[Tango-L] Better? Worse? Just different

[joanneprochaska@aol.com]

Bob from SF wrote:"There is nothing wrong with honoring tango's past but not at the 
expense of destroying its future."


If you are going to breed a new "critter", by crossing an existing critter with different critters, then by all means you have every right to do it, so go ahead and do it.
But please give this new critter a new name, so that people know that it is different from the original critter that you used as a base for breeding.
In the scientific realm:
When people developed the Thorobred horse, the breeders used three foundational Arabian studs crossed with mares from various breeds. The breeders did NOT continue to call the resulting critter an Arabian horse.  The breeders gave it the new name "Thorobred". (this is not a story that I made up just to make my point.  Check out the development of the Thorobred horse at your library). They were proud of the results of their breeding efforts. They were deliberate and focused.  They were not "backyard breeders" who bred their mares to any male that they could get for a free stud fee, just because they wanted "another Sally" in their pasture.
In the horse world, especally in Europe, people can tell you the lineage of their horses as easily and as proudly as you can name your grandparents and where they came from. They don't understand the profusion of "backyard breeders" of horses in the states who don't know the lineage of their "Sally".
So...give your new dance a new name and quit bugging the rest of us who are putting our money (and time) where our mouths are to seriously "honor tango's past".
But hey, it's just my opinion.

We just hosted Alberto Dassieu, who has danced tango for 60 years, since he was 14.He lived through the "dark years" when there were only 40 people left dancing the tango, and he can name them all.
Joanne Pogros
Tango Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio