Re: [TANGO-L] Conversations with "Deep Tango": The "Lost Close-Embrace Style" of Tete and Maria

[Jonathan Thornton <obscurebardo @gmail.com>]

Brian,

Your post touches on an area I've been pondering lately; the differing
satisfactions, needs, expressions, or reasons people dance tango.
Looking for a way to relate these differences I find myself putting
them on a continuum. I don't know if this continuum is well modeled by
a line, a plane, a space, or some n dimensional space but I'll start
with the simplest case of a linear continuum though I think eventually
a better model would use more dimensions.

One end of the continuum could be labeled "fun", "play" or "elaborate
visual presentation" and the other end "deep feeling", "meditative",
perhaps "trance" or "transcendent".

The notion of continuum provides for different focus of individuals as
well as differing focus for an individual at different times. The
continuum also promotes understanding and tolerance.

My point of departure is that people don't seek the same experience
from dance even though they are at a dance and dancing to the same
music. Misunderstanding and disappointment arise if we assume others
are seeking in the dance the same things we are.

I think the diversity in the unity of tango is one of the factors of
its growing world wide popularity. The many facets of tango offer
appeals to different personalities. Many people do seek "fun" in
dance. Swing and salsa as well as square dance offer fun also. Other
people seek a way to experience the depth of feeling in music with a
partner. This is not so active "fun" as a more movement based dancing
with lots of boleos, ganchos, etc. It focuses more on the embrace, the
walk, the breath, the heart. It offers a savoring of a rich depth and
nuance of experience and feeling. I'm not describing a binary conflict
but a continuum that we all can move along as individuals. Sometimes
moving closer to one end or the other as our mood or partnering takes
us.

My point is that we be careful not to assume only one end of the
continuum. Fun is good but it is not the only reason or even primary
reason some of us dance. Fun is also very subjective. I suspect I'll
never understand why some people have "fun" playing golf for example,
but more people do seem to find fun in trying to knock a little ball
into a hole in the ground than in dancing tango. For myself I rarely
am interested in dancing tango for fun, but that is a description of
my self not a prescription for how anyone else should relate to tango.

"It's really unfortunate that Maria's styling and influence has been
lost to the women." I find this statement agreeable as reflecting a
loss of a choice. But many choices remain and they may be the best
choices for some dancers even though Maria's styling would be
preferred by others. Finding our way through the wealth of tango
styles to what fits us best is part of the adventure of tango, part of
the adventure of life.

I'll end this by asking if there exists any video of Maria dancing with Tete?

Jonathan Thornton


On 7/19/05, Brian Dunn <brian  @danceoftheheart.com> wrote:
> Dear List,
> 
> In the midst of our recent intercontinental travels, I ran across a source
> I'll currently identify for now only as "Deep Tango" ;) ;)  He's been
> around, he knows a lot.  Trust me.
> 
> The conversation turned to how many close-embrace followers seem to have a
> relatively restricted set of options presented them by their leaders, more
> than would be required by the constraints of many varieties of
> close-embrace.  I wondered whether "Deep Tango" agreed with this, and how he
> thought it came about.
> 
> "I agree, women don't have nearly as much fun as they could - but that's in
> part because what you see a lot of these days is teachers following Tete's
> teaching after he left Maria and started teaching with Sylvia.  Maria was an
> extremely excellent dancer, with long, flowing, gloriously feminine
> responses to Tete's lead in close-embrace.  Sylvia was never able to match
> Maria's ability to follow Tete in this respect."
> 
> "After she stopped working with Tete, Maria tried to recreate this styling
> with Cacho Dante, but she couldn't replicate with Cacho how Tete led her to
> do these things...Cacho's style was much more "tango quadrado", angular and
> rectilinear."
> 
> "I was working with Tete when the only people studying with him were Susana,
> Cacho and me.  It's really unfortunate that Maria's styling and influence
> has been lost to the women."
> 
> Just some food for thought,
> 
> All the best,
> Dance of the Heart
> Boulder, Colorado USA
> www.danceoftheheart.com
> 


-- 
"The tango can be debated, and we have debates over it, 
but it still encloses, as does all that which is truthful, a secret."  
Jorge Luis Borges