Are you an artist?

The question

A few days ago I asked the people in the blog’s community (if you haven’t joined yet… what are you waiting for?) to answer the following question. “Do you consider yourself an artist when you dance socially?” What followed were some really interesting discussions and in this post, I will try to summarize them as much as possible while providing also my own view.

What is art?

The first question that arises from the question I posted is what is actually art? Well… If you search you will find tons of definitions and discussions that you can spend years reading, digesting, and understanding. I will not go down this rabbit hole for now, although I will attempt my definition towards the end. However, I want to share with you a comment that I read somewhere (don’t remember where).

In an art class, we discussed the question of what art is. In the end, we didn’t come up with a conclusion or a fixed definition and our teacher told us… “There is no definition for it but we have been doing it for ages, we still do it and we will never stop doing it.”

I loved this idea so much. It kind of presents art as a fundamental human need. Like eating! I guess it’s not by accident that we often call it “food for thought”!

Mutual inspiration

An artist but what artist?

In one of the comments, Xinsheng suggested that he doesn’t consider himself an artist because he will never be as good as Sebastian Jimenez. Given that, when and how do you consider someone an artist? If for example, Pavarotti and Maria Calas were the greatest ever singers, does someone need to be as good as them to be considered a singer? And then how do you measure this comparison? Is there a metric for art? An objective metric?

In another comment by Melina Sedo who has been a dancer, teacher and performer for decades now there was a mention of the definition of artists based on German law (where she now lives). So an artist, in this case, needs to live solely from their art, which in the case of Tango, would be from their performances. If you teach them you become more like a trainer, a coach or an athlete. Tango actually during COVID was placed in the category of contact sports like boxing, karate and other martial arts! Well… we knew some milongas looked like a battlefield… the German law came to confirm our suspicions. (just Joking)

All this raises the question… is only a professional artist an artist? Is only a good artist an artist? Is there a body or a law to decide who is an artist (without adjectives) and who does not? Obviously not! The answer from Melina was quite straightforward.

“An artist is someone who says that they are an artist”.

So… It’s that easy! If you say you are an artist… then you are! Simple!

Art for whom?

Another theme of discussions and arguments for not considering oneself an artist was that since there is no audience or at least our dance as social dancers is not created to express something to an audience, then we are not artists. As much I understand the point I have my objections.

There are plenty of examples of artefacts that have been created and never published. Songwriters, book authors or scriptwriters have a ton of songs, stories and scripts written that never made it to the public. Are they not art just because they never had an audience? On Spotify for example, there are thousands of songs published but never streamed! Not even once! Does this mean they are not art? If they are created by a person who just wanted to express something at a given moment… Why should we consider them art? What does the audience change in an artefact that makes it art? Why something created to be published for an audience should be considered art if there is no emotional expression or creativity in it?

It is therefore a question of intention. Which intention of the creator makes a creation art? Is it the intention of getting something to the audience or to express an emotion or an idea? For many people, art cannot exist without emotion. For many artists their intention, when they create art, is not to publish it, but merely to just create it. There is something liberating in expressing your emotions in an artistic way. Even if nobody will consume it… creating something artistic is a deeply satisfying and liberating act. For some people (including me) dancing a Tanda can feel like a confession. Like taking a weight from your chest. You know what? I think these artefacts are the ones that connect most with the audience if and when they find their way to it. Because they are authentic and honest! There is no agenda behind them, no commission, no clickbait etc. The goal is simply to let something off of you.

Am I an artist?

I didn’t consider myself an artist until I heard in a podcast from Yelisaveta that no matter your level and your experience you should consider your dance as your art. You should consider yourself an artist in your own right! Since then I started gradually thinking about my Tandas differently. My dance was not a procedure anymore. It was not just 10 more minutes of collaboration. I was not anymore bothered with the details of what move and what step to take next.

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Let’s CoCreate

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It was a co-creation of an artefact! Every Tanda became an ephemeral piece of art that was created just to be lost the next moment. I didn’t care if there was an audience… I didn’t care if even my partner would get the message (which in most cases they do)…  all I cared about was to take that weight off my chest… to share my happiness… my pain… my sorrow… etc. All I cared about was to express how that music with that partner, at that specific moment made me feel! All that I cared about was to send a message out there… like a message in a bottle traveling the ocean… maybe it will get lost in it… maybe it will be discovered by someone.

In a comment from Matthias in the discussion he mentioned the way Joseph Beuy defines art.

“To make people free is the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom”

That resonated so deeply with me. Especially because, as I wrote already, often after a tanda I feel like I made a confession… and confessions always feel liberating. Creating a message and sending it without caring about who will receive it and if someone will receive it is immensely liberating (at least for me).

This is what art is to me. An act of expressing my emotions to set myself free. If I feel that this happens when I dance… Then I can rightfully call myself an artist.

I cannot tell you if you are an artist or not. The answer is in you. If you feel like it… then you are. All I can tell you is if you don’t feel like it yet… try to find that. When you do… you will understand that your dance will not be the same anymore.

Tonight’s Goodnight Tango

Tonight’s Goodnight Tango comes from an orchestra which is deeply connected with expressiveness. It also comes with a story that makes me wonder (based on the discussion) what if the melody never found the lyrics. What if the melody was still a scratch on a napkin or the back of a cigarette pack? Does this not make it art? Thankfully the melody found its lyrics and the most appropriate interpretation from Annibal Troilo and it connected and still connects so deeply with its audience.

So how about you? Do you consider yourself an artist when you dance socially? Does art exist for you without an audience? What is the purpose of art for you?

Do you have something to say on the topic?

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