[TANGO-L] Tango Nuevo & Tango de Salon/Milonguero

[Melina Sedo <melinasedo @ONLINEHOME.DE>]

Hi all,

I totally agree with Tom Stermitz saying:

> Nuevo tango, that is the "concepts and possibilities that came from the
> practice explorations of Gustavo, Salas & others",  might be thought of
> as a style, teaching methodology or an analysis.
> ...

> Also, nuevo helped produce more improvisational teaching methodologies
> and freed many teachers from needing to depend on the 8-Count basic.
> ...


Well, you're totally right. Even Milonguero-style dancers may learn 
something from the "nuevo tango" - approach. We did. Our classes and 
our dance are based on improvisation using the principles of 
leading/following, of combining the possibilities, on parallel/crossed 
system, geometries... We even use the idea of "stealing steps" from the 
opposite role, as Tom called it.

Now, are we dancing "estilo nuevo"? No, we're not. Everyone watching us 
(and our students) would call our style "Tango de Salon" or "Tango 
Milonguero" (depending on where he or she comes from ;-)).

(We'll be having a few new videos ou our site in a few days, so you'll 
be able to judge jourself. At the moment there are only some old 
videos, so don't bother to look...)

Why? Where's the difference?

We discussed this with an argentine friend living in our town and 
dancing "estilo nuevo" and came to the conclusion:
Tango de Salon/Tango Milonguero is about the embrace, "Estilo Nuevo" 
ist about possibilities of movements. In Tango de Salon the emphasis is 
on the embrace and the connection to your partner, that is why your 
possibilities are limited and maybe not even that important. "Estilo 
nuevo focuses on the possibilities, that's why the embrace may be 
changed or opened.

For me it may be perfect to walk straight forward or just stand during 
a whole Tango, if the embrace feels good. (Ok, I'm exaggerating a 
little. ;-))  An "estilo nuevo-dancer" would die of boredom, because he 
"needs a certain saccada in a particular moment" as our friend pointed 
out.

But: there's no reason to fight. Everyone may learn from the other. 
That's why we founded a new association: 2 Salon-Couples, 1 
Nuevo-Couple. The TANGOKOMBINAT. Let's see how it works. ;-))

Have a nice day,

Melina



Melina Sedó & Detlef Engel
-------------------------------------
www.tangodesalon.de