3748 WSJ Article: The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:55:53 -0400
From: Nitin Kibe <nitinkibe@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: WSJ Article: The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves
The full text is below, FYI. Not a bad piece, fairly accurate, and
excellent publicity (it'll probably be picked up in the Euro and Asian
editions of the WSJ too). I am sure it will persuade some to explore tango
and perhaps stay on.
Good wishes to all.
NK
Wash DC
******************
The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves --- Heavy Beat, Lots
of Twisting Draw a Young Crowd; Mr. Ladas's All-Nighters
By Kim-Mai Cutler
1,207 words
29 August 2005
The Wall Street Journal
A1
English
(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
BERKELEY, Calif. -- It still takes two to tango, but young urban aficionados
have added some surprising new twists to the tradition-bound Argentine
dance.
For most of a recent Saturday night, Homer Ladas staged what appeared to be
a program of traditional tango at a small studio here. Locked in tight
embrace, dozens of couples gently swirled on the scuffed wooden floor as the
sound of violins from the golden age of tango in the 1940s floated in the
air.
But by about 4 a.m., it was time for something quite different on the dance
floor. With the traditional crowd gone home to bed, Mr. Ladas dumped the
orchestra music and replaced it with the sort of modern, bass-heavy dance
music that might be played in a hip nightclub. The dancing was different,
too: The people in their twenties who remained switched over to a new kind
of tango that had them lifting, twisting and ricocheting around the room.
This is "neotango," a new millennium version of the dance that was born at
the turn of the last century in the brothels of Buenos Aires. It's booming
all over the tango world.
For years, the very word tango brought images of sophistication and glamour:
tuxedoed, rose-clutching tangueros strutting across the floor with leggy
women -- tangueras -- in dresses slit up the thigh. But the tango was
withering away. A lot of American milongas, or dance parties, were kitschy
affairs patronized by an aging and dwindling cast of die-hards who danced to
scratchy records of accordion music.
But now, in city after city across the U.S., a new generation of tango
dancers is packing the floor again. They swerve and kick, not to the
traditional violins of, say, the great Francisco Canaro's orchestras, but to
the dub beats of Massive Attack or wailing guitar lines of Jimi Hendrix.
Formal wear is out; sneakers, low-rider jeans and halter tops are in.
And the dance itself is different: faster, more fluid and requiring more
floor space. While old-school dancers, enjoying simple steps, might press
themselves heart to heart, the new version rotates over swaths of floor at
high speed. Actually, there are many competing new versions. Some dancers
borrow moves and music from electronica, swing and even martial arts.
One popular neotango DJ played gigs in Beijing, Washington, D.C., and St.
Louis this summer. Indeed, at Mr. Ladas's Berkeley milonga studio, there's
usually a global assortment of partners on hand -- an architect from Berlin;
a Japanese woman who helped found the Edinburgh, Scotland, tango society;
college students who fly up from Southern California just to dance; even a
porteno, or native of Buenos Aires, or two.
Mr. Ladas, who hosts all-nighters in the San Francisco area and in other
cities across the country, is emblematic of the new generation of dancers. A
former mechanical engineer in Tucson, Ariz., he saw a flier for tango when
he was 27 years old and became obsessed. He took lessons and, soon, 10 hours
of dancing a week became 15 and then 20. At an Amsterdam tango festival, he
danced for 26 hours nonstop.
But tango remained just a hobby for Mr. Ladas, now 36, until two cataclysms
shook up his life -- his mother's death and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, just a day later. He took a leave of absence from his job to teach
tango, and he never returned. At around the same time, neotango was growing
increasingly popular in American and European dancing circles. It had its
roots in the pounding club music, the experimental stylings of a few
prominent Argentine dancers and modern fitness regimes: yoga, Pilates,
martial arts and capoeira, a Brazilian art form that combines martial arts
with acrobatics.
While the traditional form of tango can be highly structured, neotango's
early proponents believed dancers had to be free to experiment, and
experiment they have.
Mr. Ladas set out to spread the word about the new tango, teaching classes
and hosting milongas around the country. In 2003, he and a group of
like-minded San Francisco dancers opened the doors to the city's first
large-scale alternative milonga. "There was a group of young people who were
frustrated who wanted to have more expressiveness in tango," he said.
But when neotango started picking up steam, the passionate tango community
divided into cliques as arguments brewed over which kind of tango is best.
Even as Mr. Ladas's neotango events have swelled in popularity, some dancers
have branded him a "tango philistine" or have avoided his events. The same
rifts have appeared in other communities, too. When new-style dancers first
emerged in Denver, they were dubbed the "nuevo brats" for causing collisions
on the floor with their flashy and sometimes haphazard moves, said Stephen
Brown, founding member of the Dallas tango community who has been a DJ at
Denver tango festivals.
Traditionalists simply long for the older styles: chest to chest, cheek to
cheek, and eyes closed in what is known as the tango trance. "Tango is very
close to the heart," dancer Moti Buchboot said. "That makes it really easy
for crazy zealots to go in there and say that their style is the style and
that's the only right style."
It isn't just the dance moves that are dividing the audience, it's the more
beat-oriented music. "Tango requires music with a human breath, and without
that it isn't danceable," said longtime Denver teacher Tom Stermitz. But
even Mr. Stermitz, who promotes the older, closer style, recently added an
alternative milonga to his popular annual festival.
The debate has even come home to Argentina. Tango was repressed there
between 1955 and 1983 under regimes that broke up milongas and jailed
dancers. Argentine tango went underground. Although it came roaring back to
life when several Broadway shows in the 1980s and early '90s, including
"Tango Argentino" and "Forever Tango," sparked interest abroad, the music
didn't catch up with the times.
When neotango music first emerged, just one club in Buenos Aires would play
Carlos Libedinsky's homemade compilation of electronic tangos called
"Narcotango." But after spreading it to friends in Europe and North America
in 2003, the musician has sold about 20,000 CDs, mostly through word of
mouth, and it has become part of standard playlists at several Buenos Aires
clubs.
"Many people say that it's not tango. Even I'm not sure -- I don't say that
it's traditional tango, of course," Mr. Libedinsky said. "But it's something
new, something refreshing. It brings new colors to the music and to the
dancing."
It is abroad where the new dance has taken off and gone through endless
mutations. Mr. Ladas has been teaching swing dancers to tango. "Swango,"
anyone? Other East Coast couples are pioneering "liquid tango" and "free
tango," among an infinite assortment of names. By whatever name, it proves
that, after several decades, Argentina doesn't have a lock on tango anymore.
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:09:08 -0700
From: Jennifer Rondeau <angelicatech@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: WSJ Article: The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves
<crawling out of lurk mode>
Excellent publicity, I suppose, based on the argument
that the only bad publicity is no publicity.
But if no one else finds the previously quoted
characterization offensive, I certainly do.
<quote>
For years, the very word tango brought images of
sophistication and glamour: tuxedoed, rose-clutching
tangueros strutting across the floor with leggy women
-- tangueras -- in dresses slit up the thigh. But the
tango was withering away. A lot of American milongas,
or dance parties, were kitschy affairs patronized by
an aging and dwindling cast of die-hards who danced to
scratchy records of accordion music.
</quote>
Not personally offensive, of course, but offensive
because of the completely off-base stereotypes it
perpetuates. Aging and dwindling cast of die-hards?
Does anyone on this list belong to a community that
claims such a group in its past? I think not . . .
Equally offensive is the notion that somehow tango
nuevo is entirely the invention of Americans, who have
taken a shibboleth from the unappreciative
tradition-bound Argentines and turned it into a
glittering new toy for new generations (whence, it
seems "The debate has even come home to Argentina."
Well, I suppose she's gone and muddled the whole
dance/music thing, too, along with everything else . .
.) . Fabian Salas, anyone? Luciana Valle? Has this
poor writer seen ANY of the current generations
(plural intentional) of Argentine dancers?
Like most journalism, this piece isn't about tango.
It's about getting out a story. I have yet to have
the pleasure of meeting Stephen Brown or Tom Stermitz,
although I have learned much from their generous
contributions to this list and from their even more
generous tango resources elsewhere on the web. But
the WSJ piece reduces them both to the status of
"die-hards." I'd be very surprised to hear that Homer
thinks of either of them that way!
And I hate to see the ill-informed perpetuation of the
"divide" between "camps" of tango-dancing, especially
when it's associated with the even more pernicious
divide between the generations. Admittedly, I am lucky
enough to belong to a community in which the emphasis
is on connection and commality, rather than on
difference. And I come to tango from such a
perspective personally, too.
I do see divisive behaviors on and around the tango
floor, particularly at some festivals. And they can
be associated with styles of dance. But they have far
more to do with personal attitude and what generations
long gone called lack of manners than they do with
sets of moves or the music one dances to.
But those are not particularly glamorous issues to
discuss, certainly not for the front page of the WSJ.
</crawling out of lurk mode>
Jennifer in Eugene
--- Nitin Kibe <nitinkibe@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> The full text is below, FYI. Not a bad piece,
> fairly accurate, and
> excellent publicity (it'll probably be picked up in
> the Euro and Asian
> editions of the WSJ too). I am sure it will
> persuade some to explore tango
> and perhaps stay on.
>
> Good wishes to all.
>
> NK
> Wash DC
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:32:07 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
Subject: Re: WSJ Article: The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves
Jennifer makes some interesting points.
(1) I approved a couple quotes for the article, and the writer chose
one. Note that my quote referred specifically to the music. However,
I'm also known to play alternative things. When doing so, I remain
75% with the traditional, just as Homer does!
When "going alternative", however, I do not like to play the
industrial or club sounds of Gotan, or the other groups mentioned in
the article. They seem extremely foreign to the feel of tango. I
quite dislike Gotan, actually.
For me, the essence of Tango is not vocabulary or style, rather how
it feels: the suspension & surge, density and breath, drama &
passion, tension and release, spaciousness and rhythmic interplay.
These qualities are characteristic of 1940s tango music. Club, world-
beat, salsa, rock, swing, blues, have much to offer, but they do not
distill (for me) the essence of tango.
Also, for the record, in my teaching I use many ideas and
methodologies of nuevo tango.
(2) I would not label as "neo-nouvelle-non-whatever - tango" the
style of well-known argentine teachers such as Fabian Salas,
Florencia Taccetti, Gustavo Naveira, or Luciana Valle. They are
famous proponents of (what we usually call) Nuevo Tango. They retain
a traditional look & feel, more reminiscent of classic salon or
fantasy tango.
Maybe Chicho and El Pulpo have gone further away from the look of
traditional tango and sound of traditional tango music, so that their
style deserve a different name. This "neo" style is not common at all
in Buenos Aires. I have heard it referred to as "New American Tango",
to recognize that it is primarily being developed and practiced away
from Buenos Aires.
On Aug 29, 2005, at 2:09 PM, Jennifer Rondeau wrote:
> ...<quote>
> For years, the very word tango brought images of
> sophistication and glamour: tuxedoed, rose-clutching
> tangueros strutting across the floor with leggy women
> -- tangueras -- in dresses slit up the thigh. But the
> tango was withering away. A lot of American milongas,
> or dance parties, were kitschy affairs patronized by
> an aging and dwindling cast of die-hards who danced to
> scratchy records of accordion music.
> </quote>
> ...
> Equally offensive is the notion that somehow tango
> nuevo is entirely the invention of Americans, who have
> taken a shibboleth from the unappreciative
> tradition-bound Argentines and turned it into a
> glittering new toy for new generations (whence, it
> seems "The debate has even come home to Argentina."
> Well, I suppose she's gone and muddled the whole
> dance/music thing, too, along with everything else . .
> .) . Fabian Salas, anyone? Luciana Valle? Has this
> poor writer seen ANY of the current generations
> (plural intentional) of Argentine dancers?
> ...
> Jennifer in Eugene
>
Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org
2525 Birch St
Denver, CO 80207
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 21:36:49 -0700
From: Igor Polk <ipolk@VIRTUAR.COM>
Subject: WSJ Article: The New Tango Trades Cheek to Cheek For Hot, Fast Moves
I just want to say that "A Japanese woman who helped found the Edinburgh
tango society" is highly respected and very versatile tango dancer and
teacher Mayumi Fujio Morrow: https://www.mayumix.com/
Also, neo tango does not hold all "hot, fast moves". It is not faster than
regular traditional tango. There are a lot of hot fast moves in traditional
tango too.
Also, a dance figure shown at the First Page of Wall Street Journal (!!!
Bravo !!!) is an element of traditional tango. I just have seen it on a tape
yesterday. Only it does not require ballet training to be used. May be the
volcadas and colgadas are well forgotten old things ;) Who knows what else
the Argentinean dance has in its historical deep pockets. May be the most
promising move to the new is to look back?
It is very good that this article was printed. It is great achievement of
Homer, of all San Francisco Tango community, and I believe will bring a lot
of new interest to tango, and to Neo Tango in particular. And from Neo Tango
they will come to regular one. No doubt.
Igor Polk
PS, Richard, I was there THIS saturday, not at the night you have mentioned.
