[Tango-L] The spread of tango

[Alexis Cousein]

On 08/06/2011 05:04, Tango22 wrote:
> I'm curious to know from those in European and Asian countries,
 > who or what specially popularized tango in your country.?.....

In Flanders, "who" would have to be (in only my opinion, of course)
Pol Van Assche. Not particularly because of authenticity or technical
prowess, but because of the sheer organisational talent of the man
(and his ability to cast a very wide net by getting noticed by all
the media), his ability to drag Argentines over to our little
country, and the fact that he was and is unequalled at keeping
people enthusiastic about dancing tango. Whatever people think of
Pol Van Assche, many of those who persevered started to dance
with him.

[Note: I only speak for the Flemish part of the country. Don't
ask me who spread tango in Wallonia, which seems to have a totally
different scene.]

It all started in the end of the 80s. I must say that we took
far longer to acquire a reasonable skill set than people who're
starting to dance now (if they know how to pick the right teachers
at the right time).

It actually took quite a number of years for someone to really start
spreading to the masses the particular musicality that's so
essential in social tango  -- we must've spent the better part
of five years to a decade dancing only to the strong beat :/.

In Antwerp, that credit would most likely have to go to Sergio
Molini, but of course Antwerp is a very narrow definition of "here".

In Brussels, it would be much more difficult to select one hero
out of an entire host of people involved in spreading tango
(Sergio Molini and Pablo Inza y Gladys Fernandez were probably
amongst the earlier ones, but if I ventured to make a list
I'd probably forget someone important. As an example,
I can't remember who managed to drag Tete to Brussels in
the 90s, even though I have vivid memories of him dancing
in the 'Charlot' in the small milonga organised by Linne
(sp?) and Maryline Lefort.)

Interestingly some credit must go to Maurice Bejart and Jorge Donn
for dragging Argentine dancers to the Brussels Mudra school for
contemporary dance, as some of those returned to both their tango
roots *and* to Brussels.

Maurice Bejart: how's that for an unlikely suspect ;) ).