[HouTango-L] Tango! Dance, Culture, and Latin Identity lecture course at Rice

[A. Lester Buck III]

Tango! Dance, Culture, and Latin Identity

http://www.scs.rice.edu/NccCourseView.asp?Mode=View&clCourseID=416


Six Thursdays, February 17-March 31, 6:45-8:45 p.m.
(no class March 10)

Fee: $141.00   CEUs: 1.2	 Fee for Rice alumni: $121

Register at http://www.scs.rice.edu/

The tango, evocative of passion, longing, and sorrow, was born
in the dance halls, or milongas, of Argentina in the late 1800s
among immigrants and the working classes. Developed as a way to
"act out" sorrow and pain and to console during troubled times, the
tango represented sexual tension as well as a duel for the favors
of a woman. Although considered scandalous by many, the dramatic
dance soon grew in popularity among upper class Argentines,
then Parisians, and became a worldwide phenomenon in cabarets
frequented by high society. In its worldwide evolution, the tango
lost much of its abrasiveness and emotional heritage. But in the
milongas of Argentina, men and women still empower themselves
by mastering the tango and acquiring a sense of control in the
face of an economically depressed society. Rice anthropologist
Dr. Julie Taylor, who has spent much of her adult life in Buenos
Aires amid the tango culture, will explore the history and meaning
of what is often called the "dance of sorrow." Dr. Taylor will
incorporate video clips of championship tango dancers into her
lectures as well as film clips that exemplify the tango culture.

Note: This is a lecture course that will include demonstrations
of the tango. This course will not provide dance lessons.

Topics will include the following:

    * History of the Tango and the Anthropology of Art and Dance
    * Learning the Tango in Argentina: A Demonstration
    * The Tango as Social Event: Codes and Their Meanings in the Milonga
    * Sensualities, Sexuality, and Dance
    * Dancers and Their Styles: Spectacle and Community
    * Musical History and Tango Lyrics
    * The Tango Worldwide

Recommended text: "Paper Tangos" by Julie Taylor, ISBN
0822321912. Purchase this book from Amazon.com or view book
information for purchasing options.

Instructor: Julie M. Taylor, Ph.D., is Professor of Anthropology
at Rice University. She divides her time between Houston and
Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied with tango masters and
researched the history of the dance. She dances regularly in the
milongas of the city and has been in films featuring the dance. In
2000, she received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship to continue
her tango research in Argentina. A classically trained dancer,
Dr. Taylor holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in
social anthropology from Oxford University.