Homenaje a los milongueros
As you enter the cathedral of tango, the milonga Sin Rumbo, among the things hanging on the wall is this piece written by Marisa Galindo as a homage to the milongueros. It may serve as guiding principles or ideals for all tango dancers:
Los milongueros…
- son quienes saben hacer la ronda
- son quienes un oido musical increible
- son los que conocen cada orquesta y a sus cantores y a veces cantan despacito al oído.
- son quienes con poco despliegue coreográfico producen un fuerte intercambio de emociones y de placer, que a veces se transforma en éxtasis, cuando desde el rol femenino, podés cerrar los ojos en una entrega total.
- son suaves y precisos en la marcación, marcan con todo cuerpo.
- cuidan a los mujeres para no sean golpeados
- bailan para él y para ella, no para el público
- respetan al grupo evitando las figuras que son peligrosas en la pista: ganchos, boleadas, etc.
- su rítmo, las variaciones rítmicas y sus pausas están en contacto con la música, con la mujer y con los otros bailarines.
A rough translation would be:
The milongueros…
- know how to make the dance flow well on the floor
- have amazing ears for music
- know each orchestra and singer and will somtimes sing quietly in your ear
- create great emotional variations and pleasure by using simple coreographic elements, that sometimes transforms into ecstasy, when the woman can close her eyes in total surrender
- are soft and precise in their lead, using their entire body to lead
- protect the women so they are not pushed or kicked
- dance for him and for her, not for the crowd watching
- respect the other dancers by avoiding dangerous figures like ganchos and boleos (kicks) on the dance floor
- their rhythm, rhytmical variations and pauses are connected with the music, with the woman and with the other dancers.
Venturing once more into the perilous landscape of translations.. I tried being a bit less literal in my translation this time. I took the liberty of substituting rol feminino with woman, as I had trouble avoiding awkward constructs. I think this is the first time I’ve seen this expression used in castellano, usually the teachers will stick to the terms man (hombre) and woman (mujer).
When I studied foreign languages in high school, we would invariably translate short texts, so in a way this crazy project makes some sense. (Hopefully improving my castellano.) Maybe I will dare try translating the Gavito dixit sometime…
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This is possibly why so many people don’t “get” tango, and never will. It is a very gender-specific activity, and even though the lead and follow roles have become interchangeable, it is, in the end, “machista”. And that’s part of why I love it.
Coincido absolutamente con Johanna. La traducción de Simba es fiel al espíritu del tango. En el lenguaje del tango, “follower” sólo tiene una traducción al español: “mujer”. Si no lo interpretáramos así en este caso, la descripción del milonguero que hace Marisa perdería gran parte de su significado. Y el machismo que resulta es el de Don Quijote, que impone al hombre el deber de servir a su dama y morir por ella.
Thanks for the translation! I think you did a pretty good job …
@Johanna Yes, possibly. I mostly think it is inseparable from tango, and I love that part of it, too. A little courtesy never hurt anyone?
@Anquises Muchas gracias por su comentario! Me encanta el parte de Don Quijote!
@Henry Thanks! And you are most welcome
Since ‘La traducción de Simba es fiel al espíritu del tango’, I propose we should each print out a lot of copies, with an attractive picture, perhaps that of the entrance to Sin Rumba, so that it looks like a regular leaflet, to leave on the table at the entry of every milonga we go to…
Good idea, any volunteers for making a pdf version, I’ll be happy to host it.
I’ve made a pdf version (5mb). I’ll email it to you if you send your address.
Thank you, that’s great! I just posted the pdf in a new post.