[Tango-L] The spread of tango

[romerob@telusplanet.net]

Alexis says:
>Look at film archives, and tell me whether what you see there
is ballroom tango.<

>From La Coreografia del Tango by Ines Cuello, Antologia del Tango

Here is what Ines says about film archives of that era:

Lamentablemente, los medios técnicos de representación visual -fotografía, 
cinematografía - aparecieron tardíamente en nuesto país como para haber sido 
empleados en la documentación de los comienzos del tango1. Además, los 
testimonios escritos informan parcialmente acerca del aspecto técnico de la 
danza: en general, se percibe sensiblemente la dificultad que implica traducir 
con propiedad en el lenguaje escrito, la variada gama de evoluciones y 
actitudes que fue propia de los bailarines.
Por otra parte, las noticias acerca de la práctica del tango en su etapa 
inicial fueron esporádicas, porque. hacia fines de siglo, las publicaciones 
porteñas reflejaban preferentemente las actividades de un sector de la 
población cuyos modelos coreográficos eran europeos y norteamericanos. La 
ilustración N0 1 es elocuente al respecto.

Translation:

Unfortunately the technical means of visual representation: Photography and 
Cinematography appeared late in our country to be used in the documentation of 
Tango. Besides, the written testimonies partially inform about the technical 
aspect of the dance. In general, it is sensed the difficulty of proper 
translation of the written word, and the various shades of evolutions and 
attitudes which were part of the dancers. 

In another way, the news about the practice of tango in its initial epoch were 
sporadic. This is because towards the end of the century published works from 
the porte~nos (riverside people) reflected preferably the activities of a 
sector of the population whose choreographic models were European and North 
American.

Ver ilustración nº.  1 "Nuevos bailes de salón", Sección: Para la familia. 
		Caras y Caretas, Buenos Aires, 15 dic. 1900.
		
See illustration --->    http://www.milonga.org/BailesDeSalon.html


About the first film:
>  El  primer documento fílmico de que se tiene noticia -no se conserva copia- 
es un cortometraie producido entre 1900 y 1906 por la Casa Lepage titulado 
Tango Argentino. El filme, dirigido por Eugenio Py, contenía escenas de tango 
bailado por El Negro Agapito. Para mayor información, ver: Couselo, Jorge 
Miguel: “El tango en el cine”, en Buenos Aires Tango, Revista Bimestral. N01. 2 
y 3. Buenos Airea, 1970. <

Translation:

The first film we know about has no copy. This was a short film produced 
between 1900 and 1906 by the Casa LePage titled "Tango Argentino". This film 
was directed by Eugenio Py. It had scenes of Tango danced by The Negro Agapito. 
Or more information ........see Spanish text above.

Alexis, if you have a copy of any film that helps understand this issue please 
share it with us.

Bruno

-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of 
Alexis Cousein
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 7:15 AM
To: Tango-L
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] The spread of tango

On 11/06/2011 22:35, romerob at telusplanet.net wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is in reference to johnofbristol at tiscali.co.uk who wrote:
> .....but my understanding is that Ballroom and Argentine tango were the same
> thing a century ago, and have developed in different directions.
>
> And to Alexis Cousein who says that "Ballroom Tango" as introduced in the UK 
is
> a very different (and very narrow) animal from "Tango danced in ballrooms in
> BBAA".
>
> Here is bit more information:
>
>> From La Coreografia del Tango by Ines Cuello, Antologia del Tango.
>
>> En el área rioplatense, algunos manuales de danza incluyeron la coreografía
> del tango con posterioridad a la aparición en Europa de las metodizaciones
> realizadas por los especialistas en bailes de salón. Así lo advierte uno de 
sus
> auto¬res en nota a pie de página: "Las teorías de los bailes anteriores son
> extraídas de las revistas que recibimos periódicamente de Europa y N. América 
y
> los bailes los enseñamos con extricto (sic) rigor a dichas teorías." 6<

That's marketing literature (which tries to convince a high class
audienc that whatever is thaught is "de rigueur"). Which is very
different from reality, as I'm sure we all know, especially in
the context of a social dance.

Look at film archives, and tell me whether what you see there
is ballroom tango.
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