[Tango-L] Chicho interview - "Violent Milonguero" vs. "nice close embrace": what to do?

[Brian Dunn]

"Sandhill", you wrote:
>>>
I wonder why there seems to be a disconnect between [Chicho's]
personal concept of tango and what the people
who comprise his school of dance, broadly speaking, seem
to express. 
<<<
Well, you know, Picasso's students perhaps exhibited a similar failing...
but that doesn't mean Picasso is any less of a genius, he's still Picasso.  
Perhaps the students Chicho inspires will someday better reflect their
master's 
genius than they do now - successfully learning from a true genius can take 
some time.  But if the teacher is inspiring enough, the student is more 
likely to keep working to improve.  Don't shortchange the inspiration
factor! ;)

>>>
Tango nuevo is entirely about acrobatics from
what I can tell, not that there's anything inherently wrong
with that.
<<<
Hmmm..."Sandhill", do YOU dance (what you call) "tango nuevo" well enough to
understand it from the inside? If not, are you sure you know what it's
"entirely about"?  

According to the interview, Chicho is drawing a distinction between "antique
tango" as a "violently marked" tango, as opposed to "today's" tango, whose
dancers are "able to dance without barely touching one another".  

Notice he didn't say that "today's dancers" barely touch one another, he
said they are ABLE to dance that way, and (by implication) that dancers of a
more "antique" tango are UNABLE to dance that way. When you are dancing with
someone who doesn't NEED to touch you to regain their own balance, for
example, it's more likely that your partner's touch is for purely expressive
reasons having to do with your musical/emotional connection to them, as
opposed to "mechanical/logistical" purposes arising from their technique
habits.  

The history of tango dance over the decades since the 1920's can be seen
from one perspective as a progressive reduction of violence and unnecessary
force in relationships between men and women (or leaders and followers, if
you prefer) in the dance.  This trend will likely continue.

>>>
But Chicho hints that there is something more
about tango. What is that, and why do the people who
claim to be influenced by him seem to miss it?
<<<
See first paragraph...but you've raised another very interesting question.

I recently heard another well-traveled tango teacher (in the USA and
internationally) describe the male dancers in a certain city as generally
lacking skills in "nice close-embrace" tango, but instead typically
demonstrating what the teacher termed "violent milonguero".  I was quite
struck by the expression, since I was personally aware that the teacher in
question was, comparatively speaking, in a position to know.  

This observation, since corroborated by other well-traveled dancers of my
acquaintance, raises the possibility that it is not just the so-called
"nuevo" teachers who may be failing to pass on something essential about
tango to the "students who comprise their school of dance, broadly speaking"
- unless violence between partners is seen as something essential to tango. 

Still, perhaps those male dancers are still learning, and will remain hungry
to learn.  Perhaps we can hope those leaders will, over time, improve their
connection skills to the point where such characterizations will no longer
apply to them.  My concern is that they are unaware of the relative violence
and roughness in their dance, because they believe they are apparently
meeting the observable "requirements" of their chosen "style".  

The sad fact is that they are probably not getting feedback from their
followers about the relative violence of their dance.

Many followers I have talked to are in despair over the fact that many of
their local leaders have stopped improving. But from a leader's point of
view, after all, he gets an acceptable number of dances at his current skill
level.  After getting all dressed up for a milonga, followers might rather
have a "violent" lead than none at all. In some way, the dilemma seems to
need a community approach, because each individual follower may have clear
incentives not to be the one to "bear the bad news".

Any ideas how to get around the dilemma?

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