Argentine tango and macho men

[pygmalion]

Wow. I just read a cool article about Argentine tango which suggests that the "macho" behavior around lead/follow in tango is an outgrowth of Argentine culture, and that gender roles in the dance itself are a microcosm of gender roles in the larger Argentine society. True? If so, do gender roles in other cultures affect the way the dance is done? Why or why not? And does doing tango require suspension of one's own societal values, at least for a time?

http://totango.net/equal.html

[will35]

Well, the man leads the foxtrot and hustle, too. Kids dance in clubs by themselves sometimes. Does that mean they are asexual? It is very tempting to try to say something about people by the style of their dance. The fact that the man leads is more of a convention to me. The woman does not do it for the same reason we drive on the right side of the road in the US. Somewhere on earth, there is probably a dance that the woman leads. Does it say much about the people who do it? Maybe, maybe not. I can say one thing. If the dance a people do says something about them, the Porteños are probably the most attractive people on earth. I have a good article that has been floating around the milongas here that I will try to print out and put here later. It is long. I don't know where it came from, but it is interesting, and I believe a woman wrote it. Nito Garcia uses the word "protect" quite a bit when he talks about the man's role in Tango. Of course, he is from a completely different world. One of the teachers I had a long time ago told me it was important for the man to lead. He said, "You better do it now, because the woman leads in the house. The Tango is the only opportunity the man gets to lead."

[pygmalion]

You know, will, I don't know nearly as much about tango as I plan to. So I'll talk ballroom versus salsa. Dancing out in a salsa club, I experience macho. Big time. Out at a ballroom dance, not nearly so much. But in both places, the man leads. (Incidentally, I LOVE macho men! :lol: :lol: ) To me, the difference must be cultural. I'm not trying to perpetuate stereotypes here, but culture does influence how we see the world. I'm just wondering if it influences how we see dance, as well. *shrug*

[will35]

Don't get me wrong, it is a real study. I just don't want to say too much about a huge group of people I don't all know. Maybe SDSalsaguy has done some research on chauvinism/machism in dancing?

[pygmalion]

Hey who needs in depth study when we can speculate to our hearts content? Just kidding. :lol: :lol: I bet there's information out there. There are doctoral dissertations all over the web. I'll add that to my list of things to google.

[NeoDevin]

Speculation is more fun though.