Your first milonga in London after you get back from BsAs is going to be a busy one. Word gets around. Everyone wants to ask about it, to dance with you. It was great to see lots of familiar faces, dance with friends for a change. & it's fun to be a bit of a celebrity for an evening.
But you can't dance all the time, so you sit down and watch the dancing. & if, like me, you watched a lot of dancing in Buenos Aires, you suddenly start to wonder about this strange activity you are looking at. It has characteristics in common with the tango you're used to, but in many ways it is quite different. For a start, most of it isn't close-hold, and then it concentrates on decoration and elaboration, it's jumpy, with a lot of stiff left-arm movement from the leaders, it's a bit crab-like, and there's little obvious connection to the music. You suspect they'd dance the same dance whatever the music.
Well, it's easy to look back and think that what you saw on your holidays was so much better... So I spent a hard hour working my way through YouTube videos of BsAs milongas. Someone has to do it. Most are badly filmed, the camera hiding behind the bottles on a table, but three are OK. So this is the social dance called tango you see in Buenos Aires.
First, and why not, Porteno y Bailarin. I gather there are a few visitors in this one, but there are also a number of locals I recognise. Anyway, this is what it looks like.
I've just spotted something. Watch out for the guy with long hair, white shirt, white pants in the first dance, the vals: that's José Garofalo minus heels.
& now Cachirula, a popular Saturday night milonga at Maipu 444. It looks quite empty, so I'd imagine this is around 3am, but at least you can see how they dance. &, yes, that's Tete at the beginning: watch his muscular turns.
Come to think of it, the dancing looks a bit 3am-ish. That rather unsympathetic lighting isn't unusual. & how many Ocho Cortados did you spot?
Finally, a short expressionistic clip of El Beso. Note the guy in front of you delighted to get the dance he's wanted all evening. Or maybe it's a football score, but I think not. He goes off towards the women's tables.
Have a good look, and compare what you see with... Well, any milonga you care to name in London. What are the essential differences? Which do you prefer? &, if you prefer the BsAs dancing, either to look at or as a way of dancing, is there anything we can do to change things in London? Answers in no more than 100 pages please. Or has London gone too far down the wrong path?
I felt that London dancing looks like clever and capable kids imitating stage tango, and the BsAs dance looks like adults dancing together. No hate mail, please. By and large, we're taught by show dancers here, so we ape them, it's all we know. There aren't that many Buenos Aires dancers who teach their own dance even in Buenos Aires, and they rarely come to London. They tour the US and they visit Italy, but not London.
I must make an honourable exception: Paul and Michiko were dancing on Friday night, and their dance was instantly familiar: upright, musical, tender. Technically the BsAs dance isn't difficult, but it means connecting with a partner and the music. Which can be more of a challenge than linear boleos combined with back ganchos.
4 comments:
When I first saw Tango being danced in London about 10 years ago, it was more like it is here in your post and was something I hoped to experience. I prefer dancing close. I am a tactile person and I enjoy using all of my senses in a dance, apart from taste (which is only in my mind). I tend to accept dances with men that will dance the way I want, with a few exceptions. Very few. The only way to keep to a standard is to not accept dances and if asked why, to explain very nicely. This topic of teachers is a common thread and Jenney Surelia has posted a hilarious and accurate view from Tia Deby. I will be posting a similar topic this week and continue my earlier thread.
Have we ever danced with each other? I like your way of Tango Thinking.
TC
Many thanks for the great blog - enjoyed it very much.
Yes, that's how I would like it to be in London. No, I don't think it's too late to make it more like that. Unfortunately I believe Londoners have just too diverse tastes to settle for one sort of tango. Nor is it right for anyone to impose something on all. I think the best we can hope for is a number of different milongas where like-minded people meet to dance the way they like. It is possible to assert that each milonga already has a discernable character and an equally discernable cast of characters. One milonga I can think of in particular can seem a different place before and after midnight.
I agree with Arlene's post. I think the attitude she describes is important. Because of their right of refusal, what women decide they want to dance will be central to shaping what sort of tango is danced in the long term.
Many thanks, Arlene and Gamecat. Agree with you. Arlene picks partners who suit her way of dancing - and I do the same. I'm sure we'll meet some day!
One point I could add: London sometimes seems awash with ex-Tango por Dos dancers whose background is stage tango. I'd like to help some of the more traditional close-hold-style teachers to London. They tour the States and visit the continent, Italy in particular. They are willing to visit London if they are invited. But now, all of a sudden, since last November, there's a new immigration policy which is likely to make it very hard to invite teachers for a week or even a few days to give a few classes and workshops. If anyone knows a tango-dancing immigration lawyer who wouldn't mind giving a bit of advice I think a lot of us could benefit.
Just an quick addition to the above: Tete and Silvia, and Ana Maria Schapira and her partner, will be in Italy in May and are willing to come to London - if only we can find a way to get them here to teach.
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