4492  Tango System

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:51:13 +0000
From: "Sergio Vandekier" <sergiovandekier990@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Tango System
To: tango-l@mit.edu

"Quite how a whole generation of teachers mistook this nonsense for

>a System
>of Tango Nuevo will forever remain one of tango's great mysteries ;)
>
>Chris"

I understand what Chris is saying and appreciate his note as something that
could stimulate interesting discussion.

One could see the meaning of system as used for Nuevo tango as "A set of
objects or phenomena grouped together for classification or analysis. "

To be fair one should remember that when Fabian, Gustavo, Pablo Veron and
Chicho started teaching tango the way that characterizes them, they always
insisted that all they were doing was
"salon tango" they resisted the use of the words Nuevo Tango as descriptive
of what they were doing.

They also insisted with the idea that they had created no new moves. That
all they had done was to analyze the traditional moves in all its components
and all their possibilities and in the process they had resuscitated many
steps long ago forgotten.

It was other people that persisted in calling what they were doing a
different name: "nuevo tango".

Their approach to teaching tango was different in the sense that
traditionally, instructors showed the steps and made the student do
exercises to achieve the necessary skills to do them; then the student would
try to do the steps.

The Investigative Group approach was to analyze every movement explaining
where the center of rotation was situated, what type of walk was being done
(parallel or crossed) , who rotated around whom, utilized counter body
motion as a lead, utilized certain moves such as heel sacadas very
frequently, re-discovered, linear boleos, volcadas and colgadas. Perfected
the lead and execution of many movements, more recently they started to use
"Piernadas".

They contributed to this era of changes in tango. We may like it or not but
undoubtedly it is contribution.

Summary it is unfair to attribute them things that they did not said.

Best regards, Sergio