[Tango-L] My Definition of Tango Nuevo

[Alexis Cousein]

HBBOOGIE1 at aol.com wrote:
> I’ve put a lot of thought into what I think  tango nuevo is and I finally 
> figured out what I believe identifies nuevo.   It’s not the figures It’s 
> just different footwork and unconventional  movements.  What I see in nuevo that
> ’s different from other styles of tango  is the leader stepping without 
> closing the feet standing usually in a squatting  position always looking down 
> at the floor with a lot of arm movement.
> I also  see this occasionally in other tango styles but that’s just bad 
> dancing they  should know better. The difference is this must be how nuevo is 
> taught because  everyone I’ve seen dancing nuevo dances this way.

Which again shows you we're all talking about something slightly different. That's
absolutely *not* how I've seen "everyone" dance nuevo.

To me nuevo is indeed about "unconventional movements" in the sense that it's a
framework of analysing exactly what you can do from a given position, and
a willingness to break out of the obvious (the move that you'd do
while on autopilot).

If I'd have some things that would define it, it's
more "alteraciones" than in more traditional tango (which does mean
you need more floorcraft to avoid stepping against the direction of
the ronda), more novel ways to go from gyrating moves to
linear moves, and a lot more moves where leader and follower
are "wrongfooted" against each other for a brief (but led) moment.

In this, nuevo does require you to adjust to different types of frames,
closed, open, with chest parallel and at right angles, so there are certainly
styles that limit the moves you can do in such a way that you cannot
dance anything "nuevo".

Colgadas are certainly part of it, and I don't agree with Shakruth that
it needs to destroy technique for an entire generation of dancers
(as long as it's made clear that colgada is not normal posture,
but something *exceptional*, the differences are made crystal clear,
and that people know that the exception shouldn't be the rule).

Back sacadas are certainly "part" of it as well, even though they predate
the framework by a lot (but they're actually an adorno from the fundamental
thing that happens, given that you can do the exact same rather
surprising transition without ever doing the back sacada at all).

Of course, the best "nuevo" dances are those where the more surprising
elements are used as spices are: sparingly, because if everything is
"a surprise" it's no longer a surprise. A good nuevo move is one that
leaves the audience (and sometimes the follower) wondering what on earth
happened for that fraction of a moment and leaves them to wonder if they
dreamt it all, not a constant display of fireworks.

If the entire dance is unconventional, that'll give everyone
(including the dancers) indigestion. Personally, I don't
like too much bravado *even* in performance dancing. If I feel the
urge to hold the "10 points" card for technical performance up,
then I know they've gone too far. One of the reasons that you
can't do "too much" all of the time is the music. The music certainly
has its dramatic moments, but it also breathes and flows, and you
MUST be connecting to it as well.

It doesn't mean you have to do big steps, and it certainly doesn't mean you
have to look to the floor (that's more a performance dance effect
parroted by people who don't know better) and it certainly doesn't mean that
you have to do "a lot of arm movement", given that many of these unconventional
transitions require having adjusted to a more open frame in which your arms
are your messengers (you lead "desde el alma" but your partner hasn't got a
snowball's chance in hell of guessing if you let your arms wander around
aimlessly).

And if you don't go through a closed feet position between steps,
stomping around like a tango godzilla, then I wonder exactly how you're
going to maintain control when your centre of gravity is flailing around,
so I don't think that defines any style either.

Perhaps Shakruth has a point: what masquerades as "nuevo" is just stage
performance dancing (or even downright bad dancing technique) in
inappropriate settings, which just uses the "new and improved" label
as an excuse.