[Tango-L] Why are you dancing tango if you don't like tango?

[RonTango]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz at tango.org>

> When I DJ, it is this conversion process 
> that I'm trying to create. By  
> good musical choices, the emotional 
> energy of the crowd can be  
> massaged and molded. For tango-experienced 
> people, this is possible  
> with tango music, but that is harder for a 
> portion of the audience.  
> Often, non-tango music works really well to 
> get everybody into the  
> right energy.


Tom,

I don't understand this last part. I cannot see how non-tango music gets everybody into the right energy. I would say that it is more likely that non-tango music gets people into the wrong energy. (It is the time in a milonga where I 'go out to smoke', even though I don't smoke.) What I have seen is that when non-tango music is played and people do 'tango steps', what they are not doing is dancing tango. The movements typically seem disconnected with the music. 

Catering to the people who dislike tango music creates communities that accept non-tango music for doing 'tango steps' as a normal part of the milonga environment. Probably many on this list will say "So?". Unless you've experienced the atmosphere of total immersion in classic tango music, you won't know what you're missing - the deep emotional connection to the music that was designed for dancing tango. 

In any case, milongueros don't dance steps, they dance the music. It is the movement connected to tango music that creates a tango dance. Without tango music, it is just a bunch of steps. It's not tango. 

Ron