For those of you that don’t seem to be able to separate salon tango from performance tango here are two videos that clearly show the difference. The first video is Orlando Paiva dancing at Sunderland. Orlando was the master of smooth elegant tango. Balance, axis, timing and connection. The definition of Salon tango is to dance closed and open embrace within the music. Notice how they start off in closed embrace and walk then he gently releases her to execute a figure, you barely notice her arm slip from his shoulder to his arm and then back again. Their feet are always in contact with the floor, they don’t look down at the floor…..blah,blah,blah….the point is if you can dance salon tango you now have the skill to effortlessly dance close embrace or milonguero tango or whatever you wish to call it.
In the second video Murat and Michelle perform a show tango. With no disrespect to Murat and Michelle a large number of tango dancers are taught a lot of the moves you see in this video. You can see the same open and closed embrace being danced but that’s pretty much the only thing the two styles have in common. It’s Show or Performance tango and it’s not intended to be danced at a social milonga. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in8rG2BHnwo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrhlyM-_yos In a message dated 12/25/2010 6:51:40 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Hi David, yes i have lots of opinions....and probably don't 'know' much about classes...but im trying to distiguish between what goes on in a social dance and what goes on in a class..they seem to be different.. like the 'class' is about a different dance. I agree that the leader here pretty much dictates the follow but there is a deadliness to their dance that is very disappointing to me...if i were hoping for such mastery , I'd quit because I'm simply not interested in this dance. whereas watching videos from tango and chaos simply AMAZES me! .. sure, theyve been dancing umpteen million years..but can't WE go for expression and individuality too? or just cookie cutter dullness... one has to start somewhere... maybe im being too harsh but if you read Bora's blog..it seems to me that, she is going down the performance path without even knowing it... i say that 'salon' is performance..it is only danced in performance dances that i have ever seen... where else is 'salon' danced? ok its a word for the general dance floor dance but i say it is already co opted ...that the non-Nuevo performers have already slipped in their palative covert- performance dance as THE authentic one..calling it SALON...it is NOT the Social dance... I want to champion the SOCIAL DANCE as it is danced socially...no one seems to be interested in this. I was just talking the other day to the wife of Ricardo Bellozo (of AbreTango) they are preparing to return to BsAs instead of continuing to live and teach in Italy because stage tango has usurped the interest in the social dance there. We are witnessing the demise of the social dance everywhere except in BsAs....so far. sincerely M.. ... http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=734224171 www.youtube.com/user/nacotete www.tangoandchaos.org www.theopendoorway.org/audiovisual.html "The music makes you dance. It is so simple when one gets it. Connect with my partner and then connect with the music, let the music tell me how to move my body rather than me tell my body how to move to the music. With the right music and right partner, I am contented to have just one tanda a night" -Pedro Sanchez _______________________________________________ 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
