Is Tango Danced on the Falkland Islands?
- Thread starter UKDancer
- Start date
While "close embrace" is taught often, there is no emphasis on, or explanation of how "committing to your partner," or, sharing weight enough that you create one axis, etc, enriches the dance, and the experience.
Portland's best know and respected teacher is in this camp.
And, it's that "hidden" experience that I'm looking for.
We could get into the things that it makes possible, but perhaps it would be more fair for me to note that after BA, I only danced AT a few times here in Portland. And it's been well over a year now.
The basic eight does exist as teaching choreography, not for social dancing.
Pepito Avellaneda was an argentine lifetime performance dancer and teacher.
Can't find the post where someone wrote about people being driven away by certain topics. Sorry, already spent too much time for a while to look for a quote.
Let me just say, that as a moderator, there have been so many posts recently that I'm finding it difficult to keep up.
I'd say we're doing something right.
And Tango-L, which used to be the big dog, is moribund. (And there is probably more thatn one reason for that.)
Let me just say, that as a moderator, there have been so many posts recently that I'm finding it difficult to keep up.
I'd say we're doing something right.
And Tango-L, which used to be the big dog, is moribund. (And there is probably more thatn one reason for that.)
sixela
Well-Known Member
But to me all of those are different things. I certainly prefer followers to be as close to me as possible and even to resist in movement so that we're joined at the chest. Sometimes that leads me into an embrace that is apilado, sometimes it does not, and as I said, there's a continuum around the point in which both partners are so far forward that they'd fall without the other partner, as far as I am concerned.
But perhaps you lament things that I too would lament - I certainly would find it sad for teachers not to teach how to commit yourself to your partner in the embrace. It's hard to guess since I can't experience the teachers you experience.
Not being in the UK, I don't know what typically attracts people to tango there, but here in the US, it is rarely anything to do with the culture of Argentina. People are first attracted to tango by seeing tango and then they delve into Argentine history or culture as an afterthought (or not)
I suppose that if the US entered into some major conflict with Argentina, then it would be hard to market "Argentine Tango" to people who had never seen it or heard of it, but for the most part, everyone who tries out tango HAS seen some variant of it and that's why they decided to learn it. They could possibly be influenced against it if their favorite
Mostly though, what people see first as AT bears little resemblance to actual AT and if it got re-labled Freedom Tango, nothing would change much at all.
Yeah... that was my first thought too. 32 years? Really? Yikes!
I have heard, through anecdotal accounts relayed to me (male dancers who have had conversations with milongueros) that the idea of the milongueros not showing off is a romanticized myth.
According to the guys I have talked to about this, the M's DID show off. Deliberately and frequently. In fact, much of how they developed their own personal styles and moves was specifically about one-upping each other and showing off to one another. And when they weren't showing off their own dancing, they were positioning their follower to show her body (and booty) off to their rivals.
Many of the M's had massive egos and the notion that they never showed off seems almost ludicrous.
However (and this is a really BIG however) in the tango culture of their time, their desire to show off, and the way they developed their dancing towards that end, took them DEEPER into the music and promoted an increasing level of connection to their partner as well as respect for other couples on the dance floor.
Personal music interpretation played a big part in what they were showing off.
Having the woman appear totally enamored of him (and being enamored of him) was part of a milonguero's goal, not just so he could potentially take her home, but so his buddies would see that he had won her over.(even if only for the length of the tanda)
No-one could impress other milongueros by being a rude boor to other dancers. It was totally contrary to the suave and sophisticated image they were trying to create of themselves.
Sadly in many (if not most) tango communities worldwide now, showing off does the exact opposite. The show offs often pay LESS attention to the music and its nuances, and they often completely ignore the needs of their partner (and I'm not picking just on leaders here.. follower show-offs do it too) If they aren't concerned with connecting to the music or to the person they are dancing with, you can bet that they aren't too concerned about others on the dance floor either!
So the real difference is not whether the old-timers did or didn't show off in their youth (and even now as they are older) The difference is in what showing off meant for their dancing, and what exactly they were trying to show. For the milongueros. it actually improved and enhanced their dancing. For most tangueros/tangueras today, their dancing suffers when trying to show off.
I guess you would call it VU. Sometimes there is quite close connection, but it occurs at the leader's R shoulder and tends to lock his R arm down near his side. The embrace also seems to open up whenever they start doing fancy footwork. I've heard that called "dynamic embrace".
The way I learned apilado the embrace was, as someone here called it, "headlights to headlights". The lead was in the chests and almost nowhere else, ala Tete.
I've been told by a certain older porteño stories of discussing tango steps on a bus and getting off the bus right then and there to demonstrate or try out some new step idea on the sidewalk. And when they were done, get back on another bus.
Maybe they were not dancing in crowed dance floors, but I don't imagine that all the extroverts danced on large floors, while introverts dance on small floors.
That was my experience when I was first starting.. I had a very traditional teacher and everyone else was learning from someone else. We were almost alone in doing a more "milonguero" style (complete with crossing ochos instead of pivoting ochos)
However, slowly my area is developing a greater level of interest in traditional. Now it's the folks who prefer alternative who are complaining that "tango is changing".
Recently I went to a milonga that was as crowded as any BA milonga I attended. It took almost 1/2 the night, but eventually everyone adjusted. In fact, the more crowded it got, the better they adjusted. It's as though there's a mid-point where attempting larger and more showy dancing still seems (to some people) possible and problems get pretty silly. Then when things get more packed it's obvious even to the most dim-witted that you have to dance small and close, and anyone who doesn't like to do that ends up leaving so that it all works.
IME, it's always the "more crowded than usual, but not REALLY crowded" floors that end up having the most collisions and problems.
Sorry I seemed to have added tot he totally off-topic posting...
Uh... Falklands... um... are they traditional there?
lol. Join the club.
A couple of really interesting and informative off-topic posts, though. I have to give you credit.
Maybe I should take up tango nuevo and talk about it here. I ain't skairt no more.
Go for it! I LOVE alternative.
I sorta suck at pronounced V-embrace, but I don't HATE it. At least there is torso contact along one side. I just have trouble adjusting to having my head turned to my right.
The only thing I dislike intensely is "close embrace" where the bodies are about 1"-2" from touching at all, and the connection is in my armpit. I'd rather just dance open.
Sadly, that seems to be getting more popular here. The guys seem afraid of boobs or something. Why dance close if you aren't going to let your torso touch the other person? I really don't get it. Although in some cases, it's due to slouching rather than any deliberate attempt to avoid contact.
sixela
Well-Known Member
What I call "dynamic" is when you walk (in all systems) 'headlights to headlights' but change to a VU-style V embrace for giros. Ochos are sometimes dissociated, sometimes ocho milonguero.
VU is, well, VU.