1010  the tango of the milongueros

Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2003 00:45:51 -0300
From: Janis Kenyon <jantango@FEEDBACK.NET.AR>
Subject: the tango of the milongueros

Tom Stermitz wrote:
One very interesting thing is how rare it is to find traveling tango
teachers whose credentials are primarily as SOCIAL style dancers. Of these
you have an even smaller minority of teachers representing the Milonguero
style.

The reason this is so interesting is that at least 3/4 of the dancers in
Argentina are social dancers, and a high percentage of these social dancers
would be classfied as Milonguero Style (by the above categories). So we
have a situation where most traveling teachers of Argentine Tango are NOT
credentialed in the style(s) most common in Argentina.
________

It is even more rare for a milonguero to travel to the United States. This
happened for the first time ever in 2002 when Miguel Angel Balbi, a
milonguero with 50 years of social dancing in the milongas of Buenos Aires,
travelled to your 3rd Annual Milonguero Weekend in Denver. He gave a free
class at the Tuesday night practica to a group of at least 50. Then he
attended all of the milongas organized for the weekend. A handful of people
learned that he was at the weekend event (at his own expense) to dance,
sing, teach and talk about his life in tango. Several people have told me
that were unaware that he attended the weekend event, and they were sorry
they didn't have the opportunity to study with him.

Tito Palumbo, editor of B.A. Tango--Buenos Aires Tango, once told me that he
estimated the milongas of Buenos Aires have fewer than 5,000 social dancers.
Tango is and always has been danced mainly in the capital of Buenos Aires,
not in all of Argentina. Many more people in Argentina dance folklore than
tango.

If you consider the dancers over 50 years of age in the milongas of BsAs,
the majority dance a simple social style rather than elaborate figures. I
don't want to use percentages because it is impossible to do so without a
survey of every milonga and dancer.

If you consider the dancers who are under 30 years of age in the classes and
milongas of BsAs, you will find that the majority are learning patterns,
boleos, ganchos, etc.

The thread initiated by Robin about "this silly old milonguero style" has
generated an interesting discussion. I compiled the messages which totalled
26 pages of comments from 13 men (all living in the US) and 6 women (2
outside the US).

I have a close perspective of tango in the milongas because I have been
living in BsAs for the past four years. I call the tango I dance "tango
milonguero." Why? Because I dance with the milongueros. How do I know
the milongueros? My partner of three years is a milonguero who has
introduced me to the milongueros whom he has known for 40-50 years.

I am spoiled, and I dance only with milongueros. Tango isn't an exercise
for me; it's a feeling. It's not the quantity of the tandas I dance, it's
the quality.

If the milongueros could read these 26 pages of discussion about the styles
of tango, I believe they would have a good laugh or shake their heads. They
wouldn't think of dancing tango without embracing a woman. That's what it's
about. They don't talk about how or why they dance tango, they just do it.


Pichi de Buenos Aires