[Tango-L] tango to rap

[Charles Roques]

Sharon asked:

Are there other dance forms that are equally inseparable from their music?

I think the point being missed or ignored by those who defend dancing tango to any music is that all dances are culturally linked to their related music and have a symbiotic relationship with it.  Tango as a dance evolved with its music and vice versa.   Of course one can dance any dance to any music but not without the dance changing over time.  That is already evident with nuevo tango which has changed a lot (along with the non-traditional music often danced to) and there are many movements of the body and head which are never seen in traditional tango.  People may always want to call it tango but that won't stop it from evolving into another dance.  If dancers place no limits on the music they dance to, they will not place limits on the form the dance will take.  Nuevo tango is here to stay but it should be honestly distinguished as a separate category of tango (as some organizers are starting to do) so traditional dancers do not feel cheated or uncomfortable at milongas or festivals because the organizers insist on calling what they are doing simply tango.  In a sense, nuevo tango is no different than the way tango evolved into International and American tango when it was absorbed into other cultures.  Sooner or later it will become a different dance. 

Charles