;

I have had a few milongueras walk into the milonga and stare horrified at what they were hearing and seeing, and promptly walk out, but not before telling me I was destroying Tango!

They would be half correct if I was insisting that this was a ‘real milonga’. I actually agree with the traditional milongueros that Tango is, and can only be, the dance that evolved up to the 1950’s. For lack of a better name, the modern dance based on tango is called Tango Nuevo, however this does a disservice to both the original tango and to the equally valid, modern expression of tango nuevo. Tango Nuevo has nothing of the original sentiment, the ‘weight’, the sentimentality of the original Tango. Tango Nuevo is more of a celebration then of sadness and loss. In addition, Tango Nuevo will not be ‘nuevo’ in 20 years! What will they call the evolution of THAT dance? Tango Nuevo Nuevo!? My old milonguero friend calls it “bailar de ciudad” or “bailar de Buenos Aires”… and from what I have seen, the traditionalists are only offended that is uses the word Tango, and not by the dance itself.

Some years ago, it seems, the word ‘Swango’ was introduced… fortunately it never caught on. It’s a horrible name!

Perhaps the biggest difference between old and new tango is the fact that old tango was the exclusive domain of Rio Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay, while Tango Nuevo belongs to the world. Tango was exiled from Argentina in the 50’s and so went abroad, in a big way, where it was culturally morphed and twisted. If there are even 5,000 tangueros in Buenos Aires I’d be amazed! Compare that to the millions worldwide today, especially in Asia.

The origin of the word Tango actually had nothing to do with the dance, but rather the music. I won’t engage in the argument as to whether the word Tango came from the Niger Congo languages of Africa or from the the word “tango”, already in common use in Andalusia to describe a style of music, mainly because it doesn’t matter. The main point here is that the DANCE needs it’s own identity now. Personally, I like word ‘Tando’… it represent the concept of a set of music specifically for tango dancing (based on the word ‘tanda’, and throw in the ending ‘o’ as a remnant of the word ‘tango’… and is also based on the words TAngo Nuevo Dance (except for the trailing ‘o’, but we’ll just ignore that little detail… this is Argentina… we’re allowed to do that )

In truth, I dislike a good deal of Tango Nuevo/Electro music, half of it sounds like 80’s disco/techno music with a bandaneon, and most of it is not compatible with Tango Nuevo dance… which is why at MOBA most of the alternative music has nothing to do with ‘tango’ music, but is quite compatible with Tango Nuevo dance, as well as traditional tango (which is good for me because I stink at Tango Nuevo dance), if you’re not hung up on the music. MOBA is about the dance! (To my amazement, I have actually seen some milongueras that frequent Nino Bien dancing there… fortunately, we keep the lights low so maybe they won’t get busted!)