VIDEO SERIES

There is a plentiful amount of tango videos out on Youtube.com. Most performers are videoed while dancing at milongas and these are posted for everyone to enjoy. With amount of tango videos available online, it can be hard to find something inspiring amidst online lessons and blurry cell phone recordings with distorted sound. With that in mind, from time to time we´ll post the best of what is currently circulating the tango world, or feature some timeless videos that still inspire many tangueros around the world.

If you are unfamiliar with tango and wish to get a grasp on what it is before heading to Buenos Aires, keep a lookout for the videos explaining different styles and different music. Be warned though! Tango is very addictive and you may find yourself scouring youtube.com for videos of your favourite dancers late at night and listening to Pugliese as you walk to work.

(Photo copyright and credit Rebecca Travaglia)

TANGO NUEVO

Tango Nuevo is a term used to describe a dance form and also a style of music (also referred to as 'tango electronica') the exploded onto the world stage with bands like the Gotan Project and Bajofondo. If you want to incite some serious discussion within the tango world, mentioning tango nuevo is sure way to get some words flying across the table. There are many who have a passion against tango nuevo, often referring to as ´tango for export´, and stating that tango nuevo has lost something of the true essence of tango, filling it instead with flashy moves. Others feel it is one branch of the evolution of tango, where artists take risks and create change. 

While the terms Neotango and Tango Nuevo are often used to refer to a style of dancing, its founders emphasize that the term expresses the evolution of tango since the 1980s. They refer to the term as a way to describe a method of analysis and teaching that was developed during the 1990s by Gustavo Naveira and Fabian Salas which focused on applying the principles of dance kinesiology to tango. The style involves a fluid movement between the open and closed embrace style and can even involve breaks of the embrace. A more flexible embrace allow figures such an overturn ochos, linear boleos and volcadas to be performed with greater ease.

Mariano ´Chicho´ Frumboli is described as one of the founders of Neotango or Tango Nuevo. He is well known for his improvisation skills and interpretation of the music. With a strong musical background, he responds to the rhythms and melodies of the music, expressing it through variations in speed, movement and steps. While his footwork is intricate and involved, he also places importance on the intimacy of the embrace.  (source: Interview in El Tangauta 2009)  His partner, Juana Sepúlveda, has been touring and performing with Frumboli for several years. They often perform at European festivals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1dUZm6lbc&feature=youtu.be

This video is a little older - first posted in 2008. It features Frumboli and Sepúlveda dancing to the music Bajofondo.  Bajofondo is a band from Rio De La Plata, with members from both sides of the rio (Argentina and Uruguay). While their early music is seen by some as part of the evolving music genre ´Electrotango´ (combining acoustic tango music with electronic beats), Gustavo Santaolla explains that the group do not consider what they do to be electronica or tango music, but music created from all the genres that are present on the musical history map that belongs to this part of the world. Inevitably this includes rock, pop, tango and electronic. This song, ´Borges y Paraguay´, is from their third album ´Mar Dulce´.

Links of interest:

http://www.bajofondomusic.com/ar/home