4540  Of Morris Dancing and Tango

Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:55:46 -0500
From: "Gibson Batch" <gibsonbatch@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Of Morris Dancing and Tango
To: TANGO-L@MIT.EDU

I think we have a thread going about how people from Argentina don't enjoy
dancing tango, or even discussing the dance at all.

But don't most people keep their local artistic passions to themselves?

I know of few people in my Morris Dancing community, for example (an English
traditional dance), who admit to dancing because of the unusual symbolism
and costume of the dancers. Certainly, the Englishmen I have met have all
blushed a little when I tell them I dance 'their dance'. Morris dancing is
something most English people want nothing of at all except distance
amusement as a spectator at best.

OK, on a rather thin limb, I can suggest that tango and Morris have
something in common, you see, because the Morris dance is a fertility
ritual, and tango is.....well, more of the same.

I suspect that tango community is some of the same way - as is most
sub-cultures - no one generally likes to stand out of the crowd by being
known as a tango dancer any more than the Morris dancers.

Fortunately, it doesn't stop us. We dance anyway.

I have yet to dance tango in my Morris kit, however, nor dance Morris in a
tango outfit. I found the people do have certain limits of acceptability
across cultures. Ditto for tango and scottish.

Gibson
Minneapolis