1854  Structure, Styles, etc.

Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 12:01:49 -0500
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Structure, Styles, etc.

Hi friends!

Lots of interesting talk yesterday about styles, milonga types, et cetera.
I have two points to add.

First, we should remember that tango is primarily MUSIC, and secondarily
MOVEMENT. This explains why I agree with Manuel and Robert (among others),
that the structure is similar in all of tango, but that the differences that
we've discussed as distinct styles are not terribly fundamental.

Consider this notion. I might propose that the two major styles of tango
are related to the couple's axis. Frank's style "A" is characterized by a
shared axis that doesn't change very much during the dance. To lead style
"A" well, you must be adept at feeling your partner's mass combined with
your own so that you don't (accidentally) disturb the interface between you
and her. Frank's style "B" is characterized by separate and individual axes
for each dancer. To lead style "B" well, you must be sensitive to the
direction, timing, and energy of the movements that you suggest to her are
interesting to execute. The interface is not necessarily direct and the
leader doesn't generally feel the follower's torso mass or inertia. More on
this in closing**.

Now, think about real social dancing. You must absolutely be able to manage
Frank's style "A" or you'll never fully enjoy the connection of tango.
However, Frank's style "B" offers additional tantalizing possibilities that
few dancers can ignore. Still, the music IS the music, and that comes
first. So what are we to do? I don't know about you, but I only do one
dance - tango de Panchi! By the time I've adapted to the music, adapted to
the follower and adapted to the space, there's only one thing to do! What I
do, and I think we all do, is to weave together elements of the above style
"A" and style "B" as best I/we can to bring to movement the feelings and
energy of the entire situation in which we're dancing.

...which brings me to my second point, then, concerning 'alternative'
milongas. A milonga is not a jr. high sock hop in the gym. It is a social
occasion made of many elements including the music and the space and the
dancers. But the total environment must be conducive to individual self
expression. It should be OK to be unique. Milonga organizers should aspire
to make individual self expression comfortable and rewarding, and that
inspiration and energy can be aided in many ways. Compared to BA, I find
that the milongas up here are not very inspiring. Dancers showing off,
crummy music or sound, bad lighting, social pressures that I don't need...
(like, 'you owe me a dance, buddy!') It can all add up to diminish the
energy for self expression. The details matter. Milonga organizers, DO
sweat the details!


**Now back to the proposition of styles. Note that to pull off a nice
colgada, a single-axis turn that is one byproduct of tango nuevo
experimentation, we do it in what I describe as 'style "A"'. A nice boleo?
...could be either "A" or "B", depending on whether it's parallel or
contra... It comes down to this. An understanding of the dynamics of
dancing in 'close embrace' is fundamental, WITH of WITHOUT torso contact.
Milonguero style? Pffff! Few "milonguero style" dancers restrict their
movements to the above style "A". In privates with Susana Miller we
definitely didn't. The best 'milonguero style' I'll ever do is my "tango de
Panchi" to Guardia Viejo music! Tango Nuevo? You gotta really practice to
make the transitions between A and B clear, timely, and flow smoothly, but
they're there all the time.

Structurally, Tango is all one dance. Stylistically, tango can be as
diverse as there are different musical sonorities.

Enjoying your reasoned discussions, friends!
I'll see your comments tomorrow...

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

Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 14:10:44 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Structure, Styles, etc.

I think Frank Williams has made a real significant contribution to the
discussion of differences in style through his definitions--style A is
shared axis tango and style B is separate axis tango. The widest variety
of movements are possible by shiting back and forth between shared and
separate axes.

Learning to dance with a shared axis is the challenge of style A, and some
people like to restrict themselve to the vocabulary of steps that can be
accomplished with a shared axis. These steps tend to be less complicated,
which allows a greater focus on the relationship between the couple
dancing. It also is useful for dancing in crowded spaces.

The vast vocabulary of steps that are possible with a separate axis tango
is the challenge of style B, and some people like the challenge of
learning and executing complicated step patterns. Many instructors of
style B teach complicated step patterns that their students find difficult
to execute without collision when dancing even on moderately crowded dance
floors.

Consequently, many people see tango dancing as falling into one of two
approaches:
1) Style A -- shared axis with relatively simple elements that can be
danced improvisationally
2) Style B -- separate axes withe complicated memorized step patterns

Unfortunately, this lazy thinking ignores that tango is one dance that has
many stylistic approaches. It pushes tango into two competing camps. (I
thank Frank for offering a way of seeing the unity of tango as a dance and
the diversity of its styles at the same time.)

With a more thorough knowledge of tango's structure, one can shift back
and forth between shared and separate axes and between relatively simple
and more complicated elements and still dance improvisationally in a
relatively crowded milonga. Unfortunately, many of the dancers who want
to use the complicated patterns they recently learned in workshops have
not digested the material sufficiently to use it in even moderately
crowded venues. Often these dancers get frustrated that they cannot dance
what they learned or they bump into or kick others.

How do these observations affect milongas? With a few exceptions, I do
not know any organizers who set out to exclude particular styles of
Argentine tango from their milongas. Doing so reduces revenue. As a
milonga becomes more crowded (more successful from the organizer's
perspective), however, it becomes more difficult to execute complicated
memorized figures. Those who have sufficient improvisational skill can
still continue using complicated elements in moderately crowded to fairly
crowded milongas. As the density increases, however, everyone is pushed
toward dancing in relatively simple elements. (These are essentially
Brian Dunn's observations in reverse order.) Hence, the most popular
milongas will tend to have less complicated dancing, and executing complex
memorized patterns will not typically be possible, unless the organizer
has rented an airplane hangar.

What about the music? Afterall, of most contributors to Tango-L are not
living in Buenos Aires. Why not use a more diverse play list than the
classics from the golden age of tango? First, we must recognize that most
of us djs do have more diverse playlists than the golden-age classics (and
the merits of such lists have been discussed almost as much as styles on
Tango-L). The dj's job is to play music that drives the event forward and
allows everyone on the floor to dance as harmoniously with all the other
dancers on the floor as possible. When the floor is relatively crowded,
music with a clear dance rhythm helps keep the dancers moving well with
each other and it keeps the energy up. The use of other music in crowded
conditions seems to produce more collisions, near collisions, and
interupted movments--none of which make for enjoyable dancing.

In my observation, dancers are more diverse in their interpretation of the
long pauses or tempo shifts that characterize much of the tango music
recorded after the golden age. That diversity of interpretation works
better when the floor is less crowded--simply because the unity of
movement becomes less important as the density on the dance floor falls.

With best regards,
Steve

Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/