Most none Argies are attracted to tango because of the theatrical steps and performances they have seen in a show or movie. So that is the excitement which brings them into to studios to learn tango, not always but that's the way I have seen it over the last ten years. After I had been learning tango for about 6 months from a general ballroom dance studio which was responding to demand created by the movie "The Tango lesson". What was being taught, well met the needs of the students, but as I went on to find, it was one hell of a long way from the tango as danced in the milongas in BsAs.
About six months into my tango journey, a visiting tutor from AR was teaching a huge class of students, dancing as far apart as they could get without losing a grip on their partners, the guys holding onto their iron frames which they had been taught to build to be able to lead their partners. I can remember the AR tutor getting pretty frustrated about what he was seeing and there were heated discussions with the studio owners. Julio stopped the class from its dance activity and directed the class couples to face each other, lower their arms to waist height and hold each others elbows and to start walking in line of dance, no dance just walk. After three tango tracks he stopped the class and instructed all couples to put their hands behind their backs and connect with their partners with just chest contact. This was met with shock horror, but we had all paid lots of money for these classes and with great reluctance complied with the instruction. Most of us were with people we knew, so the social impact was not yet at its peak. After three more tracks of just walking, we were instructed to change partners. I now had a woman who I had never met, didn't know her name or where she was from leaning on my chest. It was overwhelming!! Nothing to do with sex, it was so foreign to all local social contact and custom. One hour later it was behind us and we started to learn tango. Ten years later I dance simple close embrace in what's generally called milonguero style. When I dance, I dance for myself and my partner, I am not dancing for attention or approval from anyone else. Though it's real nice to get a little hand squeeze from a milonguera in BsAs and a bien, bien at the end of a tanda. If you are enjoying however you dance, go for it. However, if you want bagels, go to NYC, if you want tulips and windmills go to Holland, if you want tango, go to BsAs. Robert Robert Ramsey-Turner Crown Associates Limited Environmental Consultants 4/55B Rautawhiri Road Helensville 0800 Auckland New Zealand (Office)+64 9 420 7888 (or cell) +64 27 284 6620 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shahrukh Merchant Sent: Monday, 20 September 2010 11:19 p.m. To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Tango-L] the fear of close embrace meaning of life <[email protected]> asks: > have you all ever considered that some people enjoy dancing a more open embrace? enjoy seeing each others faces as they dance? enjoy sliding their bodies past each other? enjoy the larger figures? enjoy the more dramatic dance permited by a more open embrace? enjoy the athletiscm that a more open embrace permits, even encourages? I'm not sure what the point is. I've considered that people enjoy ski jumping, demolition derby, flying trapeze, and other visually dramatic activities. But they don't call it Tango and they certainly don't do it at milongas. > have you ever considered that starting slowly and allowing a more open embrace, larger figures and a more dramatic dance might improve your recruitment and retention? especially among younger dancers? Unfortunately, way too many "Tango" teachers seem to have indeed considered this and found it lucrative, with the result that in some communities that is the only thing that people are being exposed to as "tango." However, it's capitalism and free markets at its finest, and I would support it at that level. Unfortunately, preservation of culture and art forms is not the forte of the free market system, where "New and Improved [sic]!" continues to be the marketing methodology of choice. But if higher recruitment is all that one is after, Salsa may be a better option. Most places in the world (excluding Buenos Aires and possibly a few others) that have a thriving Tango community have an even larger Salsa community. > have you ever considered that some people feel mauled and threatened (especially good looking females) by the pack of wolves that descend on them Well, not being either a good looking female nor a pack of wolves (perhaps a tiny fraction of one rather socialized wolf :-)), I would have to say that no, I have never considered this. > and this destroys your retention, especially among younger females? ... > hesitation to have their "personal boundries" invaided by "stinky old men"? This I have not seen either. They generally learn rather quickly to avoid the predators and unless they have led highly sheltered lives, Tango is hardly likely to be the first place they encounter them. And if your hypothesis were correct, communities with a strong tradition of close-embrace dancing would have a dearth of your aforementioned "younger females," which phenomenon I have seen no evidence of (nor heard of anecdotally). "Stinky" men and women tend to be avoided by all, with the possibly exception of those who are recovering from bad colds. As far as "old," while there is natural tendency for people to mix with others in their own age group, it is actually a nice thing about Tango that there is actually more mixing of age groups. You should come to Buenos Aires and watch the glow on the faces of the "younger females" who just got invited to dance by one of the "old men" milongueros--if their personal boundaries were being invaded, they certainly weren't showing it. Shahrukh _______________________________________________ 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
