very least, there is a line of dance and no teaching on the dance floor. Otherwise, call it something else, perhaps a 'tango for export' party. 

In the US there are many many more tango for export parties than there are milongas. Milongas and Argentine tango are getting harder and harder to find these days.    

Ron