Carlos Saura is a great *Spanish* director and I think that comes across pretty 
clearly in his movie about tango i.e. it is terrible. Just compare it to his 
earlier movie about flamenco (Carmen) which is superior in every way (the movie 
that is, not necessarily the dance). Admittedly I may be a little biased given 
my Spanish blood, but it seems to me that in the first movie he managed to 
capture the essence and soul of flamenco and nowhere in the Tango movie does he 
come anywhere near to that. You get a much better picture of tango from 
something like 'Tango Baile Nuestro' if you can ignore the weird bits in that 
documentary.  Actually you will find Copes in that film as well. Have a look at 
him teaching beginners in the documentary and you can draw your own conclusions 
about his approach to teaching, at least. It is strictly tango by the numbers. 
Maybe this sort of approach is ok for teaching Argentinians who already have 
grown up with tango, but as a basis for teaching for!
 eigners I don't think a worse system is yet to be devised. Yes, Copes is a 
legend of the dance, but things have moved on a lot from his day both in terms 
of teaching and performance. I think (without mentioning Copes specifically) 
that was Naveira's main point in his article previously linked by Janis. Tango 
today is stronger than it has ever been and there is no need to be too 
deferential to the past.

Victor Bennetts

>Copes is known for being the first person to choreograph tango for
>professional dancers on stage.

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