Back to Tango!

It was back in 2010, in our trip to Argentina, when we fell in love with tango. Not late after that, , back in Germany, we started attending tango classes, which, as a matter of fact, is a very worshiped dance in that country. Dancing tango was one of those weekly activities that refilled us with energy after work, making us forget everything else for 2 hours. 

Since we moved, however, we haven't found any place near us that offer tango lessons, of course it is easier to choose other more popular dances, like salsa, but I think that once you get into something, it is difficult to settle down with another option different than what you really know you like. But a couple of weeks ago we found that there is an Argentine tango club at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor Honestly, it is not really close by (it takes about 40 minutes with no traffic), but in American distance, it is OK to do this several times per week. That is how we went back to tango, reviving the same feelings we left behind, and relearning the same skills we forgot ;) I would like to summarize the history of tango, how it started and how it comes to us nowadays.

The tango dance has evolved extremely from is beginning to the current style. While it is widely accepted that the tango dance has its starting point in Argentina, there are several theories for the origin of the word tango itself. The most accepted theory is that the word has African root: after the colonization of Argentina by the Spaniards in the 16th century, millions of African slaves were imported, most of them from Eastern and Equatorial regions called Bantu. These slaves used the word tango for the drum they used in their dance, as well as for the place where they danced. Later, in Spanish speaking Latin America, the word tango slowly came to be applied to black dances in general - and eventually to the modern tango. Tango music also has a lot of influences from the European countries entering the Argentinian region, and the dance is a derivation of the Cuban Habanera. A unique mixture of cultures and sounds united in one place, there is nothing like it.

The first records of tango songs were recorded around 1900. In 1910 the bandoneon was introduced in Argentina from Germany, and since then it is linked with tango music almost exclusively. In that decade, tango musicans and dancers traveled around Europe and the US, however it was considered shocking by a big part of the population, due to the body contact. As the dance was slowly getting the acceptance of the upper and middle class around the worls, in Argentina the high society adopted the previously low-class dance as their own symbol. It was in the eraly 20's when musicians like Carlos Gardel became a phenomenon known around the world, leaving numerous pieces of art that still today are played in the milongas, the place where the tango is practiced.

In 1930, the importance of tango started to decline, due to the global crisis, and also many political movements in Argentina. It lost recognition and even remained banned for a long period of time, until 1983, when the Junta in Argentina fell, promoting a rebirth of the tango as a national symbol, with great  national and international success.

From the beginning until now, tango has evolved dramatically, deriving in different styles of music, dance, and public. The most famous style is the Tango de Salon. This style is characterized by a highly improvised technique, where the couples dance around the room (salon) in one direction only. The beat of the Tango the Salon (often called just tango) is 4/4. One of the best orchestras is the one from Francisco Canaro, you can find many beautiful tangos under this link.

Another style is the milonga, which is much faster than the tango beat, it is therefore mainly dance 2/4. Although the steps are mainly the same as in the tango, due to the milonga fast pace, the vast repertoire available to modern tango cannot be reproduced in full in the milonga. For the most famous milongas, please follow the link.

The third important style is the vals. It is the same music pace as the one used in a vals, and although it can be danced with 4/4 beat, it is usually danced 3/4, with accent on the first beat. In the link you can find some of the best vals music to dance. 

I hoped this introduction was helpful for you to understand the origin and styles of the Argentine tango, I know it was useful for me to do the research as well. If you want to get more information, there are a lot of websites in the internet, i will just give the link for the one I mostly used for this entry, it has much more material that what I could write, if you want to take a look click here.

Next weekend is the Memorial weekend, we are flying to Boston for 3 days, and we will post you after we come back with hopefully very nice experiences over there.

Thanks for reading, 

Lita & Andres