[Tango-L] The spread of tango

[Alexis Cousein]

On 09/06/2011 17:08, Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
> Japan and European countries are much smaller, so the ballroom
 > studios were sufficient until more independent instructors appeared.

[The following applies to Flanders but not to Brussels, where a
couple of true Argentines latched on to the success of tango in
Flanders early on.]

Actually, ballroom studios over here were spectacularly uninterested
in introducing real Argentine tango (with its particular emphasis
on improvisation, embrace and way of leading). They only latched
on to teaching a travesty of AT made to conform to the other
ballroom dance philosophy when they saw there was a market
for it, developed by others.

It was actually introduced by several people independent from
ballroom studios. Some were disillusioned ballroom dancers who
were eager to try something in which partner connection and
improvisation (and yes, 'passion') was more important than
strict adherence to an orthodoxy.

Interestingly, all were influenced by Argentines but some
were influenced by social dancing in Buenos Aires, while
others were influenced more by dancers who were performing
in shows (bizarrely, without naming names, one couple taught
what has the appearance of strict estilo del centro when you
see it but not when you feel it, and disparaged another teacher
who taught things much closer to show tango but did emphasize
connection).

Most didn't 'grok' the particular musicality of AT for very long,
but that was just blindness, not a conscious attempt at
getting rid of it. They actually did encourage people to
dance to long phrases in the music and to connect to that
aspect of the music, but of course that's only half the story
(unless you happen to dance to the hobo version of Piazolla's
Oblivion).

That also led to selection in the music played at milongas. If
all you see is melody, you're much more likely to play
di Sarli than to play (pre-war) d'Arienzo. Once we discovered
the other aspects of the dance, we rediscovered the joys of
dancing to different music too.

Not that the pendulum can't swing the other way: we have
people who will nag each time you play 'Bajo un Cielo de
Estrellas' --a song close to my heart for obvious reasons
if you know my other hobbies, perfect while looking at
M13-- once Podesta starts to sing, just because it's
post-1940.