(continued from Part 1) Trini wrote further: >>>"This goes back to music being a key part of the evolution of a dance. When I watch people at a milonga, more nuevo steps come out during Bajofondo or non-tango music. It looks right and feels right. The movements developed during the modern era. What would using those same movements in older pieces serve, other than to say "because we can"?"<<<
Oh, I don't know, maybe it serves the need to use something "because I seem to feel like it at the moment". I think most of us leaders have had feelings like that when improvising our social dances. ;) But of course, YOU should only lead/follow what looks right and feels right to YOU, because that's your dance. And anyway, on the timescale we're talking about, the "nuevo" developments in tango dance from the mid-'80's are almost as far removed from Bajofondo and Narcotango as they are from the late Golden Age in the late '50s, when the dancers known at the time as "petiteros" started playing with the ideas that now appear as "milonguero style". As I understand it, all the "nuevo" developments actually began in a tango musical environment which was exclusively Golden Age music, common in the few milongas still existing in the '80's and early '90's where those dancers got their social tango experience. There was no new tango music in dance venues, so that was what they had. But certainly, from some perspectives there have been even newer developments in the dance since the mid-'80's "nuevo" developments, which perhaps ARE more in synchrony with the "21st-century Bajofondo/Narcotango era" according to your theory of dance-music development linkage...uh oh, do we have to start talking about "classic nuevo" versus "nuevo nuevo" now? Just to be clear, personally I'd really really like to just call it all "tango", but that's another thread...;) Trini wrote further: >>>" Yes, you can dance nuevo to older music, but I think nuevo looks best when done to modern pieces, especially with the average dancer."<<< Hmmm... In my discussion of the "Don Juan" video, the elements I referred to as "Nuevo" are things I very rarely see anyone doing to ANY music, primarily because they are very difficult to do well - it IS a performance, and difficult elements have higher performance value. (I should perhaps retract that description for colgadas, which I see more and more lately in milongas to all kinds of music, perhaps because they can be such a useful solution to a common navigational problem). One reason that I tend to write "Nuevo" in quotes is because 1) many of my primary Buenos Aires sources rarely or never use the term with reference to tango dancing, and 2) outside Buenos Aires I hear/read it a lot, but I never actually know what someone specifically means when they use the term - although it seems to be used somewhat disparagingly by many users without further clarification. I'm assuming that since you tend NOT to use quotes (e.g.," Yes, you can dance nuevo to older music..."), that you have a definite idea in mind when you write of things like steps that are "nuevo...for the average dancer". As you've already shared with us, in your community you are taking on many roles, and thus have many responsibilities. I fully understand, and empathize with, your situation. In that context you've apparently been inspired to draw some "style" distinctions for your own purposes, in both music and dance. We can assume these distinctions are useful to you, and perhaps to others. So without calling into question the distinctions you're drawing, I'm curious what steps are on your list of "nuevo steps for the average dancer". All the best, Brian Dunn Dance of the Heart www.danceoftheheart.com "Building a Better World, One Tango at a Time" _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
