Re: [TANGO-L] And the new World Champions are ...

[Randy Pittman <tango22 @BELLSOUTH.NET>]

Happy New Year Milongueros y Tangueras,

Better late than never
>Apparently nobody from the USTC qualifying event made it to the top six at the >World Championships in Miami last September.

Correction: 3 of the 6 couples that qualified the USTC Tango Fantasy festival, of these 3 couples not one of them made it to the finials at the IDO World Championships in Miami last September. For whatever reason that the 1st place Roberto Maiolo and Calrita Infante did not show up, the 2nd place Diego Blanco and Ana Patron did not show up, and the IDO Argentine Tango Champions of 2001 Christian Camacho and Monica Llobet did not bother to show up. Why I cannot tell you. You'll have to ask them yourself. 

There is a definite reason, that this was the first year that I did not personally post the results immediately after the event. Before we get to that here are the results of the 2002 IDO World Argentine Tango Champions 

World Champions Marco Palladino - Daniela Tabai - Italy 

2 Alberyto Scarico - Grazia Sabina Rovelli - Italy 

3. Martin Balmaceds - Maria Isabel Pradilla - Venezuela 

4. Louis Bar - Laura Cantu - France 

5 Petr Horacek - Michasia Simkova - Slovakia 

6 Oleg Dimitrov - Asya Dimitorv - Bulgaria 

When I left the night of the competition I was completely disappointed with the IDO Tango event. From start to finish and did not take with me the results that evening, but before I continue on this point the question of WHY must be addressed. Why is there competition in Argentine tango. Some feel that competition in A T is perverse, that this Art form should not to be desecrated thru competition. 

NEWSFLASH, veterans of this list remember the competition discussion from 3 or 4 years ago. Juan Carlos Copes, Gavito, the Puglisses all the big names of Argentina have competed dancing A T many long years ago.  Not only do we compete in Tango, I'm afraid that we compete all throughout life. We compete for jobs, friends and the affection of the opposite sex or maybe affections of the same sex. Competition starts as we swim up the magic tunnel and fight to be the sperm that impregnates the egg. Life is competition! 

With the response that this thread has generated, "which hasn't been much", if you want to know WHY we are involved with the IDO A T Championships please continue, If you are not interested just hit your delete key. 

The IDO World and European Tango Championships have been going on for over 20 years. In 1999 the IDO migrated to the USA. They joined with the United States DanceSport Championships, they were looking to take their event to a new level and this was the place to be as far as dance competitions are concerned. The USDSC, in the ballroom world is the #1 dance competition in the USA. 

>From the onset I told the IDO president, that with the rules and regulations, and how the competition was structured, that a performing dance team could train to compete in AT,  have a chance to win, yet never be able to dance a social tango at a milonga. 

Before 1999, there had never been an Argentine representative at the IDO World tango Championships. I had three goals in mind, 1st to help the IDO have a good AT Tango Championship, that would be respected by at least, by  those that conform to competition rules and regulations. .2nd to select a couple, secretly train a performing dance team to compete and prove, that there needed to be changes in the regulations. Third there had to be someone from Argentina to represent the true heart of tango. 

Our first year 1999, Christian and Lorena were 3rd, I personally judged them 2nd. They were technically better than the couple that did take second place. The couple that took second place, the male mislead his partner and got lost. I know this because I choreographed their routine. His partner Ana Llorente took over and sold with passion and sensuality till she got him back on the routine. The other judges bought her acting over the technique of the 3rd place couple. Fortunately there was a  representative from Argentina, none other than Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo. There was a fight over 2nd place, 1st place was never in doubt. From the first preliminary rounds. Fernanda and Guillermo received standing ovations. Most preliminary rounds never see standing ovations. Fernanda and Guillermo received standing ovations all throughout the event. On the final evening the vendors taping the event said that, that was the longest standing ovation ever receive by anyone at the USDSC in his 10 years he has been filming. They were incredible.  

The 2000 IDO AT competition was won by Carlos Gavito and Marcella Duran. In 2001 Christian Camacho and Monica Llobet finally broke thru the ranks to win  the IDO Argentine Tango Championships for 2001.  The IDO championships for 2002 are Marco Palladino - Daniela Tabai from Italy. In the 2001 and 2002 there was no Argentine representation, and 2002 half of the USA representatives did not show up.  I hope that, that does not sound like sour grapes.  Personally I wish that I could compete myself, but how would that look.  Instead I had to settle for a specialty judgeship to assist in judging of the Argentine Tango for the USDSC IDO Argentine Tango Championships. The judges of the IDO are quality judges of Ballet Dancesport and many other forms of dance. From the beginning, I've preached, to test the skills of dancing tango, to prevent trained professional dance teams that have never danced Argentine tango, to learn a choreographed routine and be able to compete. To correct this  all 3 dances must be required, Vals, Milonga and Tango. 

The reason that I was disappointed in this years event, with only Tango being danced, all of the dancers that made the final round, they did dance in time to the music, they did do authentic AT steps, but 2/3rds of the dance was flash, trash and tricks.  In 1999 when Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo bowed to continuous standing ovations, they danced beautiful, sensuous, elegant Tango.  

The reason that I have waited to post this is, I had to decide if the USTC  Tango Fantasy was going to continue to be a part of the IDO Tango event.  Not only were the rules unacceptable, someone else was proposing new regulations that still were not adequate, but now they were listening and were getting ready for the annual meeting in late November to make rules and regulation changes. Using their format, I structure something that would make it difficult for a non-tango professional dance team to learn a choreography.  With the new rules they will have to learn 5 or 6 choreographies.   Did I do this on my own, "NO" Miguel Angel Zotto worked with me and the IDO adopted 99% of what was submitted.  In the preliminaries they only have everyone dancing only Tango. In the final round we had submitted Tango without Fantasia on the end, sure they liked the way Fantasia sounded.. Following are the new rules and regulations for the IDO Worlds Argentine Tango Championships. 

Argentine Tango (Tango, Milonga, Tango Vals and Tango Fantasia)

1. Music: Organizer's music in all rounds EXCEPT the final round of Tango Fantasia where dancers may use their own       choice of music.

2. Length of Exhibition: 2 minutes long, to conform to the end of the musical phrase, in all rounds EXCEPT the Tango Fantasia in the final.

3. Tempo: 30 to 32 bars per minute (120 - 128 beats per minute)

4. Characteristics and Movement: The Argentine Tango is a social dance that falls into a smooth category of dance.  It follows the line of dance (LOD) going around the dance floor in a counter-clockwise direction.  This dance form expresses love and passion, which is evident by the closeness of the dancers, the man's control and the woman's seductiveness.  The dancers execute the figures mainly from the waist down while trying to achieve an interesting interplay between them.  This interplay between the partners is dictated by the music, and the dancers should be dancing to something in the music. One should be able to see the melody expressed through their movement. The epitome of Argentine Tango is to watch a couple dance with good posture, good extension through the legs, their feet almost always caressing the floor, and pausing with the music with a sense of rhythm that should be clear to those watching.

5. Typical Movements:  Walks, turns, ochos to the front and back, sandwiches, leg-wraps and drags, pauses with the music, molinetes, paradas, barridas, boleos, ganchos.  Brushing and follow-through technique is essential in all movements. Knees must stay connected when executing boleos and ganchos. Certain sacades do allow the legs to swing open without the knees being closed.

6. In Preliminary Rounds: The dancers should avoid using obvious choreography, only improvisation, which is the true heart of the Tango. Couples will be qualified to the next round by dancing the Tango only. No lifts, separations or jumps are allowed. Only normal dance hold is allowed. In the preliminary rounds, a 1-minute presentation dance will take place before the couples are divided into separate heats.  Not more than six (6) couples will dance together in each heat.

7. In Quarterfinal Rounds:  The dancers should avoid using obvious choreography, only improvisation, which is the true heart of the Tango.  Couples will be qualified to the semi-final by dancing three (3) different kinds of Tango: The Tango, the Milonga and the Tango Vals. The Skating System will be used to determine which couples will be qualified for the semi-final. Only normal dance hold is allowed. Not more than six (6) couples will dance together in each heat.

8. In Simi-final Rounds:  Couples will be qualified to the final by dancing three (3) different kinds of Tango: the Milonga, the Tango Vals and the Tango Fantasia. The Skating System will be used to determine which couples will be qualified for the final. Only normal dance hold is allowed in the Milonga and the Tango Vals. Not more than six (6) couples will dance together in each heat.

9. Lifts, separations and jumps:  Permitted in Tango Fantasia ONLY, and no acrobatic figures / movements are allowed where the feet or the main part of the body is above the partner's shoulders.

In the Finals:  Couples will be dancing three (3) different kinds of Tango: The Milonga, the Tango Vals and the Tango Fantasia. All couples will dance together in the Milonga and the Tango Vals, and may only use normal dance hold in these two dances. In the final for the Tango Fantasia, each couple will perform alone. The Skating System will be used to determine the order of merit over all three (3) dances.

There are still flaws, but the foundation of the event has been significantly improved.  

Tango Forever

Randy & Lydia 

USTC Tango Fantasy on Miami Beach