3575  Milonguero vs. Milonguero Style

Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2005 22:11:11 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Milonguero vs. Milonguero Style

Hola Manuel:

Your questions and doubts are very pertinent and probably
represent those of many people.

In Argentina a "Milonguero" is somebody who goes regularly to the milongas,
a person with many years of experience and expertise in dancing tango, a man
that has gained respect for all those attributes.

When Janis speaks (she will correct me if I am wrong) about "the old
milongueros" she is referring to that type of dancer.

She has had the beautiful idea of bringing them together with the visiting
tangueros, a unique experience indeed.

Those milongueros (many are in Rick's pictures) dance traditional salon
tango, they do not dance "Milonguero Style".

So one has to distinguish between " a milonguero" ( a person with certain
attributes) and one of many tango styles.

Tango milonguero (tango apilado - tango de confiteria - Club tango -
Caquero, etc, are different names that have been applied to this style of
dancing tango).

This style probably developed in the 1940s and 50s in closely packed dance
halls and "confiterias", so it is danced in close embrace, chest-to chest,
with the partners leaning - or appearing to lean - slightly towards each
other to allow space for the feet to move.

Although the rhythmic, close-embrace style of dancing has existed for
decades, the term "Milonguero Style" only surfaced in the mid- '90s.

As you know there are many styles to dance tango, every person eventually
develops his own .

Tete and other few dancers isolated a form that it was called with different
names (as stated above) and started to teach it.

Summary: Milonguero is a person that dances well and goes regularly to the
milongas, but there are some milongueros that do not dance well but live the
life of a milonguero (goes to the milongas, listens to tango music , etc).

Milonguero style also called, club, confiteria, caquero, etc, is a well
defined dancing form that has its own characteristics.

Happy 4th of July, Sergio.