The eternal question: Salon or Milonguero?

We‘ve just returned from Italy. Been in Modena, Spinea and La Serenissima Venezia. Great places. Nice Milongas with warm embraces, welcoming friends and marvellous food. Italy is definitely one of my all-time favourite countries. 

There was just one tiny little detail that bugged me. It‘s about labels. 

We arrived by plane and were picked up by the owner of a Tango club, that was going to host us for a few classes and a demo. He did not know us very well, as the deal was brokered by one of the local teachers. So, whilst driving, we were making some basic conversation. And there it was again. 

The inevitable remark: So, you are dancing Tango Milonguero? 

We: We are dancing Tango de Salon. 

He: But Tango de Salon is danced more open with big steps. You dance close with simple movements, yes? 

We: hum.... yes. Not necessarily. And we... 

He: So you dance Tango Milonguero. 

We: No... but... yes, ok... 

Given our poor Italian, his rather sketchy English and our level of fatigue, we complied. But this is, what I would have wanted to explain: 

When I re-started dancing Tango in 2000, I learned, that there are three forms of Tango: 

1. Tango Escenario, as it is danced on stage and sometimes - inappropriately - in Milongas. It is danced by bailarines, ideally people with a classical training. 

2. Tango de Salon, as it is danced in the Milongas of Buenos Aires and all around the globe at social events. It is danced by Milongueros and Milongueras - people who visit Milongas on a regular basis and who adhere to a certain set of codes that regulate the movement in the ronda and the interactions on and off the dance floor.

3. Tango Nuevo, that had been introduced before the the turn of the millennium and was used by social dancers and performers alike. In my opinion, it is actually a method to understand tango movements, not a different style. (Unluckily what often derived out of the use of this analytical approach was a form of dancing that was not really suited for the social dance floor. This is why lot of people nowadays identify the term Tango Nuevo with specific moves rather than the method.) 
So originally, these three terms did not describe specific styles. They were used as umbrella terms, referring to the different approaches to Tango and the different contexts in which Tango is danced.

Luckily, one of our first local teachers had a strong bond to the traditional Milongas in Buenos Aires and invited all kinds of Milongueros to cultivate social Tango. And all of them danced their personal interpretation of Tango de Salon, allowing for many kinds of embraces, from a very close parallel embrace to a half open V-form. Some of them danced complex movements with real pivots and even ganchos, some just walked to the music. Some analysed, some showed steps. Some even showed choreographed performances. Tete danced Tango de Salon as well as El Indio or Hernan Obispo. They told us about Tango orillero, Tango del centro, Tango liso, Tango apilado, Tango Villa Urquiza... all sub-styles of Tango de Salon with one common idea: to move on the dance floor in harmony with the other couples. 

So, when Detlef and I started teaching, our objective was not to promote a specific style, but social Tango as such - Tango de Salon. We chose this term as our label because of its neutrality and this worked very nicely. But when we started reaching out into other regions and countries, we noticed that this label seemed to pose a problem:

First of all, in France - one of our most important markets in the early years of our career - the term "Tango de Salon" described ballroom tango. Not so good. So we had to explain what we do.

And then there was the "Tango Milonguero issue". Until that moment, we did not even know that term. Yes, there were Milongueros. But there was no "Tango Milonguero" in our world. Was that supposed to be a style or just another synonym for "Tango de Salon"?  

This is what we learned:

Susanna Miller, who took up working in the USA and Europe in the 90‘s, found the pre-dominant style to be a hybrid of social Tango and Tango Escenario which was unfortunately called Tango de Salon. It was a result of many years of instruction by stage dancers and very different from the social Tango in Buenos Aires. And although she had been announcing to teach "Tango de Salon“ in "El Tangauta", she now had to distinguish her "authentic" style from the Salon-hybrid. So she called it "Tango Milonguero". She focussed on a limited set of simple movements with small steps, appropriate for a crowded Milonga and a close embrace. Mrs. Miller taught (as every teacher does) her personal technique and style, apparently requiring the followers to lean slightly onto the leaders, not allowing for top-to-down spirals. That made totally sense in a period, when real social tango was still rare. By giving it more specific label and concentrating on a repertoire apt for the social dance floor, this approach removed a lot of non-appropriate movements from the European and US-American Milongas.

But our personal problem with this new label was and still is: 
Mrs. Millers sub-style "Tango Milonguero" became a synonym for social Tango in a close embrace, notably in the USA, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries, where she (or her students) were teaching more frequently. Nowadays, every person, who dances Tango in a close embrace with relatively simple movements is described as dancing Tango Milonguero. So, according to a lot of people, what we do is Tango Milonguero. 

No, no, no! 

We have had one lesson with the Milonguero ambassador, but our approach to tango is very different. We want to stand in our own axis. We use real pivots when we feel up to it. Our step-size varies according to the music, the mood and the space. We break down the sacred Ocho-Cortado and whoever has taken a lesson with us will find, that we‘ve adopted a rather "nuevo" method of analysis, deconstruction and communication. The longer we teach, the more we focus on the basis of the Tango, the walking, the music, the embrace. We dance simple. But we do not dance "Tango Milonguero". 

Then, from 2001 on, a new annoying process of labelling took place. 

The Campeonatos Mundiales in Buenos Aires brought attention to another sub-style of Tango de Salon. Teachers like Jorge Dispari or Rosa & Carlos Perez and their numerous followers stand for a Tango that focusses on elegance, a well defined set of steps with a distinct musicality and turns in a half open embrace. After an an astonishing process of standardisation the "Estilo Villa Urquiza" now claims to be the one and only Tango de Salon. Another pars pro toto, that does not make sense for me.

So, let‘s summarise: Many Miller-Milongueros and the Villa-Urquiza-Salon-dancers label our dance "Estilo Milonguero", because of our minimalistic approach. Our students will find that our pedagogy and techniques are rather "nuevo". Fine, but that will not describe our style, because that is "Detlef + Melina style". But we still dance Tango de Salon. Tango for the social dance floor.