[Tango-L] Buenos Aires Milonga traditions outside Buenos Aires

[David Leache]

In BsAs one that dances to the cortina is called an "Idiot" the cortina is for clearing the floor not for dancing that's why it's not tango usually rock n roll.

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On May 21, 2012, at 6:21 AM, "zut at zutalors.fr" <zut at zutalors.fr> wrote:

> You raised some interesting ideas, Shahrukh.
> 
> The world owes a debt of gratitude to Argentina for its gift of
> the music,
> dance and culture of Tango. Like a child raised in a loving
> family, Tango
> has become strong, left the home of its parents and gone out into
> the
> world. Tango is now French, Finnish, Japanese, Chinese, Australian
> and just
> about every other nationality. Though never denying its roots in
> Argentina,
> each country adds elements of its own culture to the dance. Tango
> is strong
> enough to accept such diversity and still retain the passionate
> core which
> gives it its unmistakable identity.
> 
> If we try to deny the diversity that Tango is absorbing, by
> slavishly
> adhering to the customs of its origins, then we are in danger of
> turning it
> into the stultified and grotesque parody of human passion that
> International Tango (also called Ballroom Tango, Tango de salon)
> has
> become.
> 
> There is a milonga in Paris, where dancers find on the tables
> sheets of
> paper containing the organiser's preferred codegas, reminiscent of
> Standing
> Orders or Orders of the Day posted in military barracks. I'm all
> for the
> codegas of the milonga, they promote a more congenial atmosphere,
> free from
> the minor socially stressful moments that can arise in a place
> where
> strangers and friends mix, but when someone awards him or herself
> the
> authority to enforce them, the opposite effect is felt, an
> authoritarian
> and unfriendly atmosphere.
> 
> One recent night, I was there with my dancing partner, a vivacious
> person
> for whom music and dance are almost as essential as air and water.
> Standing
> in a corner during a cortina, we started to move in rhythm with
> the music,
> much as one would if one hears music when waiting in a queue, and
> as my
> partner often does anywhere, when taken by a piece of music,
> either heard
> or imagined.
> 
> The organiser crossed the entire length of the floor, with a face
> like a
> thunderstorm blowing in from the North Sea, to tell us that we
> were not
> allowed to dance during the cortina, and that the cortina would
> continue
> until we stopped! Is this the atmosphere that the codegas are
> intended to
> produce? On leaving that night, it was made clear to us that we
> were not
> welcome in his milonga. So be it, I can understand why private
> milongas by
> invitation only, have become a phenomenom in Paris, for people who
> want to
> escape the Tango Dictators.
> 
> Reg Hardman
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On May 20, 2012 at 7:35 PM Shahrukh Merchant
> <shahrukh at shahrukhmerchant.com> wrote:
> 
> ...snip...
> 
>>> If you generalize this observation, there are many aspects of
>>> milongas
>> in Buenos Aires that, strictly speaking, are not essential to
>> emulate in
>> order to dance Tango, but which has nonetheless evolved to be
>> part of
>> the mainstream concept of "milonga" outside Buenos Aires and
>> Argentina
>> as well.
> 
> ...snip...
> 
>> There's another list too, of milonga traditions that have
>> developed
>> outside Buenos Aires, that don't exist in Buenos Aires (or exist
>> to a
>> negligible degree). Anyone care to take a shot at that? The use
>> of
>> "alternative" Tango [sic] music would be the most obvious
>> example, but
>> on the positive side we have complimentary refreshments tables
>> and in
>> some cases BYO wine (regulations permitting ... and sometimes
>> not
>> permitting notwithstanding ...).
>> 
>> Shahrukh Merchant
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