Anton wrote: "Brian, could you name a few social milongas where you have seen Gustavo & Giselle dance like in the video..." I have seen them dance at several milongas in both Boulder and Denver - but within a social context, as I said: "with consummate taste, complete awareness of the ronda, and inspiring improvisational skill". Obviously, there is no "ronda" in this video - there are no other dancers with whom to form a ronda (an expression referring to the mutual decision by all dancers to follow line-of-dance as they share the floor, and GENERALLY to keep moving "downstream" together).
Anton continues: "If indeed they danced like that at a typical, say Buenos Aires milonga, I would call them a menace and it would completely destroy my dance experience on the floor with them. On the other hand, if I were part of the audience in the video, I would be enraptured to watch them all day long." In the milongas I mention, what often happens is that, for their own reasons, some dancers stop dancing because they prefer to sit in order not to miss watching (but, you know, it's a delicate thing- if EVERYONE sits, then it feels like a performance, which changes the vibe - so sometimes if it's a milonga we're hosting, I'll keep dancing just to keep the social-dance vibe going). I have to say it's a VERY cool sensation to be social-dancing near them - very inspiring and satisfying in a way that's difficult to describe - and speaking as a leader, BOY, do I feel secure on the side facing them! Anton, what I meant to express was not that they dance "like this" at a typical Buenos Aires milonga WHEN IT IS CROWDED. But their skills in evidence on the video ALSO contribute to making them EXQUISITE social dancers - as anyone who has had a chance to social dance with either of them will attest. In the case of Gustavo, we're talking about someone who danced virtually EVERY NIGHT in all the hot milongas of Buenos Aires for FIFTEEN YEARS. The guy knows what he is doing, you know? Of COURSE they don't dance like that when it's crowded - it would be physically impossible. On the other hand, anyone who stays late enough at a typical Buenos Aires milonga may well see a similar level of non-crowding AT SOME POINT. Such a milonga visitor may well also see those dancers that can dance this well altering their choices, as Sergio writes, to take expressive advantage of their greater share of the space available - but really, this is common sense, right? Does anyone drive exactly the same on a four-lane empty rural highway as they do in urban bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic? Do we need to frame this in the context of "driving style" to explain the difference in choices drivers are making? Anton further writes: "I would like to add for consideration, that "ratified by Buenos Aires Tango" doesn't mean very much, and maybe the thought should be more on the lines of "what's mostly danced". Just because something might be in the R&D stage of development, doesn't make it a successful product." I purposely said that "ratified by Buenos Aires Tango" will mean different things to different people. Perhaps for you it will mean whether people dance this way at your favorite late-night milonga. Someone else may define it as what's happening in classic places like Sunderland or afternoon milongas like El Arranque. Someone else may define it as what the maestros are doing at CITA. Someone else may define it as what the major established Buenos Aires tango schools are teaching in their curricula. Someone else may define it as what the talented young tango people have been doing with each other in Buenos Aires for a year or more. But I think we agree with Trini that "Buenos Aires Tango" is the common frame of reference, because IMHO it's Buenos Aires where ALL the tango pots (dance, music, tradition, innovation) are boiling the hottest. All the best, Brian Dunn Dance of the Heart www.danceoftheheart.com "Building a Better World, One Tango at a Time" _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l