Guest rant by a friend who, like me, enjoys the opportunity to feel righteously grumpy over something in tango every now and again. (For background, hes a dancer from the US who has lived in Buenos Aires, speaks Spanish and refuses to dance to non-traditional music). PSA: Epidemic warning: “Milonguero” Elitism is rearing its ugly head again! This dangerous mental disorder is characterized by the belief that dancing is only Tango when the couple stays in a sustained (often, front-to-front, non-rolling) close embrace, and keeps all four feet close to the floor at all times. Victims of this debilitating disorder often refuse to applaud tango performers’ dedication to their craft, ignorant of the fact that without stage shows like Tango Argentino and Forever Tango, there would be no global tango diaspora. They also seem unable to perceive the musical elements in any performance once the embrace is loosened, claiming that all performers “wave their legs around in the air with no relation to the music.” The “milonguero” elitists also usually claim that all “old milongueros” in Buenos Aires dance in one specific, narrow way, clinging to these delusions despite video evidence of older, non-famous porteños from the late 1980s and 1990s opening the embrace (see also: the videos that Cristina Diacono generously shares), or worse, denigrating them as being “performance” or claiming that these dancers are not “real milongueros.” Those who suffer from “Milonguero” Elitism also often suffer from an accompanying disorder, called “New Age tango delusions”. This disorder is characterized by the belief that the essence of tango is a “meditative exchange of spiritual energy between partners.” Those who suffer from New Age tango delusions claim that there is no place in tango for “showing off” or “egos,” despite evidence to the contrary in the very lyrics of dozens of tangos that they dance to. Often, victims of this disorder do not actually speak Spanish and therefore don’t understand the lyrics anyway. The epidemic spreads and infects rational dancers by “piggybacking” on several common sense dictums about tango, including the admonition that couples should avoid lifting their feet on crowded dance floors, and that teachers should not teach ganchos and boleos to students who cannot yet walk or balance on one leg. Clinical Note: Despite their claims to hate dancing that “disrupts the line of dance,” victims of this disorder can often be found shuffling in place with several meters of space between them and the next couple down the line, and also taking large back steps into the line of dance.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:37:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015