TANGO

Tango

Tango

Introduction

The history of Tango is fascinating and complex. The evolution of the dance has profound implications for the way we dance today, and Tango music has become one of the great World Music genres.

For the first century of its history, while Tango music struggled for and then achieved respectability, the dance was neglected by historians and academics. The articles on these pages are based on many years of research in areas sometimes not covered by the official histories of Tango. The aim is to get to the heart of the Tango from a dancer's perspective, but not forgetting the rich history of the music.

Discussion

The huge variety of Tango dance styles in Buenos Aires in the 1940s and 1950s represents the amazing depth and richness of Tango. I shall begin by describing three different broad styles, danced by the great Tango dancers who were dancing before the 1955 coup in Argentina, and that I danced with them in the 1990s.( Miller,2004)

While I was doing my research on the various styles of the Golden Age I would ask dancers that I met who, apart from themselves of course, was the best dancer of the style. In the north of the city the answer always came back "Portalea". I would ask why, and I was always told that it was the way he interpreted the music that made him the best. One evening someone told me that Portalea was in the room, so, very excited, I scurried off to watch him dance. And I looked at him in amazement, because I simply could not work out how what he was doing had anything to do with the rhythm of the music at all. And that, of course, was my mistake. He wasn't dancing the rhythm of the music. He was dancing the phrase. ( Miller,2004)

In the style of the north it is very common to see people dancing three equal steps in four beats of the music, in a way that is utterly natural, and completely at one with the music.

Possibly the oldest of the Tango dance styles of the Golden Age is the style of the south. The shape drawn by the couple on the floor is one without many straight lines, made up of curves and arcs, looking very much like an Art Nouveau design. The stance of the dancers is a tiny bit closer to the floor. The interpretation of the music involves many pauses, and many rapid movements. This is the style where ganchos and boleos were danced. ( Miller,2004)

The fall of the military junta in Argentina in 1983 began a spectacular Tango Renaissance in Buenos Aires. Friends of mine who were in Buenos Aires at that time tell me the atmosphere was extraordinary. Suddenly everyone wanted to move. It was as though a physical weight had been lifted from them. Yoga classes were full. Martial arts classes were full. Dance classes of all kinds were full. And suddenly people wanted to learn to dance Tango, the ...