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Re: [TANGO-L] let's find a new name insted of this silly old milonguero style thing (and what is what anyway?)
Greetings friends,
We can usually count on Tom for interesting grist.
> Maybe we should simply use "Close-embrace Tango", and if your style
> is more rhythmic, then add that as a descriptor...
I think that a different name will have no effect on Robin's gripe.
In their lives, some people have a need to conform while others have
a need to *not* conform. In their tango (to some extent) and surely in
their language concerning their tango, they will use the same vocabulary
with different meaning! ...coin a new term and soon we'll be back to
square one... The question, "What dance is the same and what is
different?" will persist.
Tom goes on to make two points:
1.
> One very interesting thing is how rare it is to find traveling tango
> teachers whose credentials are primarily as SOCIAL style dancers. Of
> these you have an even smaller minority of teachers representing the
> Milonguero style.
2.
> The reason this is so interesting is that at least 3/4 of the dancers
> in Argentina are social dancers, and a high percentage of these
> social dancers would be classified as Milonguero Style (by the above
> categories). So we have a situation where most traveling teachers of
> Argentine Tango are NOT credentialed in the style(s) most common in
> Argentina.
I can't get very worked up over what seem like small differences
among styles even if they are clearly recognizable. IMHO, the important
differences are among fundamental individual techniques, not exactly how
close or far a partner is from us.
Concerning point 1:
The 'credentials' that sell workshop attendance are of two kinds (IMHO):
A) recognition based on the perception that average dancers in Argentina
consider a person to have exceptional talent. This means that they
have 'shown' that they are (or can be) different from the average
Joe(sephine) in the milonga.
B) recognition based on brute volume of experience in the milongas
Neither credential is reliable.
This takes us right back to the 'same or different' issue and people's
expectations for the teachers they support. I think the chemistry of
becoming a tango dancer, anywhere in the world, depends as much on the
students' personalities as it does the particular style taught by the
teachers who happen to be available to them. Maybe that's wrong and I'm
naive; people wear ill-fitting fashions all the time. Maybe they'd do
an uncomfortable dance just to be different. But I think that getting
hooked on tango requires a deeper and more personal emotional resonance.
If a style of dance and the people who do it don't 'click' with you,
you vote with your feet and quit.
Concerning point 2:
I agree with Tom that the 'personna' that sells many traveling teachers
is 'type A' (above) and not 'type B'. But let's not bash 'show dancers'.
Being a show dancer takes lots of commitment. Many dancers who have
danced
in shows as a means of support are a) very perceptive students of
movement,
b) very gifted dancers with significant discipline in classical, jazz,
or
modern dance, and c) entertainers. [Any disdain for choreographed
figures in social dancing should not undermine our appreciation of great
choreography for the stage. Even with talent, good choreography takes a
ton of work to develop.]
Are show dancers bad in the milongas? In BA just like anywhere else,
there can be PLENTY of poor dancers mucking up the floor! So being like
3/4 of the population is not such a high aspiration. Those who are quite
good don't want to be cattle, circling in a corral. [eg. Nobody takes more
liberties with ronda etiquette than Tete'!] But for many Argentines who
like (or depend financially on) recognition on the pista, there is
definitely an *art of understatement*. That 'understatement' looks quite
alot like 'elegance'. ...and it is not a matter of 'style'...
Best regards (whether you prefer to be the same or different),
Frank in Minneapolis
--
Frank G. Williams, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
612-625-6441
Department of Neuroscience
6-145 Jackson Hall
321 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
205 Veterinary Science
1971 Commonwealth Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55108