Tango: Creation of a Cultural Icon [Paperback]

Jo Baim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2007

In Tango: Creation of a Cultural Icon Jo Baim dispels common stereotypes of the tango and tells the real story behind this rich and complex dance. Despite its exoticism, the tango of this time period is a very accessible dance, especially as European and North American dancers adapted it. Modern ballroom dancers can enjoy a "step" back in time with the descriptions included in this book. Almost as interesting as the history of the tango is the cultural response to it: cities banned it, army officers were threatened with demotion if caught dancing it, clergy and politicians wrote diatribes against it. Newspaper headlines warned that people died from dancing the tango and that it would be the downfall of civilization. The vehemence of these anti-tango outbursts confirms one thing: the tango was a cultural force to be reckoned with!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... a delightful text, illuminating the fascinating convergence of cultural influences that produce an art form." —ForeWord

(ForeWord 2007)

"Freelance choreographer Baim sets Argentina's cultural jewel, the tango, in an elegant, scholarly study that draws from primary-source materials such as dance instruction manuals, sheet music, and contemporary newspapers and periodicals.... Performing arts and popular culture collections will have the most receptive audiences; recommended." —Library Journal

(Library Journal )

"Tango provides a microcosm of popular culture in the years between the turn of the 20th century and the end of World War I, with social commentators of the day weighing in for and against the romantic and sometimes scandalous tango." —

Freelance choreographer Baim sets Argentina's cultural jewel, the tango, in an elegant, scholarly study that draws from primary-source materials such as dance instruction manuals, sheet music, and contemporary newspapers and periodicals. Six carefully researched chapters follow the tango from its origins, to its discovery by Europeans and North Americans, to Argentina's reclamation of its native dance, and on to its music, its connection to the waltz, and its place in the world of art music. Accented with two appendixes-one a description of tango steps circa 1911-25 and one a list of New York Times articles on the tango from 1911, 1913, and 1914-as well as a concise bibliography, this accessible and singular account manages to cover not only the history of the dance but also its cultural reception in both the New World and the Old. Performing arts and popular culture collections will have the most receptive audiences; recommended.-Carolyn M. MulacLibrary Journal

(Library Journal )

About the Author

Jo Baim is Assistant Organist at historic Trinity Parish Episcopal Church in Seattle and a freelance choreographer. She is an oblate of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; annotated edition edition (July 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253219051
• ISBN-13: 978-0253219053
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,348,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nice try, but uninformed, November 12, 2007

By 

Lux et Veritas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tango: Creation of a Cultural Icon (Paperback)

Baim is to be commended for writing a book on a topic that is woefully ignored by English-language publishers. (The only allegedly non-fiction works on Tango published in English in recent memory are the academically dishonest "Tango: The Art History of Love" by Thompson, and the self-congratulatory "Kiss and Tango" by Palmer.)

Unfortunately, Baim seems to be confused as to the differences among Argentine Tango, which this book purports to be about, and the two forms of ballroom tango, International Standard Tango and American Smooth Tango. It appears that, while she is aware that there is a tango that's done in ballrooms, she isn't at all clear that (a) they aren't the same dance and/or (b) that the figures aren't interchangeable in some way.

In fact, the book is heavily padded with a lengthy appendix on ballroom tango figures, cribbed without comment from an almost-century-old book. The material is completely obsolete as a description of modern ballroom tango, and was never an accurate description of Argentine tango figures.