The Common Man's Dance

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Weird Sister

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How has the influx of dancers from other genres influenced the aesthetics of tango? Is tango evolving into something that precludes the participation of regular people?

I wonder because when I look at videos of milongas in Buenos Aires, no one looks like a ballet dancer. The "lines" and postures seems much more subdued and accessible. But here in the U.S., I feel like I need to go take ballet lessons before I can get on the dance floor.

I don't want this to become an embittered battle of neuvo vs show vs milongero style (whatever those labels mean). Each version has its virtues and adherents. We're all special snowflakes. :)

I just wonder if what tango is becoming in the U.S., at least, makes non-dancers feel woefully inadequate.
 
Weird Sister said:
How has the influx of dancers from other genres influenced the aesthetics of tango? Is tango evolving into something that precludes the participation of regular people?

I wonder because when I look at videos of milongas in Buenos Aires, no one looks like a ballet dancer. The "lines" and postures seems much more subdued and accessible. But here in the U.S., I feel like I need to go take ballet lessons before I can get on the dance floor.

I don't want this to become an embittered battle of neuvo vs show vs milongero style (whatever those labels mean). Each version has its virtues and adherents. We're all special snowflakes. :)

I just wonder if what tango is becoming in the U.S., at least, makes non-dancers feel woefully inadequate.
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One thing to consider, in BsAs, milongas tend to be more "segregated", by style. The downtown milongas (packed) tend to be more as you described, but other ones can be quite different (when more space), and have a much greater focus on the visual aspects of the dance.
 
Weird Sister, where do you dance and take lessons? Perhaps we could stir you toward milongas and classes in your area where people dance and teach their students to dance more like in Buenos Aires? :) Because that "kind" of Tango also exists in the US, and grows in popularity every day.
 
dchester said:
One thing to consider, in BsAs, milongas tend to be more "segregated", by style. The downtown milongas (packed) tend to be more as you described, but other ones can be quite different (when more space), and have a much greater focus on the visual aspects of the dance.
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First this. Basically any style of dance that can be even vaguely described as tango will have a presence in BA somewhere. Whenever somebody shows images of "this is how they dance in BA" they consciously pick a certain slice of the tango spectrum that they like. If you ask somebody what they consider to be their "home" milongas it will tell you very specificly how they dance.

Second i feel there are as more "normal" dancers here than in BA - depending on the milonga and the time of the year (just before the mundial) you can sometimes get hordes of professionals at a milonga, or late at night the complete cast of some tango show that is celebrating something. You almost always get at least one professional with their guests/clients.

Third - and that might be just my perception - i find that a lot of the more obvious lines and postures to be easier to do than the more subdued and accessible looking ones.
 
Gssh said:
Third - and that might be just my perception - i find that a lot of the more obvious lines and postures to be easier to do than the more subdued and accessible looking ones.
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That is a very fair observation. I wish to develop it by saying that it is also easier to teach to western people, and for some easier to perceive, since the audience is already somewhat familiar with it. A lot of tango teachers in the US have absolutely no (or very little) tango credentials. They are practitioners of other dances taking advantage of the opportunity -- growing popularity of Argentine Tango. So, they teach what they know the way they know. And it is very often better received by the student's body than teaching of the "real thing", because "the real thing" is a different culture, a different approach from, let's say, an average ballroom dance class, hence may seem unusual, hard to understand and uncomfortable.
 
@Weird Sister

"In the land of crazy, crazy people are normal" ;)

In takes a lot of time to got to that stage how people in BsAs dance.
And we take what we have learnt to tango, in any way.
So it's perfectly normal that those people dance that way,
they are dancing their own tango, as everybody does.
In the beginning it's so strong that are tango is not visible.

I don't think you should feel inadequate for tango, only for their company.
Try to find suitable group and enjoy in tango.
At least you know what to search for. :)
 
Thank you for your suggestions but I'm not so much looking for a group to join as much as gain a better understanding of how the dance (particularly, the dance technique has evolved). :)

Any dance historians in the house?
 
But what you are talking about is not an evolution but rather seems a case of misrepresentation of the dance.
The question about evolution of tango technique is too broad in any case. Where, and since then?
Tango in my area, for example, has evolved from when it was predominantly taught by stage dancers (executions of figures and steps, visual effects) and their descendants to more instructors teaching social/milonguero ( focus on connection between partners (lead and follow), embrace, musicality, especially ladies musicality and interpretation), and numerous people traveling to Buenos Aires and dancing there in the milongas among the locals with their full acceptance.
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
That is a very fair observation. I wish to develop it by saying that it is also easier to teach to western people, and for some easier to perceive, since the audience is already somewhat familiar with it. A lot of tango teachers in the US have absolutely no (or very little) tango credentials. They are practitioners of other dances taking advantage of the opportunity -- growing popularity of Argentine Tango. So, they teach what they know the way they know. And it is very often better received by the student's body than teaching of the "real thing", because "the real thing" is a different culture, a different approach from, let's say, an average ballroom dance class, hence may seem unusual, hard to understand and uncomfortable.
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This is a great post. Sister, my reply would be, "No, it isn't necessary to have a dance background or other such platform in order to dance AT". You are quite right in your assessments regarding AT in the US vs BsAs, and Lilly's reply in particular (and some others) is spot on. AT is, IMHO, one of if not 'the' most natural dance on the planet. Consider your objective. If it is to dance socially (naturally, as in the social milongas); or, if it is to dance more showy or flashy (nuevo or fantasia); then, go for it.
 
Weird Sister said:
Thank you for your suggestions but I'm not so much looking for a group to join as much as gain a better understanding of how the dance (particularly, the dance technique has evolved). :)

Any dance historians in the house?
Click to expand...

Here are some info:

And she talks about evolution of tango as stage dancing and relation to social dancing

And here you might find useful info:
http://www.tangoandchaos.org/index.htm
 
Weird Sister said:
Thank you for your suggestions but I'm not so much looking for a group to join as much as gain a better understanding of how the dance (particularly, the dance technique has evolved). :)

Any dance historians in the house?
Click to expand...

I think what you are observing has very little to do with technique _evolving_.

I would the describe the current state of tango as there being (at least) three different, more or less incompatible, frameworks coexisting. Most people use all of them, in general one of them as what they would consider "proper technique", and the others as variations to make specific "tricks" possible. This is complicated by the fact that a lot of figures/tricks/adornments are often showcases for a specific technical skill within one of the frameworks, but technically meaningless in other frameworks, but because they are popular they get re-engineered in the other frameworks so we get something that has a very similar look, but completely different body mechanics. None of the frameworks is in particular more difficult or advanced than the others, they just implicitly and explicitly emphasize different things.

That is one of the reasons that almost all discussions of technical points here start with people outlining what they consider to be the framework of their tango.
 
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