Kudos to Vince re: "Who to blame for the bad dancers." I have mostly lurked - - and for many, many years - - on Tango L but I simply had to respond to his suggestion regarding the preservation of social tango dancing. I don't think it should be an either/or decision in terms of choosing either traditional (social) tango vs. tango for stage with respect to demonstrations at festivals, special events, etc. Vince raises an incredibly important subject and one that should be seriously considered by promoters and organizers of festivals/milongas.I fervently believe tango organizers/producers should INCLUDE BOTH FORMS OF DANCE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO RAISE THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS, INCREASE UNDERSTANDING, AND PRESERVE THE ROOTS, HISTORY AND ART OF TANGO. I would not suggest simultaneously presenting both forms, but, rather, sequentially. It would be quite wonderful if everyone would consider providing a few introductory words which highlight and appreciate the differences. People who have been in tango less than 10 years - - of course, depending upon with whom they study and whether they want to acquire any depth of knowledge - - often do not have any context for understanding or judging tango. These "babies" in tango often do not have the perspective to for recognize, evaluate and appreciate what they see.
On a not unrelated note, I personally think it is tragic that those who dance Nuevo often bypass learning the fundamentals of tango and, truly sad, is the fact that their teachers do not know anything other than this one approach to tango. I am not arguing for or against Nuevo tango. I do not believe there is only one way to express oneself through art; certainly, to pronounce anything in an absolute way is to narrow the possibilities and freedom of expression. What I am arguing for is to be able to make informed choices and to go deeper as an artist and to have greater freedom as a dancer, which, in Argentine tango, means to first learn the traditional music and dance. Lorena -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Vince Bagusauskas Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Tango-L] Who to blame for the "bad" dancers? If it was not for the renaissance of tango and in particular the fantasia shows and competitions in BsAs, would there be a nuevo tango following today? For those who read this list and want to preserve social tango dancing, maybe as promoters/organizers of festivals/milongas you should decline from having individual couples putting on demos* thus encouraging them to display the 'crowd pleasing steps' that are not strictly tango, that the crowd then feels obliged to learn. If a demo has to be held, have several couples dance on the floor at once, thus forcing them to restrain themselves and show a semblance of social dancing. But I guess there is no money for promoters in that. My 2c *For the record, these days, demos do not excite me as they once did: I tend to do something else when it is on. Vince In Melbourne Enjoying his break. _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
