The Argentine tango is like a big, open arts fair that accepts and encourages waves of new ideas.
Tango, the offspring of folk dances and international musical traditions, regenerates itself with each passing decade. New steps and alternative musical options are added continually.
The Argentine tango is danced in multiple styles. Each style has recognized masters, yet no master dances like any of the others. The Argentine tango is a fertile and powerful framework for individual expression.
Tango exists in the hearts and minds of the people who practice it, who cherish it. As the tango community grows and evolves, the tango evolves along with us. It's not constrained by arbitrary definitions or an approved syllabus of movements.
What Tango Is Not
Despite the open architecture of Argentine tango, the tango doesn't include everything. It's easy to find examples of things that are NOT tango. Salsa isn't tango. Samba isn't tango. Swing isn't tango (although I have seen an intriguing combination of the two called Swango).
The Tango Identity
Because there is no formal syllabus for tango, it's difficult to establish a clear method of determining whether a dance is or is not a tango. We tend to rely on impressions, and impressions are influenced by our individual experiences.
There are videos of beautiful tango performances on the Internet with viewer comments claiming that it's not tango at all. The viewer has an idea of what constitutes a tango. If the performance doesn't match their definition of tango, they reject it as a fraud.
Essential Elements
The Argentine tango contains certain essential elements. When these elements aren't present, the "it's not a tango" assessment becomes more compelling.
The first essential element is a communicative embrace, an embrace that enables improvised movement by a pair of dancers through the mechanisms of leading and following. Tango is not always improvised. Tango performances are often choreographed. But good choreography still uses leading and following to drive the movements of the dancers. It looks as though it's being improvised even of it isn't.
The second essential element is a free and flexible interpretation of musical mood and timing. Most ballroom and folk dances are based on immutable rhythmic patterns. Salsa's repeating quick-quick-slow rhythmic pattern is a good example.
The timing of movements in Argentine tango is open to interpretation. Wide open! We can move on the beat, pause for a beat (or several beats), move on a subdivision of a beat, step quickly through one phrase and slowly through the next. Improvisation in Argentine tango is not limited to the step patterns that we create. We can improvise our musical interpretation of those steps as well.
Compelling Evidence
There are moments, special moments, when the identity of tango reveals itself in dramatic fashion. We see a couple dancing - or we engage in a dance ourselves - where the essential elements are so clearly exemplified that our minds exclaim, "That's it! That's tango! Right there!"
It doesn't matter whether the movements are complex or simple. It doesn't matter whether the dancers are perfect or whether they "make mistakes" along the way. Improvisation is a conversation; conversations have misunderstandings that require clarification occasionally.
I witnessed a couple dancing like this recently. They were so connected and in tune with each other. They improvised so thoughtfully and tenderly. I had to stop and watch them. I couldn't walk away. I couldn't think about anything else except that one thought that persisted through those moments: "This is tango. This is it. This is the culmination of everything for which we work and practice."
In these moments, we recognize the true meaning of Argentine tango.
¡Buena suerte, amigos, y muchas gracias!
¡Buena suerte, amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel
Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog
All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment