[Tango-L] Tango Styles

[Sergio Vandekier]

Style

"a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character: the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking."
 
"a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode or form of construction or execution in any art or work: Her painting is beginning to show a personal style." 
 
When you dance tango, eventually you may do it in "a particular way in reference to form, appearance or character" it will be "a particular, distinctive or characteristic mode or form of dancing tango" this will be your style.
 
There are many styles of dancing tango, they all preserve the character of the dance otherwise it ceases to be Argentine Tango to become something else.
 
Some people may decide that they wish to teach their particular style or a style as it is danced in certain sectors of the city.  They create a school of followers and eventually that particular style becomes danced by many people and becomes very popular.
 
This is what happened with the form of dancing in the crowded salons of downtown, traditional tango had to adapt to the lack of space,by doing so, it became characteristic in its form.  
 
At the beginning that form of dancing was called by different names: Confiteria style, downtown style, caquero style, milonguero style. Eventually "Milonguero Style" became the predominant name. Daniel Lapadula still teaches a variation of that style with the name "Estilo del Centro" (downtown style).
 
Tete, Susana Miller and Cacho Dante started to teach this style abroad where it became very popular. It was stablished as Milonguero style, the ocho cortado became the "ocho milonguero" and still is the style that most tourists are exposed to when they come to B.A. for a short time.
 
With respect to "Nuevo Tango" it started with Gustavo Naveira, Chicho and Fabian, as they developed a new form of analyzing the possible moves of tango.
 
They entirely based their teaching in an exhaustive analysis of each move with respect to where the axis of rotation was situated and how it changed during the execution of different figures including changes in direction and different forms of walking (parallel, crossed,double time).
 
They did not intend to create a new tango style but as they developed a school of followers both at home and abroad their characteristic way of dancing became a style or several different styles: Gustavo remained closer to Traditional tango style, Chicho and Fabian frequently, not always, adopted a particular way of dancing that eventually was called "Nuevo Tango".
 
There are places or milongas in B.A. and abroad where those particular styles are taught and danced, it is very easy to recognize them just by looking, yet there are still people that decided to deny their existence as tango styles.
 
I find important to recognize these different forms of dancing in order to select the style that one prefers to study at certain moment in the learning process. Some dancers eventually use one style with some elements of other styles.
 
Best regards, Sergio 		 	   		  
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