I'm an old tango woman. I made my first trip to Argentina to learn tango in 1994. When I dance socially, I tend toward close embrace, although I studied with some of the classic salon style dancers in Buenos Aires. What no one ever comments on is the development of nuevo style out of the classic salon style tango of Buenos Aires as it was taught in the 1990's. I think it's exciting to take the basic elements of a dance and twist and transform them to a new aesthetic. It is fascinating to see how the influences of contact improve have merged with the music and basic tenets of of tango to create a new dance.
It is also interesting to note that Daniel Trenner came to Argentina originally to work in contact improvisation. (I think I'm correct on this - others may know better ). For awhile, in the mid-nineties we supposed that tango would merge with swing to become 'swango'. But it seems that it went its own way and became something truly new in partner dancing. What interests me most is the dependance upon another body to give swing to the movement - how relaxed it looks and how beautifully it can be danced to my favorite tangos or to the music of Tom Waits. _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
