fig 10 - uploaded by Ray Batchelor
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Early 20th century imagery of men dancing tango together is endlessly reproduced on 21st century tango websites around the world. Tango “began with men dancing with each other” so the oft-repeated assertion goes. Perhaps. Late 19th and early 20th century society in Argentina famously consisted of young, largely immigrant men outnumbering women seve...
Citations
... Might that have corresponded more closely to the historical, lived experiences of the men we are looking at? To this day, social tango encounters can deliver agreeable, limited erotic charges WITHOUT consequences for lives lived off the dance floor (Batchelor 2016). In the 21 st century, you do not have to be gay to be queer. ...
... Accessed 5 January 2020. was needed to begin that process (Batchelor 2016). Instead, acknowledging the fact of their creation, their subsequent digitisation, free circulation and reproduction, allied to the confusion surrounding their precise historical significance, we consider how these images are used in the 21 st century, and ask: to what ends? ...
... By contrast, Gomez teaching Lurch to tango is less radical, as it is to help him secure the heterosexual favours of the "beautiful señorita" he so imperfectly personates. The pair simply replicate one of the well-worn tango creation myths used to explain why, historically, men danced with each other (Batchelor 2016 He's a freak! ...
The history of queer tango is an integral part of the history of ALL tango. In these strange times when queer tango dancers pursue the objectives of queer tango but cannot dance, there have been some wonderfully creative online activities – classes and discussion forums. In that sense, a new chapter in the history or histories of queer tango is being written. As we witness rapid and dramatic change, more than ever, it is worth asking: Where did queer tango come from? How did we get here? How are we to put what is happening now into perspective? As part of our contribution to this creative pause in the dancing of queer tango, the Queer Tango Project is publishing “Queer Tango Histories”. It draws together six years’ worth of papers I have been giving about the history (or histories. It seems to me that more than one unfolding) of queer tango at dance scholarship conferences around the world. Most of them are looking at the incredibly rich resource of historical imagery to be found in The Queer Tango Image Archive https://image.queertangobook.org/, while others provide contexts for these reflections.
