3679  Tango Danza (stage) and Milonguero (Salon)

Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:42:10 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Tango Danza (stage) and Milonguero (Salon)

I translated from its original in Spanish the following note written by
Susana Miller in "El Tangauta" (a magazine from Buenos Aires) specialized
in tango.

The note reflects the fact that Argentine Tango is only one, only one in the
multiplicity of its expression, only one in the salon where every person has
its own style, only one in the stage where the artist dancer reflects the
beauty and passion of this dance. It is some sort of chameleon that adapts
itself to the different circumstances of the milonga and of the life that
it reflects.

For those that read spanish the original note is at:
https://www.susanamiller.com.ar/editorial/9.htm

Susana Miller writes: (Published in "El Tangauta" sometime ago).

Tango "Salon" (Milonguero) and "Stage" (Tango Danza) (1)

Tango as a dance form has two styles salon and stage.

Their description ignites a controversy in the dance community.
Some people establish a false dichotomy between both of them, false because
in reality they complement each other. Tango milonguero (salon) and stage
tango are in some way the two faces of the same coin.

Tango is known all over the world due to its stage form. The beauty and
splendor of its figures are shown on TV and in theaters in far away places.

Partners acquire some distance from each other in order to execute figures
that are more or less complex, figures that are visually very attractive;
otherwise the corporal work, specially that of the legs would not meet with
too much interest.

The steps are based in those seen in "Salon" but they are longer, they are
embellished and become choreographies that cross the stage in diagonal
lines, creating fronts, utilizing in its totality the ample available space
.

It is due to those fine, skilled dancers, true artists and thanks to their
inspiration and the many daily hours of hard work that they dedicate to
their talent that tango is known worldwide, but...

...the origin of tango was the salon, a place where it still resides full of
life. This tango form has to do with the passion that awakens and grows in
the couple, with a particular handling of the space and with a special
combination of rhythms.

This is the reason that those that live abroad discover in Buenos Aires a
different tango and finally understand that stage tango belongs to the
stage.

The best stage dancers never stop going to the salon because this is their
fountain of inspiration, the place where their choreographies breathe new
oxygen. Choreographies that project in this fashion the spontaneity and heat
of the salon.

In the salon the couple dance for their own enjoyment and not for the show.
Steps are the means to circulate the space which is very limited; it is a
closed tango with erratic drawings that vary according to the available
space.

A good milonguero can dance on four tiles, even on one and also right on the
spot, preserving the rhythm with precision and the contact with the other
body combining relaxation and emotional-corporal control.

The man offers his musical sense to the woman and she follows him as if she
was his shirt.

Her creativity lays in her interpretation, in a way of returning and
enjoying within her body, the movements the man proposes.

None of this can be properly put into words the same way as the salon
intensity and emotion cannot be transferred to other places; this things may
only be verifiable with the wink that characterizes any community that share
a passion, a little bit in secret.

The style has great energy, couples frequently are in trance, in some kind
of conscious afterlife.

The body language is very rich, feelings guide steps and body movements.

The vocabulary used by this dancing elite allows you to envision the meaning
of this dance:
" to walk the tango", "apilarse", "dormir a la mujer", "moverla",
"bailarla". (2)

Tango show must be spectacular but it needs from salon for inspiration
otherwise it would be showing something that does not exist.

Tango salon needs tango stage to spread and reach other areas of the planet
and the new generations as well.

People are a lonely community that moves searching for love: to love and to
be loved in return.

The tango embrace, "the franela" (touch and rubbing of the bodies), its
controlled excitation, is an imitation of that searched love, a relief for
the soul, an act where both, man and woman express their happiness in that
embrace.

Notes of the translator:

(1) Susana Miller uses the words salon and milonguero in reference to
social tango and Tango Danza in reference to stage tango.

(2) Tthese terms have several meanings I offer some of them: apilarse ; a
reference to the embrace - dormirla: to make that the woman falls sleep.
moverla : to transport her. Bailarla : to really achieve that the woman
dances.

With warmest regards, Sergio.