[Tango-L] Melina's two cents

[tony parkes]

and adding on to that anton....

for me, to say that the foreigners have raised the bar is at best very
subjective, at worst delusional... what bar is that, certainly not my
bar

my bar is the argentine milongueros.  nothing inspires me more, nor
educates me more, than to watch these wonderful elderly men most of
whom are well over 70, strut their stuff

when the typical milongas like canning, maipu, beso, gricel, lo de
ciela  etc are down to the last hour or so there is usually at least
one or two of them still dancing, the advantage now being that the
floor is less crowded enabling them to dance more easily and for an
observer to do just that, watch them.  so when i see them still there
on the floor i have no problem not dancing, rather sit back and
observe how they move with an indescribable energy and fluency around
the floor. to be honest, in my oipinion their  posture and footwork
are not textbook, ie the textbook my teachers drummed into over the
years. but even blind freddy can see how they are connected to the
music and their partner. and i have no hesitation that if you
canvassed their partners, the response would be along the line that
they have just enjoyed a sublime experience

very few milongueros have gone through hours of classes and workshops
yet they dance sublimely if not picture perfect. all foreigners
including the japanese world champions the year before last have had
hundreds if not thousands of hours of trainng, dance picture perfect,
but in my opinion without the the intimate feeling exhibited by many
argentine milongueros

chalk versus cheese

disfrutar
el tangoroo









On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 1:05 PM, Anton Stanley <anton at alidas.com.au> wrote:
> I don't know how many are proud to have danced "with the Argentineans", but
> I for one find dancing tango in Buenos Aires very inspirational. Much in the
> manner that Catholics regard the Vatican, Muslims Mecca, the English Lords
> cricket ground, in the USA say the Office of the President, etc, etc. Each
> represents an ideal to which we try to cling. I'm sure there are many more
> good people outside the Vatican than within. Many more religious Muslims
> outside Mecca than within. Many more great cricketers reside great distances
> from Lords than near it. There are more great men living outside the White
> House than within. But each acts as an anchor for ideals.
> It's not about how well they dance tango in Buenos Aires it's about the
> institution of tango. Severing ties with that institution gave us Ballroom
> Tango. Finish Tango. Why on this list do we not regard these deviations as
> true tango? Maybe in the light of Melinda's comments, they should be, and
> simply accepted as internationally influenced tango. Personally, I don't
> prefer internationalisation of tango. Where every variation or deviation is
> legitimate. In the future we might get accustomed to US Tango, British
> Tango, Canadian Tango, Turkish Tango, Iranian Tango, Russian Tango, Mexican
> Tango etc. Each maybe different; each legitimate tango. So it's not about
> idolising Argentinean dancers, but simply respect for the institution.
> Unfortunately many don't have this respect.
>
> My opinion.
>
> Anton
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of
> Brick Robbins
> Sent: Tuesday, 25 January 2011 4:37 AM
> To: tango-l at mit.edu
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Melina's two cents
>
> OnTue, 18 Jan 2011 23:26:21 +0100
>  elina Sedo & Detlef Engel <tango at tangodesalon.de> wrote
>
>> Check it out:
>> http://melinas-two-cent.blogspot.com/
>
> Oh my, Melina, you are living dangerously posting opinions like this
> here. <grin>Since many here are proud to have danced Argentine Tango
> with the Argentinians......
>
> http://melinas-two-cent.blogspot.com/2011/01/tango-cosmopolites-or-not.html
> "I was definitely not overwhelmed [with Buenos Aires]. Apart from
> noticing a big concentration of top dancers, the average dance-level
> at the Milongas was usually not very impressive and very often, the
> foreigners even raised the bar."
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-- 
cheers
tony
www.tangomagix.com