2869  Of authenticity, crowded floors and good and bad dancers

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 20:41:58 -0400
From: WHITE 95 R <white95r@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Of authenticity, crowded floors and good and bad dancers

In my travels in the US and Europe, I've experienced some of the most
crowded conditions imaginable. Case in point is the famous Portland
Tangofest. Others like the Washington Tango Marathon and quite a few others
are extremely well attended and quite crowded.
Likewise in Europe, El Corte in Nijmegen as the big milongas of Tangomagia
are extremely crowded. Yes, these are held in huge ballrooms sometimes, but
the biggest ballroom is maxed out by 1000 people dancing tango! I saw the
same crowded conditions in the milongas of Zurich and the milongas at the
Tango Camp in Sweden.

The milongas in BsAs tend to also be quite crowded, but no more so than
those I've seen in other places. Also, the level of dancing in all places
(including BsAs ) is quite varied and ranges from sublime to awful. There is
no shortage of bad tango dancers in BsAs. Just one example is a guy (I guess
he's an old "milongero" ;-)) they call the "xxxxx" (name blanked out to
protect the guilty). Most women dread him and avoid him, but still he's a
fixture in the BsAs milongas and yes, he's "genuine portenno". Make no
mistake about it, there are lots of terrible, rude, drunken dancers in the
milongas of Bs As.

Naturally, there are also some fabulous dancers in the milongas of Bs As and
it's always a pleasure to watch them dance or to dance with them. Of course,
there are also fabulous dancers in the US and Europe. Some dance one style
and others a different one, but they excel in the dance. It's not about what
steps the do or how close they hold their partner, but rather how gracefully
and elegantly they move on the floor and how much they are with the music
and how well they navigate the floor. These are the same traits of the good
dancers of Bs As.

The whole idea that one style is "heartless" or "greedy" or "mechanical"
while another style is "heartfelt", "non-profit" or "natural" is totally
preposterous. It's not the style that's good or bad, it's the particular
dancer who is good or bad. Please don't believe that just because one dances
two steps over and over with eyes closed, that makes a "true" dancer, while
that couple over there gliding on the floor, with the music and the crowd,
doing the most intricate and skilled interpretation is a "fraud".

People are people and some have a great stake in the tango and their egos
are tightly bound to their own image as tangueros. Lamentably, they may lack
the natural skill or the dedication to learn to dance tango very well. Of
course they will feel terrible if they admit it, so instead, they'll call
themselves the true "tango" dancers, and call anybody who can dance circles
around them a tango "fraud". They'll also begin to try and enforce their
views or biases on other people and gain power not by becoming better but by
putting others down. I really dislike these kinds of negative tactics and
thinly veiled attacks on good people. I also dislike it when people are
censored and criticized for expressing themselves in a certain way while
other are lauded while rudely running into people, hogging the dance floor
and commiting all kinds of "boludeces" while claiming to be "true"
tangueros.

Anybody who has talent, skill and musicallity is going to be a real asset in
the dance scene especially if they are kind and courteous. Likewise, any
buffon who is rude and clumsy is not going to be good just because he never
does a sacada, boleo, gancho or even complete a turn. He or she are just bad
dancers with huge egos and a distorted perception of themselves and the
world. It's not about style but rather about the skill and grace and manners
of each individual.

Cheers,

Manuel