[Tango-L] tango to rap

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Thu, 4/7/11, JOHN WROBLEWSKI <nrj.sparrow at prodigy.net> wrote:


> Vince; I agree with you. This "ad" is
> not tango. By the very definition a tango is a tango because
> of the tango music. The question is can there exist a tango
> dance without tango music and the answer is no. And if a
> tango danced to music other than tango music is the dance a
> "real" tango, again the answer is no. Why, because of the
> identity principle: "I think therefore I am". Tango music
> and the act of the tango dance, are one identity. 


By that logic that it would seem that the dancing I saw last week at the Piazzolla operita was tango simply because the music was tango.  I would call the dancing itself modern dance and not tango.  If one can dance ballet to tango music or modern to tango music or whatever else, that it seems to me that there is indeed a separation between music and movement.

I'm sure we're all familiar with ballet companies taking jazz music or swing music or whatever and performing ballet to it.  We accept that as okay and artistic.  We don't say "they're not doing swing".  We say "they're doing ballet to swing music".  Seems to be the same could apply to tango, as well.

One could argue about an emotional factor in tango, but modern dancers and ballet dancers feel, too.  The dancers who convey an emotion with their dancing are at the top of their fields.

One could argue about a partner connection.  Well, what about a pas de deux in ballet?

One could argue about improv vs. choreography.  Well, I know many dancers who choreograph tango for show, and modern dancers do contact improv.

I just see people dancing tango to non tango music as just developing another subset of dancing in the vast world of tango.


Trini de Pittsburgh