TANGO

It’s More Than Just A Dance

What People Have Said About Tango:

“Tango is man and woman in search of each other. It is the search for an

embrace, a way to be together, when the man feels that he is a man and the

woman feels that she is female. The music arouses and torments; the dance

is the coupling of two people defenseless against the world and powerless to

change things.” Juan Carlos Copes, choreographer and dancer

“…the tango is rather like love in the afternoon. Naughty, but nice. Something for

many (though by no means all!) to dream about, but not necessarily to indulge

in. For the fact is that tango is not just a dance. In its purest form it’s a

sensual coupling, forged by raw emotion. The closest thing you’ll find to a

vertical expression of a horizontal desire…” Angela Rippon

“The tango is the easiest dance. If you make a mistake and get all tangled up, you

just tango on.” Al Pacino in The Scent Of A Woman

The History Of The Dance:

In the middle 1800s Buenos Aires, Argentina, was much like New Orleans. It was a thriving seaport with many different cultures represented. The diversity of its population affected the cuisine, fashion, music and dance.

Although there are many theories about its origin, the tango was born about this time in the barrios or the poorer section of the city. Buenos Aires was experiencing tremendous growth with the influx being mostly men. The ratio of men to women was about 10 to 1

and prostitution thrived. Competition for companionship was keen, but the men knew that they could win a lady’s favor if they danced well.

According to some dance historians, the tango was originally a solo performance danced by the man trying to impress the prostitutes. It later developed into a type of competitive dance between two men with the lady joining the dance and then selecting the one with whom she would spend the evening.

It eventually evolved into a couple’s dance with the partners locked in a close embrace. The movements were often very suggestive, and the upper classes of Buenos Aires considered the dance to be vulgar. “Remember that at the time just to dance in front of each other with the right arm of the man touching the back of the lady was a little too much…now here was a dance in which there was a close embrace, cheek to cheek, chests together, the legs invading each other’s space, in a long conversation of love and passion, with amagues, hooks, flirtatious looks and caresses.” In its formative years the tango was a subtle, heady blend of sex and chess that “embodied solitude, loneliness, and sadness, probably the worst sadness that comes from sex without love.”

Decent families and women of good reputation did not want any part of it. The early “tango was like a pariah, the bastard son of pimps and women of ill repute”, and it wasn’t until the early 1920s that it gained respectability. Visiting Europeans liked the tango and took it back home with them where it became very popular, especially with the French. Meanwhile back in Buenos Aires, upon hearing about the success and acceptance of tango overseas, the upper classes decided to learn the tango and later adopted it as the representative dance of their country. This ushered in “the golden age of tango” which lasted from 1920 through the 1950s, although there was a period in the 1930s when it was banned. It peaked around 1946 when Juan Peron rose to power. Both he and his wife, Evita, embraced it wholeheartedly. With Evita’s death in 1952, the tango fell from the mainstream and guess what replaced it – rock and roll.

What Is The Tango?

Many people think of the tango as the dramatic dance they have seen in ballroom competitions where couples glide across the dance floor in cheek-to-cheek promenades complete with head jerks and flared nostrils. This is the International tango. Or they have seen stage performances of the tango where every movement is carefully choreographed to the music. While the dancers are very talented, this is not the tango done in the dancehalls (milongas) of Argentina.

In the early 1950s Arthur and Kathryn Murray introduced America to the Latin dances such as the mambo, cha cha, samba, merengue, etc. The tango also made its entrance onto our dance floors. The American tango was taught the same way one would teach a fox trot. The dance frame and dance carriage were much the same as other progressive ballroom dances. There was a tango basic and patterns were taught off of this basic. Again, this is the American-style tango, and it is not the way the tango is danced in Argentina.

The differences can be summed up in the following quote:

“The forms of tango are like stages of a marriage. The American

tango is like the beginning of a love affair, when you’re both very

romantic and on your best behavior. The Argentine tango is when

you’re in the heat of things and all kinds of emotions are flying:

passion, anger, humor. The International tango is like the end of a

marriage when you’re staying together for the sake of the children.”

The Argentine tango is an improvised dance. While there is an “academic basic”, it is hard to pick it out when accomplished dancers are doing the tango. It is danced in a close embrace where the man leads every step of the dance. A male tango dancer is judged by how well he interprets and improvises the couple’s movements to the music. A female tango dancer is judged by how well she follows and the embellishments she adds to the dance. As a spectator watching the tango, it appears to be a dance of intricate footwork mainly danced from the waist down. The leads, however, occur in the dance frame formed by the shoulders, arms and hands where information is telegraphed to the hips, legs, and feet. This, coupled with dramatic pauses and sensual movements, makes this a very interesting dance to watch and a marvelous dance to experience.

There is also an intellectual component to this dance. The tango requires concentration. It is a dance where the couples can become totally absorbed in the dance and in each other, and for three minutes time stands still.

The music of the Argentine tango is not only dramatic but interesting as well. The music can be very slow and romantic, or it can be quite spirited with the attitude of the dance changing accordingly. Like jazz much of it is esoteric. It requires exposure, study and understanding, and for most people, especially Americans, it is an acquired taste.

Phrasing is an important part of dancing the tango. Most tango music is phrased in 16 or 32 beat patterns, and the music unfolds like a story. Having a knowledge of the dance, its history, and its music certainly helps when learning to dance the tango.

Is The Tango For Me?

I have concluded that there is dance and then there is tango. To me it is a universe unto itself. Learning the dance requires much time, patience and dedication. Improvement comes slowly, and for most inexperienced dancers it takes about two years before any level of proficiency is attained. This is a unique dance and requires a unique student. While everyone should experience the tango, I personally don’t think everyone is capable.

I disagree with Al Pacino. I think this is a very difficult dance. Dancing the tango is difficult for the female partner, but I think it is doubly difficult for the male partner. First of all, we have to start the dance on the right beat, know our steps, lead our partner’s steps, dance to the music, interpret the music, watch the surrounding traffic so we don’t bump into another couple, and we have to do this in spite of the distraction of being pressed tightly against an attractive partner. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it?

In an age of self-actualization many couples are searching for experiences apart from the mainstream. If this is you, then you’ve come to the right place. If you want to add passion to your life, if you want to experience something truly unique, and if you are looking for a creative outlet, then learning the tango could be the activity for you.

“We enter this world alone. We leave it pretty much the same way.

And in between, a dance we call life. The problem is it takes two to

tango. So we look for signs; something to help us to find our perfect

partners. A smile, a wave. But we must be careful because while

some signs can be misinterpreted, others can be missed completely…

Some dances you sit out. Others you change partners. The important

thing is…you never stop dancing.” Chuck Fishman

Researched and written by Robert Miller