477  Tango Styles and Gender Roles

Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 09:42:45 EST
From: Leonardo De Leon <TangoLeon@AOL.COM>
Subject: Tango Styles and Gender Roles

In a message dated 3/20/02 8:03:00 AM Larry Carroll writes:

> ... I believe you are in error in saying that any particular style of
> tango modifies the gender roles. In more than a dozen years I have
> learned to dance all the major styles of tango and the lead/follow
> paradigm is the same in them all.
>
> Incidentally, Argentines define "salon" tango in several different
> ways.

Indeed, the language of tango styles is inconsistent. The first time I heard
the term 'milonguero' applied to a particular style of tango, I thought 'not
another term with multiple meanings', to add to 'milonga' a term that's
confusing to the unititiated. Nevertheless, the term 'milonguero' has
persisted, and 'salon style' tango has also been used throughout North
America (if not elsewhere) to label the style of tango danced to slower music
involving (among other things) pauses and adornments.

Within salon style tango, when the man pauses, there is opportunity for the
woman to have freedom of expression in the use of adornos. In contrast,
milonga, vals, and milonguero style tango are driven by the rhythm of the
music and there are limited opportunities for the woman to express herself
independently of the man's lead, thus the limited use of adornos. There are
differences in the division of the control of the flow of the dance between
man and woman among the different styles of tango. Whether this gender
differentiation reflects anything more than differences in adaptation to the
tempo of the music is another question.

Leonardo