[Tango-L] Who to blame for the "bad" dancers?

[Tanguero]

Kudos to Vince re: "Who to blame for the bad dancers." I have mostly lurked
- - and for many, many years - - on Tango L but I simply had to respond to
his suggestion regarding the preservation of social tango dancing. I don't
think it should be an either/or decision in terms of choosing either
traditional (social) tango vs. tango for stage with respect to
demonstrations at festivals, special events, etc. Vince raises an incredibly
important subject and one that should be seriously considered by promoters
and organizers of festivals/milongas.I fervently believe tango
organizers/producers should INCLUDE BOTH FORMS OF DANCE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
TO RAISE THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS, INCREASE UNDERSTANDING, AND PRESERVE THE
ROOTS, HISTORY AND ART OF TANGO. I would not suggest simultaneously
presenting both forms, but, rather, sequentially. It would be quite
wonderful if everyone would consider providing a few introductory words
which highlight and appreciate the differences. People who have been in
tango less than 10 years - - of course, depending upon with whom they study
and whether they want to acquire any depth of knowledge - - often do not
have any context for understanding or judging tango. These "babies" in tango
often do not have the perspective to for recognize, evaluate and appreciate
what they see. 

On a not unrelated note, I personally think it is tragic that those who
dance Nuevo often bypass learning the fundamentals of tango and, truly sad,
is the fact that their teachers do not know anything other than this one
approach to tango. I am not arguing for or against Nuevo tango. I do not
believe there is only one way to express oneself through art; certainly, to
pronounce anything in an absolute way is to narrow the possibilities and
freedom of expression. What I am arguing for is to be able to make informed
choices and to go deeper as an artist and to have greater freedom as a
dancer, which, in Argentine tango, means to first learn the traditional
music and dance. 

Lorena

-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
Vince Bagusauskas
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:48 PM
To: tango-l at mit.edu
Subject: [Tango-L] Who to blame for the "bad" dancers?

If it was not for the renaissance of tango and in particular the fantasia 
shows and competitions in BsAs, would there be a nuevo tango following 
today?

For those who read this list and want to preserve social tango dancing, 
maybe as promoters/organizers of festivals/milongas you should decline from 
having individual couples putting on demos* thus encouraging them to display

the 'crowd pleasing steps' that are not strictly tango, that the crowd then 
feels obliged to learn.

If a demo has to be held, have several couples dance on the floor at once, 
thus forcing them to restrain themselves and show a semblance of social 
dancing.

But I guess there is no money for promoters in that.

My 2c



*For the record, these days, demos do not excite me as they once did: I tend

to do something else when it is on.


Vince
In Melbourne
Enjoying his break. 

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