WHAT IS TANGO?

Watch a gorgeous explanation direct from Argentina - click here.

"Dancing is not getting up any time painlessly like a speck of dust blown around in the wind. Dancing is when you rise above both worlds, tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul."

~ Mevlana Jalal al-din Rumi- Persian Poet

Piel:  seduction or imposition

Oh, I think you can know chemistry instantly at the milonga.  In Argentina, they talk about "piel " as the physical "something" between two dancers, that no one can explain, but that many have felt.  I call it the "skin thing". Even if you have absolutely nothing in common with this person, don't even speak the same language, etc., "piel" can still move you powerfully.

~ Stephane

Tango Philosophy or Etiquette

It appears there may be some insecurity in a leader who only dances with very skilled followers. Any experienced leader can dance skillfully and “very well”  if he is only dancing with experienced followers.  To me it seems the true test of a skilled leader is to be able to make every woman look good no matter what her skill level is.

What keeps me dancing tango is the challenge. The challenge that each partner and every tango presents.  My self imposed challenge is to continue to grow and prosper in my dance.

I will continue to dance every tango I am able even those I do not care much for and with every lady who will say yes no matter what her experience level. For where is the challenge and the test in only dancing to favorite music with skilled followers. And if a lady turns me down because I dance on occasion with beginners it bothers me not for there are others who will accept. One of my pleasures to dancing tango is finding out if my lead is clear enough for all partners to accurately read.

But I will agree that dancing with skilled followers is most pleasurable for the dance then ascends to higher levels of ecstasy.

~ Excerpt from email by Leonardo K. (2005)

Subject:  Deepening Tango

Tango is improvisation, and some leaders take that to mean that they get to improvise their own vision exclusively throughout the dance.  I like to dance with guys who take a stumble, a navigation hazard, a nuance of music, a follower's input (whether that be a "mistake", or a subtle suggestion for a change of timing, direction, embrace, or depth of connection) as a possiblity or invitation to expand the improv to a level beyond their own limited imagination.

The only way I have found to respond to an egotistical dancer, (one who is not dancing with or for me, but only for himself) is to be as fully myself as possible, and to make sure that he knows that I am there.  I bring my interpretation of the music into as much of the dance as I can, changing the dynamics of each step, perhaps lingering a little or bringing a feeling of suspension and pause, before moving to land exactly on the beat.   Or a little tap or brush with my free foot on his, or on the floor, to say "I know where you are, and I am here" while still being able to be ready for the next step. 

In response that there are fewer opportunities for women to improvise in the closest embraces--I have found that this type of play occurs just as easily in a very restrictive close embrace as in a more open one.  In fact, it can be easier, because you have the chance to really know where you are in relation to one another.   The trick is to entice your leader into wanting to listen to you, entice your leader into wanting to give you the time and or space to play or pause.

Notice that I am NOT saying that I just do what I want, or I ignore the lead, or backlead, or overpower him.   No, no--these are subtle little things and when done right, are at most hints or suggestions.  Sometimes it is just as little as giving a touch of resistance so that you both feel as if you are moving through honey, which can, if the lead is listening to you, really deepen the connection.  Play with the density of your connection, how light or heavy you are, whether you are being staccato or legato, whether your line is long and flowing or curlique and baroque, or sharp, rectilinear. 

Pick up his strong points and enhance them, or play against them.  It all has to be within the bounds of your own limitations as a follower, and the physical limits of the embrace, so you don't upset your balance or his, you keep track of which foot you are supposed to have your weight on, you respond to his lead, etc. 

This leads to one of two things:  1) The guy is really interested, sometimes entranced "Wow! That opened up whole new realms of understanding about the music!"  If he's listening, maybe you'll give him some ideas to use later, or he might decide he likes your idea so much that he sets it up again, or makes a riff on it, picking it up and using it some other way.  And he starts to wonder what he can do to foster that, and starts to  look for other such follows, etc. (one such man tells me I have a "strong flavor "). 

2) The guy just can't hear you at all--he is so caught up in his own thing that any change that you make to expected timing, or any indication that both your feet are not exactly where he expects them to be at all times, either does not register with him, or causes him to think that you are "messing up", so that he gets frustrated because he is always assuming that you are "wrong".  He can't accept that you can end up where he wants you, while varying the route to get there.

And I'm also kind of tickled by the fact that I am human, and therefore err, so I'm not that attached to working toward "perfection."

What I am talking about is not a barrier to melding.  Sometimes I will be dancing with a guy who listens so much that he inspires me to listen so much and then we meld and it's no longer about "I speak, you listen and respond to me, I listen and respond to you, etc." but instead about that phenomenon, that of becoming some other entity for the duration of the dance where it's not "me and you" or even "us" but just being/dancing/music. 

~ Excerpt from email by Hyla Dickinson (with some editing) Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Philosophy by Cecilia Gonzalez:

My idea is to investigate the possibilities of movement and expression that tango offers, always in correspondance to the music and in continuous improvisation, two of the most important and decisive elements of this dance.

In order to be able to improvise it is necessary to understand and analyze deeply the structure and the technique, so then we can feel free to relate with ourselves, with our partner, with the space, the music and the memories.