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When passion hits the dance floor, it's called Tango.
His face on hers, her hands in his, two bodies moving as one…


A friend and student sent me this news video report link.

She attended this festival at Columbia University, along with more than 300 other dancers.
Organized by Argentinian Mariella Franganillo, I hear it was a great success.

I wasn't there, but the video continues the common media pose concerning tango of, Ooh, how naughty! Showing the reporter, CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano. learning a high leg wrap and blushing to her partner and the audience, I think we are now married in at least three countries!

And with, and after, all the hype, none of the couples shown in the video have any of the touted passion, two bodies moving as one, etc. If a watcher didn't know any better, he would ask, what the heck are they talking about?

I did really like, though, Mariella's comments on "the conversation" between the two bodies and souls in tango.

The tango take in this report is oh so North American. I can not even imagine a similar attitude of the press here in Argentina. Will American morals ever get out of adolescence? Let's grow up already and get on with things in perspective.
 NYC Tango Pilgrim said...


I agreed with you that the report isn't showing the essence of Argentine tango. In most NA people's eyes and minds, tango is about the rose in the mouth, the leg wrap and the kicks and high flying jumps. The traditional AT that people dance in BA is just too subtle for media. It doesn't sell.

I do have a lot of respect for Mariela, as a teacher, a festival organizer and simply a fantastic dancer herself, for her dedication to introduce and promote the music, the history and the essence of tango to the American. I do wish, however, that the report has showed more scenes of the milongas where dancers actually connected with each other.
 
while I do agree that the "sexual" aspect of Tango is horribly overplayed in most reporting, I have to say that with the exception of that one comment after the leg wrap, I did not feel that this particular reporter hammered on the sex thing.

She did use the word "intimacy" a lot, which is NOT the same as "sex" or "sexual", and which I believe does describe Tango. They also showed Mariela more than once describing it as a "conversation" which I also feel to be accurate. This report is a great improvement from previous reportings of tango, although there is still room for improvement.

As for whether or not the dancers shown exhibited "passion" or "connection", at least they did not show them kicking each other with ridiculous, poorly led show steps.
