what is the difference between international and american

[Serendipity]

As far as tango goes my experiences are very limited. My opportunities for dance never blossomed until i reached Fairbanks AK for college and this is the one area that the dance community is severely lacking in. I had a great teacher who taught me some AT but after 6 months he left for the lower 48. Every once in a great while someone from the lower 48 comes up to Fairbanks to teach some tango but its always AT and only briefly. Don't get me wrong I love AT but I'd really like to learn more. A couple years ago I had a dance instructor Roulin Jensen. He had a phenominal background but was only able to teach for 2 years and hardly any of it was tango. At one point he had mentioned that he danced international and some american tango but not argentinian (sorry about spelling). I danced with him a few times and i really couldn't tell the difference between the two. Is there really a big difference and i just never had the chance to really explore it or are they fairly similar? I never had formal instruction with him on tango, it was the one dance he refused to teach, so what i have to go by is how it felt.

 

[Chris Stratton]

Since this is the Tango Argentino corner of DF, I'd say that compared to argentine tango, international ballroom tango and american ballroom tango might as well be the same dance. In fact to those who do both they probably almost are - american style includes seperated positions not found in the international form, but the technique would be basically similar. (okay, someone might do something slightly different for emphasis in one style, but that would be a very personal choice). Larger apparent differences of technique between international and american tango are really more likely to be differences in the background of the teachers involved - in particular, social american tango can get a little square, lacking the diagonal poise and movement across the feet so stressed in international and competitive american technique.