[Tango-L] Problems with Tango Nuevo
I have to agree somewhat with those who condemn "tango nuevo" for some of the problems we see often on the dance floor. This may sound surprising to some of you who have read my defenses of tango nuevo. I consider myself a tango nuevo dancer. I've studied its basis and its movements - a word I use rather than figures. Most teachers of tango nuevo, and many other teachers besides, don't often teach complex combinations of movements any more. And I've melded the lessons from tango nuevo into my own dancing. There are two problems with tango nuevo. One part is its teachers, who usually spend so much time getting their students to master the basic movements that they never even mention the skills needed to fit those movements into the flow of the dance. The other is its students, who are usually young and so often don't understand the social rather than showy nature of most tango dancing. Also, being young and often quite athletic physically they quickly manage to master the basic movements, leading them to think that once they've mastered the basic movement that they're done when in truth they are only half-done. This combination of teacher and student failure at teaching and learning the social side of tango has nothing to do with tango nuevo per se. I and I'd bet you have seen this kind of failure in tango way before there was tango nuevo. In fact, if you've been long involved in other kinds of dance, I'd bet you have seen it in other kinds of dance. I saw it in swing in the early 60s, and in disco in the late 60s and early 70s. When I got involved in salsa in the early 1980s I saw it, where the mambo enthusiasts (stepping on the 2) blamed all sorts of ills on salsa enthusiasts (stepping on the 1). Some people have blamed the problems caused by tango nuevo dancers on the movements we do. That shows a basic ignorance of tango nuevo. Tango nuevo introduced NO new movements. Not one. Every one was invented by someone decades before. What tango nuevo did was introduce new VARIATIONS of older techniques. The colgada is a variation of a figure sometimes called the stork, where the woman is halted with her weight on one foot and the man then walks around her. If he halts her and leads her into an extreme forward lean (a volcada) before walk around her some call this the calesita. If he leads her into a backward lean this is the colgada. Same movement, three variations. The colgada is often associated with tango nuevo, because many of it teacher teach an extreme show-tango version of it. The woman (and counter-balancing man) lean far back away from each other. She also extends her free foot far behind her. Here are examples from Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivera. But the colgada can be a gentle lean with the woman's free foot near her standing foot. This is shown in the second video, where it is taught by Oscar Casas (and called Colgadas Milongueras). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0E7rCcBmjc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvHdD7-qsaA Again we come to my earliest point - much of the problems caused by tango nuevo is due to some of its teachers. Larry de Los Angeles http://ShapechangerTales.com Click to compare life insurance rates. Great rates, quick and easy. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/BLSrjnsHFB8MykoyWcDW1hsRQtQ7DztJNxLyWyI4BLysP2kM3rDDHsOYa4o/ ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Tango (Milongas!) in San Francisco
For Loreen... In addition to George's www.inscenes.com ... >From very near the dead center of the Texas Hill Country, I was able to find these links re: Bay Area Tango/Milongas, utilizing the miracle we call Google: http://plamilon1.tripod.com/index.htm#LMTAL http://www.bayareatango.org/calendar_sorted http://www.virtuar.com/tango/where.htm (I've heard El Valenciano is a good one, and also that the Milonga @ Club Verdi has re-started...) And lastly, http://tangomango.org/index.php?show=San_Francisco,CA+Alameda,CA+San_Mateo,C A+Santa_Clara,CA&hide=Contra_Costa,CA+Marin,CA+Santa_Cruz,CA+Monterey,CA Now as far as "the best" or the most "gender balanced" milongas, I can't offer anything there, but would guess that gender balance is a crap shoot on any given night...anywhere in the world... As far as "the best", that would obviously depend on what you are looking for in terms of music and general 'level' of dancers. I would recommend that you contact a few of the local teachers for their input...Ney Melo/Jennifer Bratt... Christopher Nassopoulos y Caroline Peattie...Christy Cote...Homer & Cristina... Google works wonders... Best of luck and have fun... Alex www.alextangofuego.blogspot.com ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
Re: [Tango-L] Report from Buenos Aires #7: Milonga Review
Not a pattern I have ever seen in Sydney either - but there is one Milonga that does use 'guest DJs' who may not have the experience to know that there is an expected pattern. As I remember, when I was in BsAs 2 years ago the city council had just declared that the 2-1-2-1 pattern was part of what defined a Milonga. db -Original Message- So not Australia, but 1 milonga? Which? As I have never cone across it ever... Sent from my iPhone, from somewhere... On 21/04/2009, at 6:35 PM, "Vince Bagusauskas" wrote: > This was the case in a milonga in Sydney. Maybe they did not like > milonga > pieces? Commonly the 4-1-4-1 would be used in Australia. > Thus I > was very surprised to have encountered the 2-1-2-1 in BsAs. > > -- > From: "Sorin Varzaru" > Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 9:31 AM > To: "Tango-L List" > Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Report from Buenos Aires #7: Milonga Review > >> >> Where are you dancing? In the NE (Boston, NYC, Montreal) I have heard >> either >> 2-1-2-1 or 2-1-1-1. Same for all festivals I attended. >> > > > ___ > Tango-L mailing list > Tango-L@mit.edu > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l ** IMPORTANT MESSAGE * This e-mail message is intended only for the addressee(s) and contains information which may be confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please advise the sender by return email, do not use or disclose the contents, and delete the message and any attachments from your system. Unless specifically indicated, this email does not constitute formal advice or commitment by the sender or the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ABN 48 123 123 124) or its subsidiaries. We can be contacted through our web site: commbank.com.au. If you no longer wish to receive commercial electronic messages from us, please reply to this e-mail by typing Unsubscribe in the subject line. ** ___ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
