2040  On authenticity...

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 09:55:45 +0100
From: Ecsedy Áron <aron.ecsedy@OM.HU>
Subject: On authenticity...

Dear Tanguero/as,

My opinion is that "authenticism" is very popular within the tango world. Many people choose tango over other dances because the form it =
was originally danced 100 years ago is (or appears to be) still available.
These people are really keen on "authenticity".

Putting aside that I cannot believe that a dance that hasn't been dogmatized at the time of its prime cannot be rendered in its original =
form over 80 years later, it is quite obvious that this dance is still evolving. Evolution (and mixing of styles) had been an integral part of =
tango "history" so it is obvious that the process is still in operation, especially that the music (or rather the "tango genre" - whathever that =
means today - itself) is still not out of date.

Just watch ballroom. It IS heavily dogmatized. Its steps, techniques, styles has been documented heavily, recordings of competitions and =
performances are available since the 50s. Still: comparing a competition or performance from today with one 40-50 years ago will make your jaws =
drop: you won't be able to recognize some dances.

Anyway, if we are talking about social dancing: "social" dances of today in the Western world are basicly not couple dances. The "disco" culture =
changed the dancing culture of the majority. Videoclips lead the way, which also means that social and performed dances are not separate =
anymore. This means that dancing in a social setting implies performance, but vice versa as well. This will effect any kind of =
"traditional" couple dances as well: the attitude of people (and don't forget: above trend started in the 70s, meaning that the first set of =
people who grew up on this attitude are over 30 by now!) don't change that much. They expect at least a little show-off in dancing. Of course =
this is applies to the "majority culture". Authenticists are those people who despise this majority attitude in their social settings (this =
is usually true in general to them).
It is like these people would try to "escape" into the "golden past" when popular culture weren't so eager to show-off (which - if you think =
about it - isn't 100% true, if you read some interviews with some of the surviving tango dancer gurus see www.todotango.com).

Of course as with any discussion on a non-scientific subject: all above is my opinion, based on my studies and some research on tango and =
dancing in general.

Cheers,
Aron ECSEDY
Budapest, Hungary