325  Why men had to dance with each other

Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 11:50:27 -0800
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Why men had to dance with each other

We have to remember that during the early part of the nineteenth century
social dancing was done with the performers standing opposite to each other.
These types of dances were generically called "Contradanza" . The
progression of the dancers was somewhat lineal around the dancing floor. The
contact among the partners was limited to touching the hands at certain
moments. There were also "Round dances" in which there was a circular
movement.
Minue (mee-nueh with accent in the final eh) was a very popular social dance
during colonial times in Argentina.
The habanera one of Tango's ancestors is also a contradanza.
The word 'Contradanza' might have originated from English Country Dance
transformed into the French Contredanse and the Italian Contradanza. Mozart
and Beethoven wrote Kontretanze. The Viennese Waltz and the Quadrille drove
the contradanza out of the ballrooms.

The Viennese Waltz was the world's first popular dance to use the actual
closed hold, the Polka was the second dance in Europe to use this scandalous
new hold. European society had an ambivalent feeling about this somewhat
immoral way of dancing which was taken with them as they moved to Argentina.

It was, if I remember correctly, around 1850 when the Opera of Paris going
through bad economical times it's director had the audacious idea of
including V.Waltz in some of the performances on a trial basis. It was a
great success, the curious public filled the theater again. Paris being the
center of arts and refinement slowly made this dancing in 'Close hold'
acceptable to the rest of the world.

It is then in this historical context that we have to judge the situation of
tango at its beginnings and during the period 1880-1910 and the reason men
had to dance with each other... but this is another subject that we can
discuss later.

Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 19:59:49 -0800
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Why men had to dance with each other II

Viennese Waltz was the first social dance that used a "close hold" . This
is the way we dance today...we think of it as the most logical hold for a
couple to dance... but at the beginning ...during the second part of the
19th.century this proximity of the bodies in public was considered to be
scandalous. It took many years for people slowly accepting it.

We arrive now at the period in which tango originated before or around
1880. The periphery of Buenos Aires, bars, gambling houses, brothels...
lonely men spend time socializing, drinking, gambling, looking for some
'romance' in the company of women of ill repute, trying the steps of the new
dance...the milonga and the tango. We can imagine that in those places,
under those circumstances every experimentation as to dancing steps was
possible irrelevant of good, bad taste, lewdness or even obscenity.

Remember that at the time just to dance in front of each other the right arm
of the man touching the back of the lady was a little too much... now here
we have a dance in which there is a close embrace, cheek to cheek, chests
together, the legs invading each other's space, in a long conversation of
love and passion, with amagues, hooks, flirtatious looks and caresses ...the
writing of a prologue to a love story that was soon to follow.
The original lyrics frequently were references to sex and obscenities.
As tango became socially acceptable the dance and lyrics were later
depurated or totally changed. Some elements of them still are present
although they lost the original meaning. The name of a most famous tango,
for instance "El Choclo" (corncob) initially was a phallic reference...

Decent families and women of good reputation did not want any part of it the
women a the brothels had to be paid...so if a man wanted to practice the new
dance his only possibility was.. another man.

Groups of men would get together to practice, improvise and innovate,
creating new moves and new steps this approach allowed a rapid development
of this dance.
To be a good dancer was (still is) a sure way of attracting the ladies
attention... men practiced among themselves so that they could surprise, and
attract the admiration of other men and women.

...So, dancing among men had nothing to do with homosexuality.

Close physical contact which is not seen in the Northern European cultures
is very prevalent in Latin and Middle Eastern areas. So within those
cultural parameters it is perfectly possible for men to greet each other
with a kiss on the cheek to be affectionate or to practice dancing... I
repeat this has no homosexual connotation whatsoever.
It is perfectly proper for men to practice tango together in Argentina but
totally out of place for them to dance together in public. (Unless you are
in a gay bar...of course).
I find interesting that Northern European men that culturally and socially
do not interact the same way as Italians or Argentineans do allow themselves
to dance with each other without any reservations...

This note merely attempts to explain this historical peculiarity of
Argentine Tango, it does no pass any judgment of any sort.
There is more...but we can discuss it later.