Re: [TANGO-L] New book about the Tango/Performance tango

[Lois Donnay <donnay @DONNAY.NET>]

I have a confession to make.

Recently I was asked to do a tango demonstration on New Years Eve. This
was a big deal, and there were going to be a lot of spectators as well
as the possibility of press.

So, I had a dilemma. I needed to choose a partner, and I only had 3
weeks. Who among the local tango dancers would do? Unfortunately, there
are only a few who can do this "performance tango" well, and they were
unavailable. There are a lot who can do a fine tango at milongas, but as
Lydia points out, who wants to watch social dancing at a milonga? OK, so
I could have taught them a lot of show moves, but I was worried that I
might risk ruining them for the social floor. There are those who only
do performance tango, and I didn't want to reinforce their idea that
they are tangoing well. (We also have an epidemic of floor-staring in
this town, and that habit is notoriously hard to break)

So, who did I choose? I chose a ballroom dancer and taught him a tango
routine.

It was rather easy. It only took about 2 practices/week, it included
lifts and trick moves, and the performance was great.

Of course, there's fallout. This poor ballroom dancer was dismayed to
find out that what he learned was useless to him on the tango dance
floor. Although he could be a great tango dancer, he will have to start
over. If he comes back to tango.

Then there's my conscience. I know teachers who teach this stuff first,
and who deceive their students into thinking they are dancing real
tango. The students really think they are getting somewhere, as they
dance far apart, and lead and follow their never-ending ochos and unlead
boleos. Then one day they wake up - they've spent weeks learning moves
that are useless. They will have to start over. I have resisted this and
start my students learning connected walking. Yet I lured in a whole lot
of new students who will expect to learn ganchos the first night.

PLEASE NOTE! This is not an indictment of ballroom dancers, who I find
can be taught real tango easily if you stay away from the show moves.
However, this is too rarely done.

Lois Donnay, Minneapolis
www.mndance.com
612.822.8436


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango
> [mailto:TANGO-L  @MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of TangoLady  @AOL.COM
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 4:28 PM
> To: TANGO-L  @MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [TANGO-L] New book about the Tango
>
>
> Oleh wrote:
>
> >If cover of this book
> >(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0786414065.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
> >accurately represents the content, think twice. I hope the
> tango in the
> >United States has not stooped this low.
>
>
> I know a great majority of female Tango dancers would love to
> be able to do that move.  It is beautiful and very depictive
> of the Tango Shows we get in the US and in Europe/Asia.
> Fortunately or unfortunately that is the export Tango, and a
> lot of us fell in love with when Tango Argentino came to the
> US. Back then social Tango was hardly known in the US.  Many
> other shows followed and still the moves and endings of
> routines were very dramatic and similar.
>
> In my book that is called show biz.  Sorry but a lot of
> people don't want to pay $40 to $75 dollars (depending on
> seating at a theater) to see social dancing at a Milonga.
> They want action.

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