2012  Tango and dress

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:41:07 -0600
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Tango and dress

Greetings Janis,
Cc: tango-l

First, I appreciate reading your thoughts and in particular, I appreciate
that you are making an effort to document some of the history of tango
culture through it's living historians. My enthusiastic support to you in
any project that preserves this history. Remember, though, that your
documentation will be a better record if you can put personal values aside.

You write:

>>It is unfortunate that younger dancers show up in jeans and t-shirts, not

to mention all the tourists who do the same. Is this a good thing for the
tango?<<

...and...

>>It's true that everyone doesn't conform to a high standard of dress in the

BsAs milongas. Wouldn't it be more pleasant for everyone to walk into a
place and see everyone dressed elegantly? Tango deserves our respect. This
is one way to show it.<<


Silly Pichi. It is *possible* that the kids in their jeans and t-shirts are
NOT there to impress you or the older milonguero/as. Each of those 'kids'
is dressing to impress or conform within their chosen group of peers just as
the older milonguero/as are making a statement within a different spectrum
of attendees (to which you seem adherent). It is perhaps difficult to
appreciate, but the 'look' projected by many of the younger dancers is very
studied. The *purpose* of their mode of dress is *the same* as that of the
charming older dancers in suits and ties. They are dressed differently but
for the same purpose.

Respect??? This reminds me of dressing for church! ;-) One dresses to show
oneself to the other people there, but NOT for the deity one is there to
commune with! Respect is not adulation: respect for tango is not the same
as adulation of charming gentlemen in suits (nor emulating their clothes).

'El Tango' is so much more than a faction of elders. Respect for tango is
rooted in healthy self respect. Not egotism, but SELF respect. Without
that, how can you be comfortable 'walking your walk' or expressing your
personal feelings (via dance) to relative strangers? Apparel is only a
consequence of the 'heart' that makes a milonguero/a (of any age).

Best regards,

Frank in Minneapolis



Frank G. Williams, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
612-625-6441

Department of Neuroscience
6-145 Jackson Hall
321 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
205 Veterinary Science
1971 Commonwealth Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55108