5785  Observations on "Nuevo"

Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:36:37 -0300
From: Shahrukh Merchant <shahrukh@shahrukhmerchant.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Observations on "Nuevo"
To: tango-l@mit.edu

Well, I found myself agreeing with 50% of the burst of good high-energy
discussion in the last few days, then realized that since every opinion
and its counterpart had been expressed, that statistically speaking
pretty much everyone would have to agree with 50%. :-)

Anyway, some observations on the over-generalized use of "Nuevo":

Various people have attached the "nuevo" label to all of the following
things, in some cases lumping them together, in other cases treating it
as an "evolution" (or "devolution," depending on the perspective).

There may have been an evolution in a chronological sense in some of
these, but they are all distinct phenomena and are being grossly
over-generalized and even more grossly over-simplified by all being
given the label "nuevo."

- STRUCTURE: Naveira/Salas/Frumboli (the last to a lesser extent)
analysis of tango movements into elements to identify a structure within
the dance. They never called it "nuevo," they called it "structure" and
it was largely within the realm of traditional Tango. Mid/late '90s.
Some of it I found extremely useful (e.g., it's emphasis on the giro and
its technique as a fundamental building block of Tango structure), other
things "interesting but not particularly useful mathematical
curiosities," such as trying to explain the cruzada as just another
giro, and other things "experimental" such as extrapolating the
structure into new "figures" like "Change of Direction." The last of
these seemed to me more like a particle physicist's attempt to define
all the possible elementary particles that must exist by symmetry and
then spending a good part of a career trying to discover them: it is
great that science is being pursued by a talented few, and it must be,
but practical applications will be few and far between for most of us.

- MORE OPEN MOVES: This PARTIALLY evolved from the above, where some
extrapolated figures really needed a more open position. But there was
also the influence of dozens of Tango stage dancers (which the N/S/F
trio really are not), who for many years dominated the teaching of Tango
around the world, and who taught open figures because (a) that's how
it's danced on stage (easier to see and do flashy stage moves) and (b)
students flocked to classes to learn the aforementioned flashy stage
moves. In fairness to these teachers, most of them DID place a lot of
emphasis on proper technique. But a lot of people wasted a lot of time
and kicked a lot of shins learning to do back sacadas (not easily done
in close embrace) while thinking they were learning social Tango. A
third influence on open moves and a more open embrace was that in most
non-Latin cultures, people are just more comfortable dancing further
apart (the milonguero movement in exported Tango came later), and a
fourth influence was of course the much greater space to do these open
moves in the relatively nascent Tango communities of the time (and in
most even now) outside Buenos Aires.

- NEW FIGURES: The oft-mentioned "colgadas" and "volcadas" come to mind.
(The colgada, unlike the volcada, IMHO is largely incompatible with
traditional Tango technique, but that's another discussion ...) The
point is that these have nothing to do with the first two (they don't
directly derive from the "structure" nor do they come out of an open
embrace--a volcada would in fact preclude one). The N/S/F trio (among
others) WERE instrumental in their development and adoption and
dissemination, no doubt helped by their effective and successful
marketing (in a positive sense).

- "TECHNO"/ELECTRONIC TANGO: The music that is. I'd guess the term
"Tango Nuevo" was first used in the context of the music. This music
came, and still comes, from Argentina, or in some cases from Argentine
musicians in other parts of the world (e..g, Gotan Project). Some of the
more sweeping figures and/or open moves went well with SOME of this
music (a very small fraction of which is actually danceable,
notwithstanding the "one can dance anything to anything" school), so
there was some synergy there.

- ALTERNATIVE TANGO [SIC] MUSIC: From the "one can dance anything to
anything" school, an attempt to dance Tango to anything EXCEPT Tango
music (techno or otherwise). Sorry, but this is an entirely gringo
phenomenon. To the extent that it exists in Argentina at all, it's to
cater to the Tango tourists who "learned" to expect this. I call them
"excessively long cortinas," and they are most appropriate for doing
what one does during cortinas (anything except dance Tango).

- BAD NAVIGATORS/INCONSIDERATE DANCERS: Nothing to do with any of the
above, except (and this is a big "except") that big-movement dancers are
much more of a nuisance when they disrupt other dancers. As succinctly
stated by Aron: "bad nuevo dancers are like lighthouses, bad traditional
dancers are simply ignored." But I would expand to "bad and/or
inconsiderate and/or unaware" (after all, someone who is bad just
because he is a beginner is to be nurtured, not rejected).

One can't really lump all these things into the word "nuevo" (and some
of it isn't even new). My own personal preference (or tolerance) for
these is roughly in decreasing order in the way I listed them above:

- I've found some of the structure extremely useful, particularly in
giros, barridas, and the like.

- Open/sweeping moves: with the right space and the right partner and
the right music, sure, but I very rarely encounter that combination, and
even less if it's techno Tango I'm dancing to.

- Volcadas: yes (but sparingly), colgadas: no.

- Alternative Tango [sic] music and inconsiderate dancers: Here, I'm
with Ron--let's isolate these to the same room and lock the door (from
the outside). :-)

Shahrukh

Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:08:05 -0700
From: romerob@telusplanet.net
Subject: [Tango-L] Observations on "Nuevo"


Shahrukh wrote among other things:

>

ALTERNATIVE TANGO [SIC] MUSIC: From the "one can dance anything to anything"
school, an attempt to dance Tango to anything EXCEPT Tango music (techno or
otherwise). Sorry, but this is an entirely gringo phenomenon. To the extent
that it exists in Argentina at all, it's to cater to the Tango tourists
who "learned" to expect this. I call them "excessively long cortinas," and they
are most appropriate for doing what one does during cortinas (anything except
dance Tango).
<

Humm, I do not think so.

Here is the introductory section of a tango dance book from 1916 by Nicanor
Lima published in Buenos Aires, "Metodo Teorico Practico para bailar el Tango
Argentino de Salon"

translation:

"In the first part of this method, which is the fundamental part of the
dance ..............no only facilitates the complete and perfect learning of
our authentic and popular tango, but also
it serves as the base to learn different dances with out the need of an
instructor. These are dances such as vals, polka, mazurka, schottisch, etc.,
marshalling all of the movements of the tango dance to the beat of the music of
the dances described above.

The same figures of tango at the same time update the dance described above
including the One Step and Two Step. This is because
they can be applied to any dance. This means speeding up or slowing down the
execution of of the movements according to the beat of the music
dancers would want to apply said figures."