TANGO ROOTS AND CODES ... rules established by use
INFORMATION FOR HELPING
1- Intro
2- Tango styles
3- Babel ... (confused styles)
4- The embrace
5- About levels
6- Embellishments
7- Tango roots
8- Experience
9- How to improve
10- Music
11- Tandas’ and ‘cortinas’
12- Behaviour at milongas
13- Tango shoes
14- Teachers
15- Tango community
(1)
TANGO ROOTS AND CODES ... rules established by use
Tango is part of my culture and I am very proud of it. I am also very grateful to all those people from different latitudes who are really interested in Tango. And I’m even more grateful to all those people who shortly after meeting Tango have fallen down madly in love with it. And an extra thanks goes to those who, besides being interested in 'the shape', are also trying to 'scuba dive' into our roots and cultural heritage looking for a deeper explanation. If I have been writing (or if I am writing) a few notes about Tango it has been (or it is) because I am one of those people who have fallen in love too. My only intention is to share my culture, my thoughts and my experience with all those people who are 'suffering' from the same disease.
To dance Tango is easy; but to dance Tango well is very difficult. We should be patient. Fortunately Tango will be with us for the rest of our lives and please, do take my words personally ... that's my intention too.
Many thanks,
Miguel Angel Pla
(2)
TANGO STYLES
From my perspective, there is some confusion about the different styles of dancing Tango and I would like to clarify a few things in that regard.
People who become passionate about tango often try to help others understand the dance but we must remember that those attempting to help are doing so with the same methods and points of view that they are familiar with in their own cultures.
First of all, I would like to say a few words about our (in Argentina) understanding of Tango. We only use this word to speak about it. For instance, we say, ‘I am going to dance Tango tonight’, ‘My grandfather was well known as a Tango dancer’, ‘Tango is an important part of my life’. It’s just like that and if you listen carefully to Tango lyrics, it’s always like that. If you go to Spain or Colombia or Venezuela or Uruguay it will be the same for them. The name of that music is 'Tango'. In some other countries, because of either cultural differences or a different way to say the same thing, they say 'Argentine Tango’, in the same way they say they have a ‘BAD headache’ (meanwhile we simply have 'a headache', because in our minds 'GOOD headaches' don’t exist). Even if we insist in naming Tango with an adjective it should be 'Tango Rioplatense' or 'Argentinean-Uruguayan Tango', because Tango was born around 150 years ago on both sides of the Rio de la Plata river and not only on the Argentinean side.
I understand in this culture that there is a need to differentiate the Tango dance that has become popular within the Ballroom world from the Tango danced in Argentina but it is important to know that this is only true in the countries so influenced by Ballroom dancing.
Grizzly bears are always Grizzly bears. They could be either from Canada or USA or Spain or France but always and only Grizzly bears. They could be called ‘Grizzly bears’ or ‘Grizzly bears from Canada’ if you want but never ‘Canadian bears’, because if you say that you are speaking about all the different types of bears that live in Canada (brown, black, white).
Continuing with different Tango styles (now, as clarified above, not ‘Argentine’ Tango styles), we recognize only 'The Canyengue style', 'The Salon style', and 'The Fantasia style'. At the same time as 'Rock and Roll' was starting (I mean in the 50's) another style of tango was also starting: 'The Petitero style' or 'Milonguero Style', recently renamed, ‘Estilo del Centro’ (downtown style). And there is now another one popularly called 'Tango Nuevo'. If you go to the Internet you will find many other names pretending to be different styles.
And as I said above, some of the most enthusiastic tangueros try to help but many times they are incorrect and in fact the result is just the opposite, a hindrance. In other words the 'The New York style' doesn’t exist. You could say more properly either 'The way New Yorkers dance Tango' or 'The way they manage to dance Tango', but never ‘NY style’. It's exactly the same with the English language; you can say that somebody has a Texan accent or an American one, but never should you assume that an accent creates a new form of English.
(3)
TANGO BABEL
Due to the arrogance of men thinking that they could build a tower high enough to get to ‘The Sky’, God put a curse on us. The tower collapsed and people were in such confusion that they couldn't understand each other and in this way different languages were born. It's in The Bible.
You can see quite often similar results with people dancing Tango. Since they 'were motivated' or ‘pushed’ to learn different styles (Canyengue, Salon, Milonguero, Nuevo) and also different modalities (exhibition, stage) they try to do what they learned. A mess is the result of that. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, but a mess. It's as if you were learning languages, but Spanish (two months), Polish (five months), Cantonese (a month and a half), Japanese (four months) and then traveling around the world expecting to communicate in those languages. What result could you expect? In other words: ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ and in dancing Tango obviously you will not be good at any style and what is worse you will confuse your partner and yourself. You will not dance properly any of the styles (eg. Salon, Milonguero or Nuevo).
Unfortunately people are not able to make a wise decision right from the beginning about what style is best for them. But at least they should be informed about different styles and their characteristics in order to weigh their pros and their cons. For instance: if you have been learning Stage Tango (it's very enjoyable: PRO) but you must not do that on a dance floor (CON). You have been studying to be a performer, a star perhaps, but you are not dancing well socially if you mix in stage moves on a crowded dance floor.
How long does it take to make a WISE choice? I DON'T KNOW. And how long does it take to make a GOOD choice? I DON'T KNOW. What I only know is that it takes a long time to mature in Tango and you have to know that. This is your challenge: Good luck!
(4)
ABOUT THE EMBRACE
The same way we only have headaches (and not bad ones) we only say ‘embrace’ when we are trying to speak about the embrace in Tango. There is only one embrace. Again it is confusing when some people talk about Salon style and refer to it as a dance done in an open embrace. This is a misunderstanding and quite inaccurate and unfortunately again the problem with the enthusiastic tangueros attempting to ‘help’ when they really have no idea what they are talking about. In Salon style Tango the physical embrace is fluid, sometimes extremely close and sometimes with some space depending on the needs of the couple. We are speaking about the ‘movie’ and not the still ‘picture’.
Tango was born to be danced by a brand new couple who always want to be as close as possible. During my classes I regularly like to clarify the point and put as an example the embrace of brand new lovers. Even during their honeymoon they cannot stay facing each other every moment of the day; there are times when they must physically separate, for at least awhile. This does not mean they are no longer embracing each other. Their embrace is an embrace even when they are eating or walking together. Always the embrace is more a matter of intention than a physical contact. But for sure, their desire is to have their bodies in full contact.
Sometimes at Milongas you see people trying to dance and they appear to be struggling or suffering rather than enjoying being close. The feeling during the embrace depends on the connection of the couple as well as their skills. The embrace should be a pleasure, not a duty. But sometimes, because of social obligations (external to Tango, for instance, dancing with a particular VIP who is not exactly our favourite person) we choose to be polite and we accept that invitation.
If every rule has exceptions, our social life (Tango is part of this social life) has exceptions too. When we are at a Milonga and we are dancing with someone who we are not really connected with we should know that we are NOT dancing Tango; what we are really doing is moving our legs with Tango music as a background and holding each other instead. We are not truly embracing each other.
Since the embrace implies such a big commitment, if you believe that you are not prepared to afford the risk of that body contact, just play chess!
(5)
ABOUT LEVELS
'A vertical expression of a horizontal desire', 'two heads, four legs and one body' or 'a feeling you dance' ... these are attempted definitions of Tango; each of them is somewhat accurate but together even more so.
As mentioned above, Northern Hemisphere countries have a large tradition with Ballroom Dancing. Because of that, it has become very easy to transfer the same ideas to other dances. That's why students and teachers like to speak about levels: beginners, intermediate, and advanced. This is not proper for Tango. In other dances the different levels are characterized for WHAT they do; in Tango the level is characterized for HOW they do it. And of course it's a totally different criteria of evaluation. Besides, Tango is a social dance more than a dance of competition. A lion and a zebra (even though they are both animals, both grow wild and both live in the jungle) are different. So they should be given a different treatment. In the same way, it is not suitable to use the same 'model' for such completely different dances. In Tango we learn in layers which should not be labeled as levels.
The most difficult thing about dancing Tango are Tango FUNDAMENTALS. The difference between a very good dancer and another who is not very good is: Tango FUNDAMENTALS. One more time 'It's not WHAT you do but HOW you do it'.
If it was necessary to use only one word to define Tango this word would be: ELEGANCE. So if there's no ELEGANCE there's no Tango.
The majority of students, when they have the opportunity to make a choice between a class for beginners, intermediates or advanced, will try the advanced one. It's a mistake, of course, because what dancers really need are the FUNDAMENTALS of Tango. Probably one of the best tips for every dancer is: 'attend the classes about very basic things' and using an English saying: 'it will make your day' (or your week or your month). The difference between Tiger Woods and the rest of the golf players is not what he does but the precision of how he does it.
(6)
EMBELLISHMENTS
Like many other words in Spanish this one has the same latin root and the same meaning: 'Embellecer, hacer más bello, dar o prodigar belleza'. It is unwise and actually quite ugly to attempt to do embellishments with only a little knowledge of Tango since it is not possible yet to know what beauty is and what it isn't. If FUNDAMENTALS are lacking it's possible to see in very new dancers (habitually ladies) and even some others who are not so new, UN-EMBELLISHMENTS instead (for instance, front boleos done incorrectly in forward ochos) and it's really lamentable. In Tango, as in life, it's much better: 'the plain truth, without embellishments'. Hollywood is too close! Instead of an embellishment it can become an embarrassment.
Tango dancers (or lovers) should dance for themselves and not for the rest of the dancers ... unless they are performers doing a demo or an exhibition. Sometimes during my dreams appears a message from God 'You shall dance for you and for your partner'. It is very sad to observe ‘quite good dancers' PRETENDING that they are dancing for themselves when they are really SHOWING-OFF all the time; and what's worse: ALWAYS. Hollywood is too close and sometimes it seems as if it’s getting CLOSER!
One of the biggest problems is that this behavior then becomes a 'model' for the new dancers. And of course it interrupts or disturbs the fluent counterclockwise walk around the dance floor in the line of dance as well. Tango fundamentals again!
I have been told sometimes from a few of my Tango friends: 'This is our style'! NO, this is your LACK of style or your lack of knowledge! As you can imagine this is terrible, because if you know that you don't know enough, it's OK since you could do it better in the future; but if you believe you already know, you are lost!
'Ignorance is the worst of the diseases'. And there is only one vaccine: FUNDAMENTALS.
(7)
TANGO ROOTS
It is also important to be clear about Tango roots and the philosophy of Tango. As mentioned above, Tango was born to be danced by a 'brand new couple' or by 'enthusiastic lovers'. We have 'a feeling' together and share something in common: LOVE. But even when we are at the top of this feeling, not always is everything rosy. Probably when we are madly in love, one of the most clear characteristics of this state-situation-soul connection at that moment is the INTENSITY of our different emotions. If we are happy, we are extremely happy, if we are sad we couldn't feel worse.
We could also associate this with: PASSION; but we should be very careful about thinking like that because even though passion is appropriate in that situation it also has another connotation which is very dangerous: PASSION=RED AND BLACK=DRAMA=RED ROSE IN MY TEETH=HOLLYWOOD and of course we are losing the way when we begin to think like this.
Tango is tragic, because life is tragic. Tango is not dramatic. Tango from Hollywood is dramatic (but it is not our Tango).
DRAMA and COMEDY are the two faces of THEATRE. And it was like that since Theatre was born in the Golden Century of Pericles in Greece. In the Theatre actors and actresses PERFORM. Here we are with a very interesting association: We can also perform a Tango, but either in a Theatre or in a movie, NOT on a dance-floor, NOT in a 'Milonga'.
At Carnival parties or at Halloween people use costumes. If you observe their choice when they need to decide what to be it is possible to read between the lines. Some feeble gays transform into athletic sportsmen, some timid people dress to show off, a plebeian becomes an aristocrat, etc. This way they are living their dreams, at least for a while. And as for Tango? SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO LIVE THEIR DREAMS OF BEING GREAT PERFORMERS AT THE MILONGA. The biggest problem is that unfortunately they don't know that they are as they are. Only some information heard over and over again would be able to bring the necessary help because it is not an individual problem; it is a Tango society problem. And there are more red lights of danger flashing: All those people who, probably with their best intentions and also with deep love of what they do, spread these concepts (plus those with not very good intentions do the same), encouraging others to go in that direction as well.
Once again, while dancing a Tango we are sharing a strong feeling with our partner; this has nothing to do with an audience.
(8)
WHAT ABOUT EXPERIENCE
There are many controversial topics in some Tango communities. One of them is 'EXPERIENCE': how do you evaluate it?
In general, I like external examples to develop any topic.
If you want to be a very good swimmer you should choose a 'good' teacher and you should attend his or her classes for either a week, a month, a year or for the rest of your life. It depends on what are you attempting to accomplish. Also, you should do the exercises that the teacher asks you to do. After a month you are likely able to swim enough to begin to enjoy yourself. Probably the next summer you could go with a group of your friends to Acapulco and have a lot of fun or you could go to a private or a public swimming pool and enjoy your skills there. After one year you will have improved even more. And you will continue to enjoy more all of the time because you'll have more knowledge (classes with your teacher) and more experience (by repeating the same things over and over again through the exercises). After this much experience not only are you able to enjoy yourself a lot but those people around you are also having a better time (since at the beginning you have disturbed them because of your lack of knowledge and experience). If you are still focused in this way over a long period of time you'll enjoy the 'swimming paradise'; not only you but your 'swimming family' too. Everybody will be happy!
But if you attend classes for only a few months or sporadically in a discontinuous way (because either of illness, family problems, business, moving to your new house, holidays or whatever could interrupt your routine) ... things will be totally different. You were ‘learning’ swimming for four years but ... WERE YOU?
Also, you could have gone to Acapulco, let’s say twice a year for two months at a time but if you were also scuba diving, wind surfing, and blue merlin fishing how much were you really increasing your experience as a swimmer?
In Tango it's exactly the same. Why should it be different? What's more, in Tango, it's worse because since 'it takes two to Tango' you also need to prove your skills with different partners.
So be careful when you talk about someone with ‘experience’. A student dancing and practicing bad habits for 10 years is not a better dancer than someone who has started in Tango much later but who has chosen and studied with a clear teacher and has practiced that style consistently.
If you are a dairy farmer you have to milk your cow every day. Cows don't understand about Christmas eve or Thanksgiving or 'a long weekend', or a roofing project. THEY ONLY NEED TO BE MILKED every day.
Somebody said, 'After an hour class you should practice for three hours' and I would like to add: in Tango it takes longer because after the three hours of practicing ALONE, we should apply this with our partners. I'm firmly convinced that if somebody were to do that for only three months then that student will become the most experienced person in a huge area. Do you mean that sometimes working hard (or just working) beats ‘experience’? I THINK SO. And one more time ... please, take it personally!
... so, the next question would be:
(9)
HOW DO I IMPROVE IN TANGO?
You already know the answer. Of course: ‘You should work’. And how should I work?: ‘MORE’.
After a class, you should practice ALONE what you learnt. You should practice alone the fundamentals you have learnt, plus the other former fundamentals you have been learning since your first contact with Tango: walking forward, backwards and to the side; doing ‘ochos’ against the wall and ‘giros’ around the chair’ ... not for a long time, but frequently (every day if possible). You will need only 5 minutes per day ... 7 minutes maximum. This is nothing in comparison with the time you take for eating, sleeping, working, watching TV, or driving your car everyday. Mostly because you’ve told me many times that you LOVE TANGO.
After that, either once or twice a week, you could go to a ‘práctica’ and review with a partner, repeating over and over again, all those ‘patterns, figures or movements’ that you have just learnt. It is that simple and also that easy.
People, in general, enjoy attending classes. They particularly like it if the teacher is a ‘new one’ or if it’s during a weekend in a beautiful place (as another city by the ocean, for instance). If they have the chance for ‘a private’ during that time ... better, and if at the end there’s a GALA, with performers ... it couldn’t be better. And if during this weekend you met somebody ... ’you know what I mean’?: THEN YOU HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.
Even dancing every month, every week, or every day you will not really improve in your dance. You will have lots of fun, but you will not Improve. You will dance probably more relaxed, but you will not really improve. You will TALK a lot about Tango, but you will not REALLY improve.
Vasiliev, Nureiev, Barishnicoff, Nijinski, Placido Domingo, Ralph Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Fred Astaire never performed every day, every week or even every month, but they practiced every day.
I don’t know why in Tango people, in general, are looking for a ’miracle’. They prefer to change teachers than change themselves when they realize they haven’t reached their goal. It's about attitude and motivation. The problem isn't ‘out there’. You have to be sure and find in yourself what you like, what you want, what you need. If you get involved in Tango because you are lonely, it's fine; if you get involved in Tango because you are looking for a lover, that's fine; and if you get involved because you think you love tango because of a movie you just saw or because of your friends inspiring you, that's fine too. And also, if you go because of any of those reasons plus you love tango, that's OK too. But it's not fine if you go thinking and saying you are there because you LOVE tango but underneath you are really there for all of the above reasons but you are not wiling to acknowledge that. In this case you are not being honest with yourself. You believe you LOVE Tango but you are really there because you are looking for solutions to the problems in your life.
IT’S MORE A MATTER OF STUDENTS THAN A MATTER OF TEACHERS.
Everybody remembers Newton, Einstein, McEnroe or Shakespeare, but nobody remembers their teachers. Fred Astaire was rejected for the better known dance teachers in USA when he wanted to begin to dance but after A VERY HARD effort on his part he became the most popular dancer in the whole history and all over the world.
‘A good dancer will practice until he gets it right. A great dancer will practice until he can never get it wrong’.
(10)
AND WHAT ABOUT MUSIC
There exists only 'good music'. If it's not good ... it's not music: it is a noise. But some music that it is not exactly your favorite one, could be the best choice for another person. Whether you like it or not it will always be good music. Examples are: Mozart, Piazzolla, Gershwin, Ravel, Troilo, Beethoven, Ray Charles, etc. They were excellent composers and musicians in spite of your preference.
On the other hand, getting more to our point, you can dance using 'Tango tools' to Mozart, Piazzolla, Gershwin, Ravel, Troilo, Beethoven and Ray Charles ... but you ought not to. In the same way you ought not to dance 'El lago de los cisnes' dressed as an Astronaut. Or as a cowboy it is not proper to dance to 'Aida' using Tango skills or movements even if you are able to do that. First of all, you are not dressed matching the music and secondly because it would be a lack of respect for the Tango culture. Of course, and on purpose, these are extreme examples, but valid ones.
There are more than 1,850 versions of just 'La Cumparsita'. And it is only one song (the most popular; but only one). La Morocha, El Choclo, El Ingeniero, El Entrerriano, Nostalgias, Remembranzas and many more like them have probably only a bit fewer versions and played by Pugliese, Tanturi, Troilo, Di Sarli, D' Arienzo, Lomuto, De Angelis, D'Agostino, Sassone, Caló, Demare, Biaggi, Tìpica Victor, Rodriguez, Canaro, Mafia, Mores, Arenas, Laurenz, F.Donato, E. Donato, De Caro, Rotundo, Fresedo, Firpo, Los Virtuosos, Baso, Gobbi, Varela, Ortiz, Quinteto Pirincho, Montes-Arias, Petrucelli, Puglisi, Rodio, Maderna, Pollero, Balcarce, etc. You could appreciate that I haven't mentioned either Carlos Gardel, our most representative Tango figure in the world from 'The Old Guard', nor Astor Piazzolla, another Tango emblematic figure, nor Horacio Salgán, probably the most talented Tango piano player that has ever existed. The three of them are on a 'pedestal' for us and for the rest of the people in the world ('tangueros' or not) who love music. For us they are in the same category as musicians who are the most recognized musicians in the whole history. But their music is NOT for dancing. Each one of them on different occasions when asked the same question have given the same answer: 'I DON'T PLAY (for Gardel, sing) FOR DANCERS'. So why the hell do so many people insist in dancing Tangos by Piazzolla, Gardel or Salgán. AT LEAST THEY SHOULD RESPECT THE MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THESE GENIUSES over their own knowledge. To not do so is simply either ignorance or possibly instead an expression of arrogance since it appears that their opinion is more important than Salgan, Gardel, or Piazzolla’s opinions.
So far, you have more than 35 orchestras from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's plus the more recent ones. All of them have instrumental songs as well as those with singers. And sometimes with 3, 4 or more different singers and at a different period (in the late 30's, during the 40's and into the 60's (for example, D'Arienzo). You have at least so far 35 (Orchestras) x 100 (songs -minimum each) makes 3500 (number of songs) plus those like D'Arienzo who recorded during two, three or more different periods. This makes not less than 10,000 different songs. If each song lasts for 3 minutes it makes 30,000 minutes of songs in a row. But because there is generally 1 or 2 minutes between songs you should add about 15,000 more minutes ... plus the time that an excellent DJ spends to change CDs. In this way you could enjoy different Tango music for hours and hours and hours if you want and if you are patient enough.
We regularly are at ‘Milongas’ for two or three hours and during this time we only are able to hear around 50 songs. If we were there twice a week, it makes 100 songs per week .... 400 songs per month ... 4800 songs per year (12 months: no rest). This way we will need more than two years going to a dance twice a week to be able to listen to the same song from the same orchestra and from the same period of time.
If Tango is still alive after more than 150 years of existence, it is thanks to it’s roots ... and thanks to those people who were respectful with it’s traditions and those roots.
Schopenhauer made a comment that ‘Fashion produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time’. And that is the reason things go out of fashion. We have to be very careful and we should gather information when it comes to making a choice. Since Tango represents for many people an interesting business, they will never stop and 'fashion' always sells. So through advertisements they try to show 'new' stars to sell more and more and of course most of the time they get some results. But sooner or later we realize that we haven't made a good choice. We only 'have been sold a bill of goods'. Probably many people didn't remember Cáceres anymore after only a few years, but they didn't forget Di Sarli or Troilo. Di Sarli, Troilo and all the other 35 in the list above represent THE TANGO ROOTS.
(11)
WHY TANDAS AND CORTINAS
As a dancer I have some preferences. For me, some orchestras are easier to dance with than others. And I can also dance better with certain partners with some rhythms and some orchestras too. So if I listen to D'Arienzo in his late 30's since it is (for my feeling) so 'square' and fast, if I can, I will invite to dance a certain kind of partner and I know I will be comfortable during those few songs dancing this way. But if after one song a Tango by Pugliese is put on instead, I'm sure I will not be comfortable (no matter that Pugliese is one of my favorite orchestras). If I go to the Opera I want to know the program in advance. And it is the same for Milongas.
Because Tango is fundamentally a social dance and if those songs are played in 'tandas' we will know in advance what we would like to do. And then during the 'tanda', we have the possibility either of dancing, resting, socializing, having a drink or simply finding another partner. And for men and for ladies it's the same. Each has the same rights at the end of a ‘tanda’, the same possibilities of saying 'Thank you' to our partner.
Again, if I am not very keen on a particular type of orchestra I will do something instead of dancing and I will know that it will be for three or four songs. It gives me the option to choose, to decide in that moment what I would like to do.
‘Cortinas’ are very useful to let dancers recognize the end of a 'tanda' and the beginning of the next one. In our most traditional milongas in Argentina we use this system. We also put a ‘tanda’ either of Traditional Jazz, Brazilian music, Caribbean music, our own folk music or Rock and Roll at least twice during the evening. Tango is a big commitment and the whole group needs to relax at a certain time .
(12)
BEHAVIOUR AT MILONGAS
The way we should conduct ourselves at Milongas is no different than the way we should conduct ourselves outside of Milongas.
From a personal point of view: we must have solidarity.
Everyone feels in similar ways. We experience enjoyment or suffering from the same kind of things. For example, a tooth ache is the same for the fair, dark, tall, short, young, old, European, Asian, fat, skinny, the Queen of England, and all of her lowest subjects.
People who attend Milongas go mainly to dance. But not only to dance ... we also want to feel comfortable and to enjoy the dance. This is possible if we don't have to struggle with our various partners. In order to feel better with our dancing partner we have to always want to improve the way we dance. If we improve our dancing, we increase our capacity to feel more pleasure and we also have more capacity to give more pleasure to our partners. So, it is not a matter of knowing how to do more things ... but, how to do better what we do know. It's not enough to feel pleasure ourselves. It's necessary to give pleasure to our partners as well. If the pleasure is only mine, it is not enough.
From the social point of view: we must have solidarity.
In this, we are facing an important dilemma. The smaller the tango population, the more 'effort' required from each one of the members of that community. Generally, in Practicas and Milongas, there are more ladies than men. Suppose there are 20 ladies and 10 men. Each man 'should' dance with at least 2 ladies during the evening. If there were 5 men then each of them should dance with at least 4 ladies. It doesn't have to be so mathematical ... the numbers are just to be more clear. Most of the time men actually go beyond this proportion. At that point, all of the ladies who have already danced with these men who did their share (or more) need to be grateful whether he danced well or not ... at least from the social point of view. The rest of the ladies, whether they danced or not with these good intentioned men should be grateful with them as well! This hardly ever happens.
There are several reasons why ladies should not ask men to dance. First, there are usually more ladies than men. If there are twice the number of ladies and they all asked men to dance, then the men would never get a chance to sit down nor would they have time to go to the restroom, stop for a drink etc. Secondly, socially speaking, a lady could say 'no' and it is accepted but if a man says no they are considered rude. And thirdly, there are no social dances, traditionally, in which ladies invite men to dance.
From the couple point of view: we must have solidarity.
Couples are the essence and essential to tango. Tango was born to be danced by a couple, who have a strong pull to be in an embrace while enjoying and dancing to the music. This is very clear but frequently brings some difficulties. Couples attending a Practica or Milonga must also have a focus of solidarity. It is necessary to repeat the same concept ... men should try to dance with a reasonable number of ladies (this is their obligation) and ladies (whether they dance or not) should feel grateful for this behaviour in men. Nothing is absolute, but men should invite more of those ladies who are not with a regular partner, instead of ladies who came with a man. These men are then also giving the men who came in a couple the opportunity to dance with their own partners.
As you see, each of these situations is about solidarity, having concern for the group, being aware of supporting the whole. Another external example would be: If a man arrives with a bottle of wine this should be shared since it is a social situation. Similarly, a single lady occasionally should also arrive with a bottle of wine. In that way, also, she should arrive at a Milonga with a man. In other words, all those women who regularly enjoy the partner of other ladies should make more effort (at least once in awhile) to bring a new man, whether he is a good dancer or not, but at least a man. So, when that lady is dancing, the man she brought can be entertaining and socializing with another lady. Ladies who never invite men to go along with them to a Milonga are only thinking about themselves and not the whole situation. Women need to bring men, at least occasionally.
Moral:
In each one of the descriptions above there is a common denominator ... tolerance and solidarity.
Unfortunately, these two social virtues are not the first seeds to appear, not the most popular ways of being in these post modern times.
(13)
TANGO SHOES
What is a pair of Tango shoes? Are they 'special' and or different from the rest of our shoes?
Buenos Aires is a city with a range of temperatures between 1ª C as one of the lowest temperatures during winter and 36ªC as probably the highest temperature during the summer time. Weather is humid but not rainy and it never snows. As a city it is closer to either Toronto, New York or Paris than to Yellowknife or Campbell River. So it seems like everything is going on there at the same time and all of the time as happens in most big cities; the world of business, sciences, the Central Government, the Central Military Forces, the head of different churches and the Embassies of all the countries of the world are placed there. So many people dress properly for that and 'push' the rest of the people to be dressed the same way.
Traditionally 'tangueros' would go to the Milongas 'well dressed'. It meant, for the men, with a full suit or a two piece outfit, a shirt with a tie (always with a tie) and leather shoes. But with the same leather shoes they would go to the church, to a wedding or to the theatre and not with a very 'fancy special one'. Remember we are in Buenos Aires, not in Hollywood or on a television set. If you believe your shoes are not proper to be used at an elegant wedding party or to go to a gala at The Metropolitan or to be received in The Vatican by the Pope, your shoes are not Tango shoes. They don't have to be 'different' they have to be elegant (as Tango is).
And in speaking once again about ‘elegance’ something more needs to be said about the dress code. How can a ‘tanguero’ look elegant wearing an oversized T-shirt that is not tucked in? And what about wearing hats while dancing? Isn’t the polite action to remove your hat when you enter a room? It’s bad enough to leave it on .... but to dance with it on? Again, people have been watching too many movies. In the traditional Tango salons of Buenos Aires you NEVER see ‘tangueros’ wearing hats while dancing. This is for Hollywood or perhaps Carnival.
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TEACHERS
A) - When the trunk of a tree is quite bent, it is because in the early stages of it’s growth it wasn’t well staked. What can we do then? NOTHING or perhaps just feel regret about this situation. It's similar for people. The best food for a baby is mother’s milk. The most distinguished chefs, cooks, nutritionists and scientific professionals cannot create or prepare anything better. The food we receive during our first period of life is the foundation that determines our future.
B) - It is said that an important part of our life as human beings is to leave a legacy ... since it is a way of continuing our presence after passing away. It's also said that the most regular way of doing this is : 1- having a child; 2- planting a tree; 3- writing a book.
But there exists many other ways of leaving a legacy ... one of them is: TEACHING something.
C) - In former titles or items mentioned above I said that there are many people in Tango communities who try 'TO HELP'. One way to help is being on the executive of a board, sweeping the dance floor, preparing the room for a Milonga (tables, chairs, flowers, lighting, carrying the music, cooking something for the community, etc.)
D) - Inside each one of the tangueros exist: 1- A PERFORMER and 2- A TEACHER. We can see at the Milongas this phenomenon all the time.
Generally, when 'new teachers are born' they take aim at the base of the pyramid ... the beginners. This is often not the best decision ... and possibly a serious mistake. If you want to teach: this is a legal and noble feeling (because of B, C and D). Go ahead! But begin teaching either professionals or advanced students, but not beginners ... please!
If you believe you are not prepared to teach advanced students YOU SHOULD NOT teach ... because of (A).
In Japan for instance, a cook is not allowed to prepare 'sushi' alone before studying this art form with a master Sushi Chef for at least ten years. Similar rules apply to tea ceremonies, martial arts, flower arrangements, pottery etc. There is a reason for this tradition and for the same reason those arts are still alive after thousands of years.
'Somebody has to teach', 'I love Tango', 'I need to do something for a living', 'I don’t have a job', 'I WANT TO HELP' are not good enough reasons to start teaching. You need to answer the question: 'Do you want to help yourself or do you want to help others?' And be honest with yourself.
So, who should teach then? Answer: The one who if he doesn't teach would die but if he does teach doesn't kill (at least doesn't damage others).
I know that with these words, more than stepping on some toes, I am walking on lots of them. But ... was it my fault?
(15)
TANGO COMMUNITY
We should grow up together in Tango. Tango has had a gregarious spirit from the beginning. Individualism is not part of Tango; it's just part of the mercantilism of post-modernism and Tango is former to this era. Tango is modern.
Probably individualism is the most clear characteristic of post-modernism and if we are totally convinced that 'It takes two to Tango', individualism, at least in Tango, is a fallacy. But it's not only a fallacious argument because of that, it's also because of this gregarious spirit we talk about above.
The human spirit is gregarious. That's why from the beginning of times people gathered in villages, towns, cities, etc. Even within such a social way of living, during the whole of history, various organizations were developed, such as 'boy scouts, 'fishing associations', 'Elvis Presley fan clubs', etc. And also from the beginning of time people gathered in the 'mother' of the societies: 'THE FAMILY'.
Tango is a family. But if we have a weak idea or experience of family, we probably will have also a weak idea about the 'feeling' of being part of any organization.
If love is the most characteristic feeling in a family then love must be the most characteristic feeling in a Tango family. Unfortunately because of fucking individualism, it's not always like that.
We should agree first: what love means as a feeling. LOVE IS GIVING (to love is to give). And we could add, 'Love is to give without waiting for anything in return'. Life would be perfect this way. At least we should offer what we would like to receive ... even being selfish like that is not so bad.
Music, experience, knowledge etc. should always be shared. We should be always open to give ... but be careful ... WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE OPEN TO RECEIVE.
I love the saying: 'You can take the horse to the river ...'
Love
Miguel
1- Intro
2- Tango styles
3- Babel ... (confused styles)
4- The embrace
5- About levels
6- Embellishments
7- Tango roots
8- Experience
9- How to improve
10- Music
11- Tandas’ and ‘cortinas’
12- Behaviour at milongas
13- Tango shoes
14- Teachers
15- Tango community
(1)
TANGO ROOTS AND CODES ... rules established by use
Tango is part of my culture and I am very proud of it. I am also very grateful to all those people from different latitudes who are really interested in Tango. And I’m even more grateful to all those people who shortly after meeting Tango have fallen down madly in love with it. And an extra thanks goes to those who, besides being interested in 'the shape', are also trying to 'scuba dive' into our roots and cultural heritage looking for a deeper explanation. If I have been writing (or if I am writing) a few notes about Tango it has been (or it is) because I am one of those people who have fallen in love too. My only intention is to share my culture, my thoughts and my experience with all those people who are 'suffering' from the same disease.
To dance Tango is easy; but to dance Tango well is very difficult. We should be patient. Fortunately Tango will be with us for the rest of our lives and please, do take my words personally ... that's my intention too.
Many thanks,
Miguel Angel Pla
(2)
TANGO STYLES
From my perspective, there is some confusion about the different styles of dancing Tango and I would like to clarify a few things in that regard.
People who become passionate about tango often try to help others understand the dance but we must remember that those attempting to help are doing so with the same methods and points of view that they are familiar with in their own cultures.
First of all, I would like to say a few words about our (in Argentina) understanding of Tango. We only use this word to speak about it. For instance, we say, ‘I am going to dance Tango tonight’, ‘My grandfather was well known as a Tango dancer’, ‘Tango is an important part of my life’. It’s just like that and if you listen carefully to Tango lyrics, it’s always like that. If you go to Spain or Colombia or Venezuela or Uruguay it will be the same for them. The name of that music is 'Tango'. In some other countries, because of either cultural differences or a different way to say the same thing, they say 'Argentine Tango’, in the same way they say they have a ‘BAD headache’ (meanwhile we simply have 'a headache', because in our minds 'GOOD headaches' don’t exist). Even if we insist in naming Tango with an adjective it should be 'Tango Rioplatense' or 'Argentinean-Uruguayan Tango', because Tango was born around 150 years ago on both sides of the Rio de la Plata river and not only on the Argentinean side.
I understand in this culture that there is a need to differentiate the Tango dance that has become popular within the Ballroom world from the Tango danced in Argentina but it is important to know that this is only true in the countries so influenced by Ballroom dancing.
Grizzly bears are always Grizzly bears. They could be either from Canada or USA or Spain or France but always and only Grizzly bears. They could be called ‘Grizzly bears’ or ‘Grizzly bears from Canada’ if you want but never ‘Canadian bears’, because if you say that you are speaking about all the different types of bears that live in Canada (brown, black, white).
Continuing with different Tango styles (now, as clarified above, not ‘Argentine’ Tango styles), we recognize only 'The Canyengue style', 'The Salon style', and 'The Fantasia style'. At the same time as 'Rock and Roll' was starting (I mean in the 50's) another style of tango was also starting: 'The Petitero style' or 'Milonguero Style', recently renamed, ‘Estilo del Centro’ (downtown style). And there is now another one popularly called 'Tango Nuevo'. If you go to the Internet you will find many other names pretending to be different styles.
And as I said above, some of the most enthusiastic tangueros try to help but many times they are incorrect and in fact the result is just the opposite, a hindrance. In other words the 'The New York style' doesn’t exist. You could say more properly either 'The way New Yorkers dance Tango' or 'The way they manage to dance Tango', but never ‘NY style’. It's exactly the same with the English language; you can say that somebody has a Texan accent or an American one, but never should you assume that an accent creates a new form of English.
(3)
TANGO BABEL
Due to the arrogance of men thinking that they could build a tower high enough to get to ‘The Sky’, God put a curse on us. The tower collapsed and people were in such confusion that they couldn't understand each other and in this way different languages were born. It's in The Bible.
You can see quite often similar results with people dancing Tango. Since they 'were motivated' or ‘pushed’ to learn different styles (Canyengue, Salon, Milonguero, Nuevo) and also different modalities (exhibition, stage) they try to do what they learned. A mess is the result of that. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, but a mess. It's as if you were learning languages, but Spanish (two months), Polish (five months), Cantonese (a month and a half), Japanese (four months) and then traveling around the world expecting to communicate in those languages. What result could you expect? In other words: ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ and in dancing Tango obviously you will not be good at any style and what is worse you will confuse your partner and yourself. You will not dance properly any of the styles (eg. Salon, Milonguero or Nuevo).
Unfortunately people are not able to make a wise decision right from the beginning about what style is best for them. But at least they should be informed about different styles and their characteristics in order to weigh their pros and their cons. For instance: if you have been learning Stage Tango (it's very enjoyable: PRO) but you must not do that on a dance floor (CON). You have been studying to be a performer, a star perhaps, but you are not dancing well socially if you mix in stage moves on a crowded dance floor.
How long does it take to make a WISE choice? I DON'T KNOW. And how long does it take to make a GOOD choice? I DON'T KNOW. What I only know is that it takes a long time to mature in Tango and you have to know that. This is your challenge: Good luck!
(4)
ABOUT THE EMBRACE
The same way we only have headaches (and not bad ones) we only say ‘embrace’ when we are trying to speak about the embrace in Tango. There is only one embrace. Again it is confusing when some people talk about Salon style and refer to it as a dance done in an open embrace. This is a misunderstanding and quite inaccurate and unfortunately again the problem with the enthusiastic tangueros attempting to ‘help’ when they really have no idea what they are talking about. In Salon style Tango the physical embrace is fluid, sometimes extremely close and sometimes with some space depending on the needs of the couple. We are speaking about the ‘movie’ and not the still ‘picture’.
Tango was born to be danced by a brand new couple who always want to be as close as possible. During my classes I regularly like to clarify the point and put as an example the embrace of brand new lovers. Even during their honeymoon they cannot stay facing each other every moment of the day; there are times when they must physically separate, for at least awhile. This does not mean they are no longer embracing each other. Their embrace is an embrace even when they are eating or walking together. Always the embrace is more a matter of intention than a physical contact. But for sure, their desire is to have their bodies in full contact.
Sometimes at Milongas you see people trying to dance and they appear to be struggling or suffering rather than enjoying being close. The feeling during the embrace depends on the connection of the couple as well as their skills. The embrace should be a pleasure, not a duty. But sometimes, because of social obligations (external to Tango, for instance, dancing with a particular VIP who is not exactly our favourite person) we choose to be polite and we accept that invitation.
If every rule has exceptions, our social life (Tango is part of this social life) has exceptions too. When we are at a Milonga and we are dancing with someone who we are not really connected with we should know that we are NOT dancing Tango; what we are really doing is moving our legs with Tango music as a background and holding each other instead. We are not truly embracing each other.
Since the embrace implies such a big commitment, if you believe that you are not prepared to afford the risk of that body contact, just play chess!
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ABOUT LEVELS
'A vertical expression of a horizontal desire', 'two heads, four legs and one body' or 'a feeling you dance' ... these are attempted definitions of Tango; each of them is somewhat accurate but together even more so.
As mentioned above, Northern Hemisphere countries have a large tradition with Ballroom Dancing. Because of that, it has become very easy to transfer the same ideas to other dances. That's why students and teachers like to speak about levels: beginners, intermediate, and advanced. This is not proper for Tango. In other dances the different levels are characterized for WHAT they do; in Tango the level is characterized for HOW they do it. And of course it's a totally different criteria of evaluation. Besides, Tango is a social dance more than a dance of competition. A lion and a zebra (even though they are both animals, both grow wild and both live in the jungle) are different. So they should be given a different treatment. In the same way, it is not suitable to use the same 'model' for such completely different dances. In Tango we learn in layers which should not be labeled as levels.
The most difficult thing about dancing Tango are Tango FUNDAMENTALS. The difference between a very good dancer and another who is not very good is: Tango FUNDAMENTALS. One more time 'It's not WHAT you do but HOW you do it'.
If it was necessary to use only one word to define Tango this word would be: ELEGANCE. So if there's no ELEGANCE there's no Tango.
The majority of students, when they have the opportunity to make a choice between a class for beginners, intermediates or advanced, will try the advanced one. It's a mistake, of course, because what dancers really need are the FUNDAMENTALS of Tango. Probably one of the best tips for every dancer is: 'attend the classes about very basic things' and using an English saying: 'it will make your day' (or your week or your month). The difference between Tiger Woods and the rest of the golf players is not what he does but the precision of how he does it.
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EMBELLISHMENTS
Like many other words in Spanish this one has the same latin root and the same meaning: 'Embellecer, hacer más bello, dar o prodigar belleza'. It is unwise and actually quite ugly to attempt to do embellishments with only a little knowledge of Tango since it is not possible yet to know what beauty is and what it isn't. If FUNDAMENTALS are lacking it's possible to see in very new dancers (habitually ladies) and even some others who are not so new, UN-EMBELLISHMENTS instead (for instance, front boleos done incorrectly in forward ochos) and it's really lamentable. In Tango, as in life, it's much better: 'the plain truth, without embellishments'. Hollywood is too close! Instead of an embellishment it can become an embarrassment.
Tango dancers (or lovers) should dance for themselves and not for the rest of the dancers ... unless they are performers doing a demo or an exhibition. Sometimes during my dreams appears a message from God 'You shall dance for you and for your partner'. It is very sad to observe ‘quite good dancers' PRETENDING that they are dancing for themselves when they are really SHOWING-OFF all the time; and what's worse: ALWAYS. Hollywood is too close and sometimes it seems as if it’s getting CLOSER!
One of the biggest problems is that this behavior then becomes a 'model' for the new dancers. And of course it interrupts or disturbs the fluent counterclockwise walk around the dance floor in the line of dance as well. Tango fundamentals again!
I have been told sometimes from a few of my Tango friends: 'This is our style'! NO, this is your LACK of style or your lack of knowledge! As you can imagine this is terrible, because if you know that you don't know enough, it's OK since you could do it better in the future; but if you believe you already know, you are lost!
'Ignorance is the worst of the diseases'. And there is only one vaccine: FUNDAMENTALS.
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TANGO ROOTS
It is also important to be clear about Tango roots and the philosophy of Tango. As mentioned above, Tango was born to be danced by a 'brand new couple' or by 'enthusiastic lovers'. We have 'a feeling' together and share something in common: LOVE. But even when we are at the top of this feeling, not always is everything rosy. Probably when we are madly in love, one of the most clear characteristics of this state-situation-soul connection at that moment is the INTENSITY of our different emotions. If we are happy, we are extremely happy, if we are sad we couldn't feel worse.
We could also associate this with: PASSION; but we should be very careful about thinking like that because even though passion is appropriate in that situation it also has another connotation which is very dangerous: PASSION=RED AND BLACK=DRAMA=RED ROSE IN MY TEETH=HOLLYWOOD and of course we are losing the way when we begin to think like this.
Tango is tragic, because life is tragic. Tango is not dramatic. Tango from Hollywood is dramatic (but it is not our Tango).
DRAMA and COMEDY are the two faces of THEATRE. And it was like that since Theatre was born in the Golden Century of Pericles in Greece. In the Theatre actors and actresses PERFORM. Here we are with a very interesting association: We can also perform a Tango, but either in a Theatre or in a movie, NOT on a dance-floor, NOT in a 'Milonga'.
At Carnival parties or at Halloween people use costumes. If you observe their choice when they need to decide what to be it is possible to read between the lines. Some feeble gays transform into athletic sportsmen, some timid people dress to show off, a plebeian becomes an aristocrat, etc. This way they are living their dreams, at least for a while. And as for Tango? SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO LIVE THEIR DREAMS OF BEING GREAT PERFORMERS AT THE MILONGA. The biggest problem is that unfortunately they don't know that they are as they are. Only some information heard over and over again would be able to bring the necessary help because it is not an individual problem; it is a Tango society problem. And there are more red lights of danger flashing: All those people who, probably with their best intentions and also with deep love of what they do, spread these concepts (plus those with not very good intentions do the same), encouraging others to go in that direction as well.
Once again, while dancing a Tango we are sharing a strong feeling with our partner; this has nothing to do with an audience.
(8)
WHAT ABOUT EXPERIENCE
There are many controversial topics in some Tango communities. One of them is 'EXPERIENCE': how do you evaluate it?
In general, I like external examples to develop any topic.
If you want to be a very good swimmer you should choose a 'good' teacher and you should attend his or her classes for either a week, a month, a year or for the rest of your life. It depends on what are you attempting to accomplish. Also, you should do the exercises that the teacher asks you to do. After a month you are likely able to swim enough to begin to enjoy yourself. Probably the next summer you could go with a group of your friends to Acapulco and have a lot of fun or you could go to a private or a public swimming pool and enjoy your skills there. After one year you will have improved even more. And you will continue to enjoy more all of the time because you'll have more knowledge (classes with your teacher) and more experience (by repeating the same things over and over again through the exercises). After this much experience not only are you able to enjoy yourself a lot but those people around you are also having a better time (since at the beginning you have disturbed them because of your lack of knowledge and experience). If you are still focused in this way over a long period of time you'll enjoy the 'swimming paradise'; not only you but your 'swimming family' too. Everybody will be happy!
But if you attend classes for only a few months or sporadically in a discontinuous way (because either of illness, family problems, business, moving to your new house, holidays or whatever could interrupt your routine) ... things will be totally different. You were ‘learning’ swimming for four years but ... WERE YOU?
Also, you could have gone to Acapulco, let’s say twice a year for two months at a time but if you were also scuba diving, wind surfing, and blue merlin fishing how much were you really increasing your experience as a swimmer?
In Tango it's exactly the same. Why should it be different? What's more, in Tango, it's worse because since 'it takes two to Tango' you also need to prove your skills with different partners.
So be careful when you talk about someone with ‘experience’. A student dancing and practicing bad habits for 10 years is not a better dancer than someone who has started in Tango much later but who has chosen and studied with a clear teacher and has practiced that style consistently.
If you are a dairy farmer you have to milk your cow every day. Cows don't understand about Christmas eve or Thanksgiving or 'a long weekend', or a roofing project. THEY ONLY NEED TO BE MILKED every day.
Somebody said, 'After an hour class you should practice for three hours' and I would like to add: in Tango it takes longer because after the three hours of practicing ALONE, we should apply this with our partners. I'm firmly convinced that if somebody were to do that for only three months then that student will become the most experienced person in a huge area. Do you mean that sometimes working hard (or just working) beats ‘experience’? I THINK SO. And one more time ... please, take it personally!
... so, the next question would be:
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HOW DO I IMPROVE IN TANGO?
You already know the answer. Of course: ‘You should work’. And how should I work?: ‘MORE’.
After a class, you should practice ALONE what you learnt. You should practice alone the fundamentals you have learnt, plus the other former fundamentals you have been learning since your first contact with Tango: walking forward, backwards and to the side; doing ‘ochos’ against the wall and ‘giros’ around the chair’ ... not for a long time, but frequently (every day if possible). You will need only 5 minutes per day ... 7 minutes maximum. This is nothing in comparison with the time you take for eating, sleeping, working, watching TV, or driving your car everyday. Mostly because you’ve told me many times that you LOVE TANGO.
After that, either once or twice a week, you could go to a ‘práctica’ and review with a partner, repeating over and over again, all those ‘patterns, figures or movements’ that you have just learnt. It is that simple and also that easy.
People, in general, enjoy attending classes. They particularly like it if the teacher is a ‘new one’ or if it’s during a weekend in a beautiful place (as another city by the ocean, for instance). If they have the chance for ‘a private’ during that time ... better, and if at the end there’s a GALA, with performers ... it couldn’t be better. And if during this weekend you met somebody ... ’you know what I mean’?: THEN YOU HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.
Even dancing every month, every week, or every day you will not really improve in your dance. You will have lots of fun, but you will not Improve. You will dance probably more relaxed, but you will not really improve. You will TALK a lot about Tango, but you will not REALLY improve.
Vasiliev, Nureiev, Barishnicoff, Nijinski, Placido Domingo, Ralph Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Fred Astaire never performed every day, every week or even every month, but they practiced every day.
I don’t know why in Tango people, in general, are looking for a ’miracle’. They prefer to change teachers than change themselves when they realize they haven’t reached their goal. It's about attitude and motivation. The problem isn't ‘out there’. You have to be sure and find in yourself what you like, what you want, what you need. If you get involved in Tango because you are lonely, it's fine; if you get involved in Tango because you are looking for a lover, that's fine; and if you get involved because you think you love tango because of a movie you just saw or because of your friends inspiring you, that's fine too. And also, if you go because of any of those reasons plus you love tango, that's OK too. But it's not fine if you go thinking and saying you are there because you LOVE tango but underneath you are really there for all of the above reasons but you are not wiling to acknowledge that. In this case you are not being honest with yourself. You believe you LOVE Tango but you are really there because you are looking for solutions to the problems in your life.
IT’S MORE A MATTER OF STUDENTS THAN A MATTER OF TEACHERS.
Everybody remembers Newton, Einstein, McEnroe or Shakespeare, but nobody remembers their teachers. Fred Astaire was rejected for the better known dance teachers in USA when he wanted to begin to dance but after A VERY HARD effort on his part he became the most popular dancer in the whole history and all over the world.
‘A good dancer will practice until he gets it right. A great dancer will practice until he can never get it wrong’.
(10)
AND WHAT ABOUT MUSIC
There exists only 'good music'. If it's not good ... it's not music: it is a noise. But some music that it is not exactly your favorite one, could be the best choice for another person. Whether you like it or not it will always be good music. Examples are: Mozart, Piazzolla, Gershwin, Ravel, Troilo, Beethoven, Ray Charles, etc. They were excellent composers and musicians in spite of your preference.
On the other hand, getting more to our point, you can dance using 'Tango tools' to Mozart, Piazzolla, Gershwin, Ravel, Troilo, Beethoven and Ray Charles ... but you ought not to. In the same way you ought not to dance 'El lago de los cisnes' dressed as an Astronaut. Or as a cowboy it is not proper to dance to 'Aida' using Tango skills or movements even if you are able to do that. First of all, you are not dressed matching the music and secondly because it would be a lack of respect for the Tango culture. Of course, and on purpose, these are extreme examples, but valid ones.
There are more than 1,850 versions of just 'La Cumparsita'. And it is only one song (the most popular; but only one). La Morocha, El Choclo, El Ingeniero, El Entrerriano, Nostalgias, Remembranzas and many more like them have probably only a bit fewer versions and played by Pugliese, Tanturi, Troilo, Di Sarli, D' Arienzo, Lomuto, De Angelis, D'Agostino, Sassone, Caló, Demare, Biaggi, Tìpica Victor, Rodriguez, Canaro, Mafia, Mores, Arenas, Laurenz, F.Donato, E. Donato, De Caro, Rotundo, Fresedo, Firpo, Los Virtuosos, Baso, Gobbi, Varela, Ortiz, Quinteto Pirincho, Montes-Arias, Petrucelli, Puglisi, Rodio, Maderna, Pollero, Balcarce, etc. You could appreciate that I haven't mentioned either Carlos Gardel, our most representative Tango figure in the world from 'The Old Guard', nor Astor Piazzolla, another Tango emblematic figure, nor Horacio Salgán, probably the most talented Tango piano player that has ever existed. The three of them are on a 'pedestal' for us and for the rest of the people in the world ('tangueros' or not) who love music. For us they are in the same category as musicians who are the most recognized musicians in the whole history. But their music is NOT for dancing. Each one of them on different occasions when asked the same question have given the same answer: 'I DON'T PLAY (for Gardel, sing) FOR DANCERS'. So why the hell do so many people insist in dancing Tangos by Piazzolla, Gardel or Salgán. AT LEAST THEY SHOULD RESPECT THE MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THESE GENIUSES over their own knowledge. To not do so is simply either ignorance or possibly instead an expression of arrogance since it appears that their opinion is more important than Salgan, Gardel, or Piazzolla’s opinions.
So far, you have more than 35 orchestras from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's plus the more recent ones. All of them have instrumental songs as well as those with singers. And sometimes with 3, 4 or more different singers and at a different period (in the late 30's, during the 40's and into the 60's (for example, D'Arienzo). You have at least so far 35 (Orchestras) x 100 (songs -minimum each) makes 3500 (number of songs) plus those like D'Arienzo who recorded during two, three or more different periods. This makes not less than 10,000 different songs. If each song lasts for 3 minutes it makes 30,000 minutes of songs in a row. But because there is generally 1 or 2 minutes between songs you should add about 15,000 more minutes ... plus the time that an excellent DJ spends to change CDs. In this way you could enjoy different Tango music for hours and hours and hours if you want and if you are patient enough.
We regularly are at ‘Milongas’ for two or three hours and during this time we only are able to hear around 50 songs. If we were there twice a week, it makes 100 songs per week .... 400 songs per month ... 4800 songs per year (12 months: no rest). This way we will need more than two years going to a dance twice a week to be able to listen to the same song from the same orchestra and from the same period of time.
If Tango is still alive after more than 150 years of existence, it is thanks to it’s roots ... and thanks to those people who were respectful with it’s traditions and those roots.
Schopenhauer made a comment that ‘Fashion produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time’. And that is the reason things go out of fashion. We have to be very careful and we should gather information when it comes to making a choice. Since Tango represents for many people an interesting business, they will never stop and 'fashion' always sells. So through advertisements they try to show 'new' stars to sell more and more and of course most of the time they get some results. But sooner or later we realize that we haven't made a good choice. We only 'have been sold a bill of goods'. Probably many people didn't remember Cáceres anymore after only a few years, but they didn't forget Di Sarli or Troilo. Di Sarli, Troilo and all the other 35 in the list above represent THE TANGO ROOTS.
(11)
WHY TANDAS AND CORTINAS
As a dancer I have some preferences. For me, some orchestras are easier to dance with than others. And I can also dance better with certain partners with some rhythms and some orchestras too. So if I listen to D'Arienzo in his late 30's since it is (for my feeling) so 'square' and fast, if I can, I will invite to dance a certain kind of partner and I know I will be comfortable during those few songs dancing this way. But if after one song a Tango by Pugliese is put on instead, I'm sure I will not be comfortable (no matter that Pugliese is one of my favorite orchestras). If I go to the Opera I want to know the program in advance. And it is the same for Milongas.
Because Tango is fundamentally a social dance and if those songs are played in 'tandas' we will know in advance what we would like to do. And then during the 'tanda', we have the possibility either of dancing, resting, socializing, having a drink or simply finding another partner. And for men and for ladies it's the same. Each has the same rights at the end of a ‘tanda’, the same possibilities of saying 'Thank you' to our partner.
Again, if I am not very keen on a particular type of orchestra I will do something instead of dancing and I will know that it will be for three or four songs. It gives me the option to choose, to decide in that moment what I would like to do.
‘Cortinas’ are very useful to let dancers recognize the end of a 'tanda' and the beginning of the next one. In our most traditional milongas in Argentina we use this system. We also put a ‘tanda’ either of Traditional Jazz, Brazilian music, Caribbean music, our own folk music or Rock and Roll at least twice during the evening. Tango is a big commitment and the whole group needs to relax at a certain time .
(12)
BEHAVIOUR AT MILONGAS
The way we should conduct ourselves at Milongas is no different than the way we should conduct ourselves outside of Milongas.
From a personal point of view: we must have solidarity.
Everyone feels in similar ways. We experience enjoyment or suffering from the same kind of things. For example, a tooth ache is the same for the fair, dark, tall, short, young, old, European, Asian, fat, skinny, the Queen of England, and all of her lowest subjects.
People who attend Milongas go mainly to dance. But not only to dance ... we also want to feel comfortable and to enjoy the dance. This is possible if we don't have to struggle with our various partners. In order to feel better with our dancing partner we have to always want to improve the way we dance. If we improve our dancing, we increase our capacity to feel more pleasure and we also have more capacity to give more pleasure to our partners. So, it is not a matter of knowing how to do more things ... but, how to do better what we do know. It's not enough to feel pleasure ourselves. It's necessary to give pleasure to our partners as well. If the pleasure is only mine, it is not enough.
From the social point of view: we must have solidarity.
In this, we are facing an important dilemma. The smaller the tango population, the more 'effort' required from each one of the members of that community. Generally, in Practicas and Milongas, there are more ladies than men. Suppose there are 20 ladies and 10 men. Each man 'should' dance with at least 2 ladies during the evening. If there were 5 men then each of them should dance with at least 4 ladies. It doesn't have to be so mathematical ... the numbers are just to be more clear. Most of the time men actually go beyond this proportion. At that point, all of the ladies who have already danced with these men who did their share (or more) need to be grateful whether he danced well or not ... at least from the social point of view. The rest of the ladies, whether they danced or not with these good intentioned men should be grateful with them as well! This hardly ever happens.
There are several reasons why ladies should not ask men to dance. First, there are usually more ladies than men. If there are twice the number of ladies and they all asked men to dance, then the men would never get a chance to sit down nor would they have time to go to the restroom, stop for a drink etc. Secondly, socially speaking, a lady could say 'no' and it is accepted but if a man says no they are considered rude. And thirdly, there are no social dances, traditionally, in which ladies invite men to dance.
From the couple point of view: we must have solidarity.
Couples are the essence and essential to tango. Tango was born to be danced by a couple, who have a strong pull to be in an embrace while enjoying and dancing to the music. This is very clear but frequently brings some difficulties. Couples attending a Practica or Milonga must also have a focus of solidarity. It is necessary to repeat the same concept ... men should try to dance with a reasonable number of ladies (this is their obligation) and ladies (whether they dance or not) should feel grateful for this behaviour in men. Nothing is absolute, but men should invite more of those ladies who are not with a regular partner, instead of ladies who came with a man. These men are then also giving the men who came in a couple the opportunity to dance with their own partners.
As you see, each of these situations is about solidarity, having concern for the group, being aware of supporting the whole. Another external example would be: If a man arrives with a bottle of wine this should be shared since it is a social situation. Similarly, a single lady occasionally should also arrive with a bottle of wine. In that way, also, she should arrive at a Milonga with a man. In other words, all those women who regularly enjoy the partner of other ladies should make more effort (at least once in awhile) to bring a new man, whether he is a good dancer or not, but at least a man. So, when that lady is dancing, the man she brought can be entertaining and socializing with another lady. Ladies who never invite men to go along with them to a Milonga are only thinking about themselves and not the whole situation. Women need to bring men, at least occasionally.
Moral:
In each one of the descriptions above there is a common denominator ... tolerance and solidarity.
Unfortunately, these two social virtues are not the first seeds to appear, not the most popular ways of being in these post modern times.
(13)
TANGO SHOES
What is a pair of Tango shoes? Are they 'special' and or different from the rest of our shoes?
Buenos Aires is a city with a range of temperatures between 1ª C as one of the lowest temperatures during winter and 36ªC as probably the highest temperature during the summer time. Weather is humid but not rainy and it never snows. As a city it is closer to either Toronto, New York or Paris than to Yellowknife or Campbell River. So it seems like everything is going on there at the same time and all of the time as happens in most big cities; the world of business, sciences, the Central Government, the Central Military Forces, the head of different churches and the Embassies of all the countries of the world are placed there. So many people dress properly for that and 'push' the rest of the people to be dressed the same way.
Traditionally 'tangueros' would go to the Milongas 'well dressed'. It meant, for the men, with a full suit or a two piece outfit, a shirt with a tie (always with a tie) and leather shoes. But with the same leather shoes they would go to the church, to a wedding or to the theatre and not with a very 'fancy special one'. Remember we are in Buenos Aires, not in Hollywood or on a television set. If you believe your shoes are not proper to be used at an elegant wedding party or to go to a gala at The Metropolitan or to be received in The Vatican by the Pope, your shoes are not Tango shoes. They don't have to be 'different' they have to be elegant (as Tango is).
And in speaking once again about ‘elegance’ something more needs to be said about the dress code. How can a ‘tanguero’ look elegant wearing an oversized T-shirt that is not tucked in? And what about wearing hats while dancing? Isn’t the polite action to remove your hat when you enter a room? It’s bad enough to leave it on .... but to dance with it on? Again, people have been watching too many movies. In the traditional Tango salons of Buenos Aires you NEVER see ‘tangueros’ wearing hats while dancing. This is for Hollywood or perhaps Carnival.
(14)
TEACHERS
A) - When the trunk of a tree is quite bent, it is because in the early stages of it’s growth it wasn’t well staked. What can we do then? NOTHING or perhaps just feel regret about this situation. It's similar for people. The best food for a baby is mother’s milk. The most distinguished chefs, cooks, nutritionists and scientific professionals cannot create or prepare anything better. The food we receive during our first period of life is the foundation that determines our future.
B) - It is said that an important part of our life as human beings is to leave a legacy ... since it is a way of continuing our presence after passing away. It's also said that the most regular way of doing this is : 1- having a child; 2- planting a tree; 3- writing a book.
But there exists many other ways of leaving a legacy ... one of them is: TEACHING something.
C) - In former titles or items mentioned above I said that there are many people in Tango communities who try 'TO HELP'. One way to help is being on the executive of a board, sweeping the dance floor, preparing the room for a Milonga (tables, chairs, flowers, lighting, carrying the music, cooking something for the community, etc.)
D) - Inside each one of the tangueros exist: 1- A PERFORMER and 2- A TEACHER. We can see at the Milongas this phenomenon all the time.
Generally, when 'new teachers are born' they take aim at the base of the pyramid ... the beginners. This is often not the best decision ... and possibly a serious mistake. If you want to teach: this is a legal and noble feeling (because of B, C and D). Go ahead! But begin teaching either professionals or advanced students, but not beginners ... please!
If you believe you are not prepared to teach advanced students YOU SHOULD NOT teach ... because of (A).
In Japan for instance, a cook is not allowed to prepare 'sushi' alone before studying this art form with a master Sushi Chef for at least ten years. Similar rules apply to tea ceremonies, martial arts, flower arrangements, pottery etc. There is a reason for this tradition and for the same reason those arts are still alive after thousands of years.
'Somebody has to teach', 'I love Tango', 'I need to do something for a living', 'I don’t have a job', 'I WANT TO HELP' are not good enough reasons to start teaching. You need to answer the question: 'Do you want to help yourself or do you want to help others?' And be honest with yourself.
So, who should teach then? Answer: The one who if he doesn't teach would die but if he does teach doesn't kill (at least doesn't damage others).
I know that with these words, more than stepping on some toes, I am walking on lots of them. But ... was it my fault?
(15)
TANGO COMMUNITY
We should grow up together in Tango. Tango has had a gregarious spirit from the beginning. Individualism is not part of Tango; it's just part of the mercantilism of post-modernism and Tango is former to this era. Tango is modern.
Probably individualism is the most clear characteristic of post-modernism and if we are totally convinced that 'It takes two to Tango', individualism, at least in Tango, is a fallacy. But it's not only a fallacious argument because of that, it's also because of this gregarious spirit we talk about above.
The human spirit is gregarious. That's why from the beginning of times people gathered in villages, towns, cities, etc. Even within such a social way of living, during the whole of history, various organizations were developed, such as 'boy scouts, 'fishing associations', 'Elvis Presley fan clubs', etc. And also from the beginning of time people gathered in the 'mother' of the societies: 'THE FAMILY'.
Tango is a family. But if we have a weak idea or experience of family, we probably will have also a weak idea about the 'feeling' of being part of any organization.
If love is the most characteristic feeling in a family then love must be the most characteristic feeling in a Tango family. Unfortunately because of fucking individualism, it's not always like that.
We should agree first: what love means as a feeling. LOVE IS GIVING (to love is to give). And we could add, 'Love is to give without waiting for anything in return'. Life would be perfect this way. At least we should offer what we would like to receive ... even being selfish like that is not so bad.
Music, experience, knowledge etc. should always be shared. We should be always open to give ... but be careful ... WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE OPEN TO RECEIVE.
I love the saying: 'You can take the horse to the river ...'
Love
Miguel
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