What is Tango?

Argentine Tango - or just 'Tango' to those who dance it - is a dance with more than a century of history spanning several continents. It first appeared in recognisable form in the River Plate area of Argentina and Uruguay, primarily in the cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, in the earliest years of the twentieth century, but its influences came from all over the world. South American rhythms merged with African dances and European styling until the dance we know today began to emerge in the hearts of the two cities. The popular music of the time had several distinct rhythmic structures, and tango adopted them all. Some of these have fallen out of fashion, but even today we see several styles that all fall under the same umbrella. Tango is the name that covers all of them, but the tango style itself is also the slower and more flowing of the set. Then there is milonga (confusingly this is also the name given to a tango social dance event) which uses the same steps as tango but faster and more compact. Finally there is Vals (or 'waltz'), a version of tango adapted to the 3/4 time signature of European waltz music.

A Technical Description

Tango is a partner dance between a leader and a follower that is often described as being 'improvised' in such a way that no two dances are ever quite the same. What this means in practice is that there are no set routines to learn, no steps that have to be performed one after another every time, and that you have the freedom to interpret the music in whatever way fits your skill level, the space where you are dancing, or whatever you feel like on the day.

Whilst it might be improvised and free-form, that does not mean that there are no rules. Tango is a well defined dance consisting of actions and reactions expressed through a well-formed lead and the response from the follower to the signals being received.

Improvised

Whilst many things in tango are given names, such as barrida (sweep), giro (turn), gancho (hook), and ocho (figure-8), they are not really 'steps' as used in other dance styles. In most ballroom dances and most club or social dances, steps are atomic units that you perform in a sequence. You can decide the sequence 'on the fly' or by choreography, but either way the steps are performed one after another, with named action following named action and so on until the music ends.

In tango however, whilst various moves are given names, this is more for convenience when teaching than anything else. The names describe the action being performed, rather than the step, so for example a 'gancho' might refer to the follower's leg hooking round the leader's leg, but it might equally refer to the leader's leg hooking around the follower's leg, both partners hooking around each other's legs, hooking a leg around your own leg, or even in extreme stage-tango cases a leg hooking around your partner's body! These moves all look completely different but are all called 'gancho'. So why do we bother?

The names refer to the techniques being used rather than being a unique identifier for that particular step. They describe the action in general terms, but it is up to the leader and follower to decide in the moment what form the action will take.

A simple dance?

So does this mean that tango is a simple dance? If there are no steps to learn then surely it must be easier than learning one with countless named steps that must be remembered and executed perfectly?

I think of tango as being 'simple' in the same way that being good at darts or playing the piano is 'simple'. With darts you simply pick up a dart and throw it into the right place on a board a short distance in front of you. Playing the piano is even easier, as someone else has written down all the notes on a sheet of paper for you, so all you have to do is hit the keys in the right order and you are there. Both 'simple' tasks, but neither of them are 'easy' and neither is tango. You can grasp the basics very quickly and you will soon be dancing something that looks quite a lot like tango, but if you want to get good at it and expand your repertoire then you will have to put in the hours.

And I have to say that the results are worth it!

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