Milonga dance is dancing to milonga music.
Milonga dance is dancing to milonga music.
Milonga dance incorporates the same basic elements as Argentine tango but permits a greater relaxation of legs and body. Movement is normally faster, and pauses are less common. It is usually a kind of rhythmic walking without complicated figures, with a more humorous and rustic style in contrast with the serious and dramatic tango.[ citation needed ]
There are different styles of milonga: milonga lisa (simple milonga), in which the dancer steps on every beat of the music; and milonga con traspié, in which the dancer uses traspiés or contrapasos (changes of weight from one foot to the other and back again in double time or three steps in two beats) to interpret the music. The beat of milonga music is syncopated. It consists of 8 counts with the accents on the first, however it can also sometimes be on the second, additionally the accents are present on the fourth, fifth and seventh counts. [1] Thus, dynamics may be danced without having to run fast or without the use of much space. Overall, milonga is danced in a faster pace than tango which makes this dance "unforgiving" regarding mistakes or clumsiness.
In a book published in 1883 Ventura Lynch noted the popularity of the milonga. "The milonga is so universal in the environs of the city that it is an obligatory piece at all the lower-class dances (bailecitos de medio pelo), and it is now heard on guitars, on paper-combs, and from the itinerant musicians with their flutes, harps and violins. It has also been taken up by the organ-grinders, who have arranged it so as to sound like the habanera dance. It is danced too in the low life clubs around...[main] markets, and also at the dances and wakes of cart-drivers, the soldiery and compadres and compadritos. [2]
Distinctive elements added from candombe were "quebradas", improvised, jerky, semi-athletic contortions, the more dramatic the better, ironical elements like walking around the partner with exaggerated tiny steps or humorous jumps, and cortes, a suggestive pause, or sudden break in the figures of the dance. Unlike in the "Tango" of that group, however, where these movements were danced apart, they were now danced together. [3] Jose Gobello suggested that the mazurka was also altered in the districts close to the docks. This Africanized milonga-tango, as well as the habanera and mazurka, was frowned upon, and found wholly unacceptable by some sections of Argentine high society. [2]
The late Robert Farris Thompson (Professor of Art History at Yale University, specialist in Africa and Afro-Atlantic world, and author of Tango: The Art History of Love) wrote extensively about the African roots of tango.
Tango started black, and milonga, the dance preceding it, even more so.
Milonga is 'a purely African word meaning "argument" or "issue" in Kimbundu and "lines of dancers" in Ki-Kongo. (p9). Europeans first became aware of milonga, the term initially referring to an improvised, combative song, around 1630. At that time Portuguese officials on the coast of Angola were complaining to Lisbon that Queen Nzinga, an indigenous leader of the interior, was sending out messages - milonga - to persuade local populations to join her. The black queen was also issuing lightly veiled challenges to Portuguese authority. These taunts too were milonga. So in seventeenth century Angola the term meant "words, speech, or argument". But is also referred to inciting people, talking back to authority, and verbal rebellion. [4]
Milonga was mainly danced by the lower classes of Buenos Aires society in the 1870s-1900. Milonga was frequently danced in establishments whose customers were of African descent and sailors. Along with milonga, dances such as habanera were associated with whorehouses and prostitution. This association was so prominent that to dance the dances in establishments or dance halls you needed a permit from the city. This was because Buenos Aires officials believed that the dances would lead to prostitution. [5]
During the early twentieth century it was common for wealthy Argentine families to send their sons to Europe to take a Grand Tour when they were coming of age. Many of the young men went to Paris where they would interact with the Parisian high society and attend dances at dinner clubs. From there they would demonstrate the various forms of tango they knew, including milonga. Oftentimes because they did not have female partners with them when they went abroad in Paris, the men would dance together. One of them would be the leader and the other would dance the follow. [6]
According to many accounts, many of the hosts of the young Argentine men found the new styles of tango and milonga to be very risque and intriguing. Additionally many of the Parisian women were attracted to the young rich Latin men who were teaching it. as a result the dance gained a large following in Paris and later in other major cities in Europe. Many of the more conservatives members of European upper class thought that the dances were overly sexualized but that only added to the appeal of the dance to younger people of the middle and upper classes. [6]
In 1910 milonga and tango made its way to England. Many of the English tourists summering in France were fascinated by the dance and then brought it home with them back to England. In the same year the English dancing magazine Dancing Times included pictures of people dancing tango and milonga which only helped to further the spread of these dances. within a few years tango and milonga were being danced widely in Germany, Russia and Italy. Czar Nicholas II ordered a demonstration of the dance from two of his nephews and appeared to like the dance and find it elegant. However some European nobility such as the German Kaiser Wilhelm II thought the dance was depraved and even went as far as to ban military officers and German nobility from dancing or even being at events where the dance was being danced. However this did not stop the rapid spread of tango and milonga in Germany. Many of the German officers flouted the rules and partook in the "wicked dance" despite the orders against it. [6]
In the Winter of 1913-14 tango and milonga swept through the United States. Some newspapers such as a paper in Fort Wayne, Indiana even called it a "Tango Craze" while discussing how the police were not allowing tango or "tango like dances to be danced in public." Tango became so popular that some cities such as Atlantic City and Reno started to try and capitalize on it through tourism. In Atlantic city the city officials had a trolley car converged into a "Tango Car" where the floor of the trolley was converted into a dance floor and would travel around the city. Additionally in Atlantic city beachgoers would dance tango and milonga on the beach board walk. Another places in the US that joined in on the new craze was Chicago where some people converted train cars into dance floors so that people who were traveling from Chicago to Mardi Gras could dance the whole trip so they would not have to wait until they arrived. [6]
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporate the indigenous music of Latin America. Due to its highly syncretic nature, Latin American music encompasses a wide variety of styles, including influential genres such as cumbia, bachata, bossa nova, merengue, rumba, salsa, samba, son, and tango. During the 20th century, many styles were influenced by the music of the United States giving rise to genres such as Latin pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, and reggaeton.
The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish and italian traditions and related to similar forms found in many American countries.
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Argentine Milonga, Spanish-Cuban Habanera, and Uruguayan Candombe celebrations. It was frequently practiced in the brothels and bars of ports, where business owners employed bands to entertain their patrons. It then spread to the rest of the world. Many variations of this dance currently exist around the world.
Milonga is a musical genre that originated in the Río de la Plata areas of Argentina, Uruguay, and the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is considered a precursor of the tango.
Tango is a style of music in 2
4 or 4
4 time that originated among European and African immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, known as the orquesta típica, which includes at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneóns. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet join the ensemble. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music and dance have become popular throughout the world.
Candombe is a style of music and dance that originated in Uruguay among the descendants of liberated African slaves. In 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed candombe in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a 2
4 or 4
4 rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as ABAB or ABCAC. Its lyrics are marked by nostalgia, sadness, and laments for lost love. The typical orchestra has several melodic instruments and is given a distinctive air by the bandoneon. It has continued to grow in popularity and spread internationally, adding modern elements without replacing the older ones. Among its leading figures are the singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel and composers/performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, Elvira Santamaría, and Ástor Piazzolla.
Contradanza is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador.
Tango, a distinctive tango dance and the corresponding musical style of tango music, began in the working-class port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Montevideo (Uruguay); on both sides of the Rio de la Plata.
Uruguayan tango is a rhythm that has its roots in the poor areas of Montevideo around 1880. Then it was extended to other areas and countries. As Borges said: "...tango is African-Montevidean [Uruguayan], tango has black curls in its roots..." He quoted Rossi, that sustained that "...tango, that argentine people call argentine tango, is the son of the Montevidean milonga and the grandson of the habanera. It was born in the San Felipe Academy [Montevideo], a Montevidean warehouse used for public dances, among gangsters and black people; then it emigrated to underworld areas of Buenos Aires and fooled around in Palermo's rooms..." This also implies that different forms of dance were originated in the neighborhoods of Montevideo, Uruguay in the last part of the 19th century and in the early 20th century that was particular from that area and different from Buenos Aires. It consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions of Argentina and Uruguay.
Afro-Argentines, also known as Black Argentines, are Argentines who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry, these stand out for having dark skin. The Afro-Argentine population is the result of people being brought over during the transatlantic slave trade during the centuries of Spanish domination in the region and immigration.
Ángel Gregorio Villoldo Arroyo was an Argentine musician and one of the pioneers of tango music. He was lyricist, composer, and one of the major singers of the era. He is also known by the pseudonyms A. Gregorio, Fray Pimiento, Gregorio Giménez, Angel Arroyo, and Mario Reguero. Villoldo transformed the Spanish tanguillos, the cuplés, and the habaneras, turning the continental genres into native Argentine rhythms.
Queer Tango is to dance Argentine tango without regard to the traditional heteronormative roles of the dancers, and often to exchange the leader and follower roles. Therefore, it is related to open role or same-sex tango. The queer tango movement permits not only an access to tango for the LBGTQIAA+ community, but also supports female leaders and male followers, regardless of sexual orientation.
German Cornejo & Gisela Galeassi are an Argentine tango dance duo. They have been dancing together since early 2011, currently dancing for German Cornejo's Dance Company (GCDC), performing as lead dancers for the company. , Gisela and German won the title of World Tango Champions in 2003 and 2005, respectively, at the Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango . Both German & Gisela have appeared in numerous TV shows, Films and have toured extensively throughout the world. They have been judges in regional tango championships in Chile, Spain, Italy, Colombia and Japan. The duo is mostly known to Anglo-speaking audiences for their appearance in the American reality television show ¡Q'Viva!: The Chosen. and recently in America's Got Talent. They were winning finalists in Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony's TV show Q Viva culminating in the Las Vegas stage show of the same name in May 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Arena. In June 2012 they were JLO's special guest artists at her first-ever concert in Buenos Aires.
Milonguero is a style of close-embrace tango dancing, the name coined by Susana Miller and Oscar "Cacho" Dante from the Argentine word "milonguero". Milonguero is a term for a skillful and respectful tango dancer who holds a reverence for the type of traditional social tango that is danced at milongas in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The two uses of the term do not coincide: many dancers who are considered to be milongueros do not dance milonguero-style tango.
A milonguero is a person who spends time dancing social tango. The word comes from the term milonga referring to a tango dance event.
Café de Hansen, Antiguo Hansen, Lo de Hansen, Restaurant del Parque 3 de Febrero or Tarana was a café in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was one of the birthplaces of tango. Because of its monumental impact on the development and dissemination of the music, Café Hansen is often referenced in some of the most popular tango songs in Argentina.
Alberto Bernardino Paz was an Argentine tango historian, teacher, and dancer. Alberto taught the traditional, social tango of the Buenos Aires salons, together with its codes and culture, to North Americans and Europeans.
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