[Tango-L] The strange case of "Tango University"

[Shahrukh Merchant]

The main institution that teaches "academic Tango" in Buenos Aires is 
what was formerly called IUNA (Instituto Universitario Nacional del 
Arte) and whose name was recently changed to UNA (Universidad Nacional 
de las Artes). That is the major university in Buenos Aires for the arts 
(music, visual arts, dance, etc.), and has a program that includes Tango 
within their dance division. It considers Tango pretty much as "another 
Argentine folk dance" albeit a special one, and while you can specialize 
to a smaller or larger extent in Tango vs. Folklore, it's clear from the 
syllabus at the link below that these are not the type of Tango classes 
that people on this list go to Buenos Aires to take.

http://formaciondocente.una.edu.ar/contenidos/473-profesorado-de-arte-en-danza-mencion-en-danzas-folkloricas-y-tango-plan-de-estudios

I'd be curious to know if any of the well-known Tango dancers (current 
or former) were graduates of this program, and how much do they credit 
this program for their Tango education.

But this article isn't really about UNA, but rather about another 
institution that exists in Buenos Aires, no doubt unbeknownst to most 
people on this list. It is one that is informally called (even by 
themselves) "La Universidad del Tango" but more officially "Centro 
Educativo de Tango Buenos Aires (CETBA)." It's the only recognized(?) 
educational institution entirely dedicated to the teaching of the Tango 
that I know of. But it's an odd beast with some self-contradictions. For 
example:

1. It isn't clear to what extent they have official recognition 
(whatever that means in the unregulated Tango environment), even as an 
educational establishment. They offer a 3-year program that seems to be 
similar to the UNA offering (combining pedagogy with theatre, make-up, 
theory, history, educational psychology, costumes and of course 
dancing). You can check out the curriculum here: 
http://cetba-uni.blogspot.com.ar/p/tango-danza.html

2. The well-known Rodolfo Dinzel (of "Los Dinzel" fame) seems to be one 
of the founders, and the "Dinzel Method" is featured prominently in the 
curriculum. So you may think this is a commercial venture to publicize 
the Dinzel method and the Dinzel Academy but no, Tango University is 
public and free (as all public universities are in Argentina)! Eric 
Dinzel (the son, I gather) seems to be the only Dinzel presence there. 
If it's not state-funded, it's not clear who's funding it. It's not a 
huge campus by any means, but it's a building, or at least part of one, 
with some land around it, staff and so on, and has a budget that would 
clearly need some non-trivial bill-footing.

3. It doesn't seem very mainstream. I found out about it only because an 
Argentine friend with whom I dance occasionally proudly announced to me 
one day that she was "going to Tango University" with the intention of 
completing their 3-year program, and seemed indeed to be going there for 
evening classes, and some daytime ones, several times a week. She was a 
pretty good dancer to start out with, but the only change I've noticed 
in her dancing since is an uncomfortable-to-me stiffness in her hold 
that precludes a close embrace. It's not for the better as far as I'm 
concerned, but no doubt comes from the performance focus of the 
curriculum. Since then, at least two others I've danced with who 
identified themselves as studying there have exhibited this same stiffness.

4. In addition to the 3-year certificate program, they have free classes 
open to the public in all sorts of aspects of Tango, including several 
on Tango music, a couple on other historical social dances that 
influenced the Tango, and so on. You can check out that list at 
http://cetba-uni.blogspot.com.ar/p/talleres-2012.html

Perhaps I should go check it out one day. I did go once to check out a 
seminar on "PsicoTango" that I was invited to attend as I had 
volunteered to translate a section of the PsicoTango book, but that 
didn't leave me with any more clues on ... "The Strange Case of Tango 
University."

Shahrukh