[Tango-L] Nuevo Milonguero

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

Yahoo has been holding 'rontango' hostage all day due to spam
suspicion, so I'm posting a reply from another account

--- On Thu, 10/1/09, Sorin Varzaru <tango at bostonphotographs.com> wrote:

> Huh, I must've been to another BsAs
> in June and July. And maybe you
> should tell Tete that the way he dances is all wrong. I've
> seen him
> leading off axis moves, and reverse roles with a number of
> women. I
> actually have a picture of that.

I'm assuming this was a demo. I've seen Tete dance in several milongas
in both Buenos Aires and the US, and I didn't see him switch roles or
lead off axis movements.

I got curious about this statement because I've heard it before a few
times, I think always from people who do not know appear to know tango
milonguero. Last night I reviewed about a dozen Tete & Silvia videos.
One thing that is apparent is that if you concentrate on Silvia's
axis, it is always apilado. For example, look closely at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIne2fqkcwM

In fact, it is remarkable how in video after video, Silvia's axis
stays in this apilado position throughout the dance. The only
exception I saw was in the following video, where Tete puts Silvia
into an off-axis forward lean about 3 or 4 times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3415HufIU4

This movement, sometimes called 'el puente' (bridge) can be seen now
and then in Buenos Aires milongas, but one may have to wait an hour or
so scanning the floor to see it. However, in this movement, the woman
is not displaced from her position, i.e., her feet do not change
position. It is  not a 'volcada' (fall) as used in nuevo, where the
off axis tilt is so extreme it causes the woman to fall off her axis
and step forward.


> Good dancers use whatever
> they can to
> make the dance fun. The difference between them and the bad
> dancers is
> they will only lead the moves that can be done in the
> available space
> and both themselves an their partners can actually execute
> it.

Fun is good. But doing 'whatever' at some point becomes a different
dance that is no longer tango. A dance isn't 'tango' just because you
call it 'tango'. The core of tango is in the connection between man
and woman in the embrace, connected to tango music, not the swinging
of bodies off axis and thrashing about of limbs to electronic music
with a bandoneon.

Ron