Nowadays, most people spend far too much energy on the war between traditionalist and nuevo. The problem is not the styles themselves. The problem is that everybody believes that they are right, when probably, nobody is.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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19 comments:
AMEN!!!!!
If everyone would just shut up and dance, they would be a much happier person....
Hi debbi:
Shut up and dance, sounds like a good motto to me! :oD
It is terribly frustrating, isn't it?
Especially when it is possible to have a horrible tanda with someone who supposedly dances your same style, and an absolutely tangasmic tanda with someone from that OTHER style.
But if everyone shut up then there wouldn't be any blogs right?
I thought people go on blogs to discuss these things???
I'm a bit befuddled.
I think it's a bit like religion (I hear 'ooooh').
Having read a book on various types of religions, I have found that there are so many common themes (and origins!) running through between the true forms of each religion (as opposed to what people claim they are in today's society).
Technically, they could co-exist quite peacfully but people don't seem to have any respect for each other's religions. And, people use their religion as an excuse to do terrible things and you get a lot of conflicts.
Now, traditionalism and nuevo-ism (?) could co-exist quite happily, I think, in an ideal world. But a lot of the time people just snigger, criticise and look down upon each other. When really, there are many common things between the two. The styles of tango have evolved over time along with music. Rather than recognising that they are simply derivatives of an origin, people just think that theirs are better and condemn "the others".
To be honest, the same thing could be said about ballroom tango. I think that we, the Argentinian tango dancers slag off ballroom tango dancers too much these days. Of course, I used to make fun of them a lot. But it has its appeals and somehow it got to the point where people now recognise it as "the tango dance".
There are people out there who like to learn things in a more regulated and definitive way, where they learn steps and sequences, rather than improvising in a more infinite manner.
I recognise and do differentiate traditionalism and nuevo-ism. As I said this before, I do both, depending on my mood, and OBVIOUSLY, depending on the music. Sometimes I feel a bit polluted when I realise that I am mixing the two subconsciously. But that's OK.
When I DJ (though I don't do this often), I like to surprise and challenge the people. I like putting on nuevo music in the presence of traditionalists, and vice versa. Of course, this won't make me people's favourite DJ, but I like to spice things up a bit and I have a respect for DJs who do this quite corageously.
:D
Discussion would be fine. It's the "I'm right and you are wrong so get out of here" attitude that permeates a certain non-blog on-line tango site that made me unsubscribe a year ago. I encourage discussion, but discourage the disrespect and bullying. It reminds me of the religious wars in Europe during the late 1500's when everyone was fighting over worshiping the same god.... made no sense...
Hi Debbie and supantheress:
I agree with both of you. Basically, it's fine to discuss and dissect the differences contructively in order to try to get somewhere.
The aim of my post was directed to those who just vehemently dismisss something that his not of their liking, ie, those who pretend that neotango is not tango and those who are convinced that "traditional tango" is something from the past. If only they applied those efforts positively...
I have also recommended in the past some online resource that I thought are really good for the development of tango. And although I still think they are good in a certain technical way, I stopped recommending it because I think the positives (technique, history, theory) do not outweight the negatives (seeing in black and white).
Hi Supantheress:
About DJing. It's fine to throw a couple of "different" tracks on a milonga, I know you do this when you're DJing. But this is only OK if you have people that are potencially going to dance them. The greatest part of being a DJ is to sense what the crowd (ie those who are dancing) want. In the beginning of my DJing "career" I have had an experience when I put a tanda of three beautiful neotangos only to see that they worked better than any cortina I have ever used.
Did that make a statement? Yes, it showed I wasn't DJing properly.
while I have Monsieur L'Abbat down off the bookshelf: Too good an opinion spoils many people, and too bad a one still more.
Don’t understand this kind of discussion. Any of you have been in Buenos Aires? Just see what going on in Clubs like Canning, Sin Rumbo, Sunderland, El Beso, Nino Bien, Gricel and others. Even Tango Nuevo is not played in La viruta, which is the end of the night after all other milongas close. I do like tango Nuevo to hear in my car and to dance in a small pratica among my fellow milongueiros, but never to dance in a real milonga. In some BA’s milongas tango Nuevo is used as cortinas…. ie, the break music to change partner... DAH!!!!!!!!
Hi Artur, just a question.
How did people dance tango before the 30s?
It seems people just like wasting their energy in useless arguments - what's new - I sometimes do it, too. With this one (and a lot of other arguments like it, which probably aren't actually about the thing being argued about) I think a lot of people don't even understand what exactly it is they are arguing about - folk in these comments seem to talk about music a lot, but Nuevo is danced a lot to traditional music, so there are at least two arguments here..Well, that's what it seems to me anyway..Enjoy your dancing!!!
Hi Claudita!
Thanks for bringing your wisdom to this place and for the reminder! What you say just adds to what I think that Nuevo and traditional are different interpretations of that great form of art that is tango. They can be mingled. They don't need to be mingled.
Now, I must remind everyone that the traditional was once nuevo, 70 or 80 years ago. During the 1920's the tango that was danced in the milongas was not the tango that we call traditional, it was more like the tango which is now called orillero or canyengue. Not sure if this is written in the walls of the milongas in BsAs, but certainly you can learn it without having to go there.
people i prefer nuevo tango style as you already know.
Artur i know B.A is the Meca of Tango but i remenber you that the best tango teachers and Dj's are outside B.A.
Tango is worldwide, what i think about the diferences between nuevo and classic is that nuevo as a lot of movements that you have to have a lot of thecnique,
For instance you see a lot of couples dancing classic and nuevo in the same track (arce,chicho etc) but you don,t see any tango tradicional dancer trying to do some backside volcadas etc etc just because they don,t want to learn another language.
for me tradicional tango is for walking and nuevo style is for flying.
some music tell me to walk but in some other musics i need to fly.
wait 10 more years and will see that nuevo tango style will be called "old school"
Remenber the slogan from Obama "CHANGE"
Hi Rui:
Sorry to disagree but I think that nuevo has as much technique as traditional. It's just a different type of technique.
As if the teachers are in or outside of BsAs, i guess it really depends on what you like...
ricky i had so many classic tango lessons of pure technique and i tell the level of dificulty is not the same, for instance volcadas and colgadas the amount of balance is way diferent
Hi Rui:
Again I disagree. The technique is more visible in tango nuevo because tango nuevo is all about exaggerating the axis and the moves. However, in traditional there is a more subtle requirement for technique. It's not as visible and you won't get it unless you know (and/or are told) what you're looking for.
Colgadas can be as difficult or easy) as a simple change of weight.
The other thing is that new styles can spring up but that doesn't mean that everyone has to follow them, just to respect them. I guess this was the purpose of this post...
This is how I see it:
Neo Tango = external complexity = more "out there" and visible...
Traditional Tango = internal complexity = more contained and not easy to see...
Why when i was reading this post came to my mind scenes of tango dancing from movies where the people dancing where doing coreographies more appropiate in a madonna concert than in a milonga?
And besides, why some people "create" music they label, for instance, tango, but the music could sound more like a conga than a tango.
Dunno, some people like to do weird stuff.
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