Should I Care When Someone Says "That's Not What They do in Argentina"?

Peaches said:
And I look at those sorts of requirements and think, "Let me know where that is, so I know where to avoid."

Different horses for different courses. :)
Click to expand...

I believe it is great to have a clear idea of what you want. I see a lot of people who are confused, and it leads to all sort of misunderstandings and frustrations.
 
Should you care if someone says that's not how they do in Buenos Aires?

My answer would be that I will keep that in mind when I am there.

The Quickstep-Tango video thread would seem to be completely irrelevant (and maybe it is) but I just wrote a bit about how one form of popular American music changed over three or four decades, as did dance. (Animal dances to jitterbug)

I've read enough about AT to know that it, too, went through changes over time. So, again, which AT are we taking about. Oh, Golden Age. Who will argue that it didn't change over the course of two decades?

My favorite "I've been to Buenos Aires" story is now the guy here in town that fancies himself as "one of the best leads in Portland", since he took lessons there for several months. I'd say, NOT, but, I've never been to BA so maybe I'm not qualified to say.
 
Steve Pastor said:
My favorite "I've been to Buenos Aires" story is now the guy here in town that fancies himself as "one of the best leads in Portland", since he took lessons there for several months. I'd say, NOT, but, I've never been to BA so maybe I'm not qualified to say.
Click to expand...

Most probably NOT, because, if done properly, it is, above all, a very, very humbling experience....
 
Steve Pastor said:
...My favorite "I've been to Buenos Aires" story is now the guy here in town that fancies himself as "one of the best leads in Portland", since he took lessons there for several months...
Click to expand...

I always think it should be a guys' partners who say whether or not he is a good leader.
 
Hi Zoops

I meant the question in a general way. Would be clearer if I wrote "Should anyone care" instead, and by "someone says" I mean "someone writes" too. No one has said "that's not what they do in Argentina" to me but I read statements like that quite often. Your post is bang on though in how best to handle criticism in general.

********

Argentina (BsAs) is not Mecca. I don't feel the need or requirement to go there or dance in any style but my own (as it continues to develop...). I think people who use BsAs (more specifically, their opinions and beliefs about BsAs) as THE basis for what is right and wrong aren't adding any value to the tango community. Just my opinion...
 
Perhaps you could just tell us what has really happened? Somebody in your community or on this board criticized your dancing or your behavior using their opinion about BA?
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
OK. Where outside Buenos Aires can I find a milonga that is organized to facilitate all traditional codigos, for example, assigned sitting, and invitation strictly by cabeceo, so I can dance only when I want with whom I want? Where is a milonga where majority of leaders have heard the music they dance to since their birth and know it inside out? In which milonga the majority of leaders dance tango for 25+ years in a very competitive environment where the level is strictly enforced? Where can I find all that, for starters? Let me know, and I fly there next. Because all of that makes a huge difference to me as far as tango is concerned. If it does not matter for some, fine with me.

Meanwhile I am going to Buenos Aires, because I know where to find all that and much more there. And I will not go to a "tourist central" that was mentioned in a previous threads where the crowd consisted mainly of taxi dancers and their clients.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a zen quote: One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened.

but do you fulfill your own conditions; have you been listening to tango music since birth.
me its only ten years and why should tango dancing be competitive? Isnt that a ballroom aspiration?
 
bordertangoman said:
... and why should tango dancing be competitive? Isnt that a ballroom aspiration?
Click to expand...

No, I don't think it is. Dance sport is a tiny part of the ballroom world. Overwhelmingly, ballroom is a social dance. I wish there were more opportunities to dance tango socially around me, though, but events are few and far between.
 
tangomonkey said:
Don't mean to be a s**t disturber...but... If an art (dance) form refers back to its "Golden Era", or how things are done in the geographical point of origin today, as the ultimate test of worthiness for what is happening now in the form elsewhere, has it become something less than it was during that "Golden Era"?
Click to expand...
Tango has spread out in the world about one century ago, and it evolved in many styles as american tango, english tango, etc.
Probably "every style is the best", paraphrasing your zen quote.
Anyway, the place where it evolved in the most interesting way, both in technique and improvisation, is BsAs, and this is what we call "argentine tango": the tango that is danced these days in BsAs.
People dancing argentine tango is arguably interested in tango that is danced in BsA not because it is argentine, and not because BsAs is superior to other cities, simply they like that style: not necessarily in every aspect. Maybe someone doesn't like invitation with mirada and cabezeo, others don't like other traditions. Someone likes more the style of central milongas, others prefer outskirts, others the practicas...

The "Golden Era" is referred to the music: it is nothing more that a couple of decades when tango had a so great diffusion that there where money to pay a great number of musicians that played for dancers.
 
bordertangoman said:
Reminds me of a zen quote: One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened.

but do you fulfill your own conditions; have you been listening to tango music since birth.
me its only ten years and why should tango dancing be competitive? Isnt that a ballroom aspiration?
Click to expand...

Actually, I have, but that was not the point. That was my answer to the question what BA milongas have that other places have not, and why it could be regarded as a point of reference. Competitive not in terms of sport competition. What I meant was if a bad dancer shows up in a milonga, no one would dance with him, unlike here. That has forced people to learn and improve.

Come on people. Is not Thailand a mecca for Muai Thai practitioners? Would not any Karate baka be happy to go to a dojo in Japan? Visit a ballroom section of this forum, and we read that studying in England is considered a great learning opportunity etc etc.
Endeavor we undertake is still called Argentine tango. When somebody states that learning about tango in Buenos Aires will bring nothing valuable to their tango community, that makes me wonder...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top