My Tango Diaries

The battle rages once again on Tango-L and Dance-Forums about the ownership and identity of tango. For better or worse, I'm jumping into the fray. With stories like these: - Unesco grants tango World Heritage status: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/01/25/tango-unesco.html - Remains Found of Cafe de Hansen -- Famed Birthplace of Argentine Tango: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=324238&CategoryId=14093 # all eyes turn to the Rio de la Plata. Such attention is great for tango in both countries - and for the tango communities all over the world, but it also sparks the usual debates. Is there an "authentic" tango? If there is, what is it? Who dances it? There are also other specific questions that divide participants in these discussions. To be a good dancer/teacher of Argentine tango, do you have to study in Buenos Aires? Can milongas outside of Argentina and Uruguay ever be anything like the milongas of BsAs and Montevideo? Questions like those can...

I've probably had other tango dreams lately, but this is the only one I remember. Strange how this one too is just a conversation. Him : When are you going? Me : Going where? Him : Buenos Aires. Me : What do you mean when am I going? I haven't even thought about that yet. Him : (looking at me sternly) You should claim it. Me : Claim it? What, like licking something and calling dibs? Him : (very faintly bemused) Claim the future.