The Tangosynthesis Blog

with Graham and Nathalie

Dancing Without Tandas

05 Jul 2019 - by Graham

For those of you not familiar with the traditional tango way of doing things, tandas are groups of tracks played together that share a common rhythmic structure, orchestra, or style. It is usual for people to dance together for the duration of a tanda, then swap partners at the end of the tanda which is signified by a 'cortina' (curtain) of so-called "undanceable" music. This is the way that most traditional milongas are organised and the only way that a lot of tango dancers have ever experienced tango. At milongas that follow the rules of tango to the letter, you are supposed to only dance with someone for one tanda per event or else you may be considered to be a fixed couple, and breaking a tanda in the middle to dance with someone else is out of the question. But there is another way of [read more...]


Posted by: Graham   Permalink: link   Keywords: Neotango  Tandas  

Tangosynthesis is Here!

22 Apr 2018 - by Graham

As most people probably know by now, when I started teaching tango at Jivebeat it was almost entirely by accident. A random decision to give the regulars at Sevenoaks a tango taster class one evening (you can read about that here ) soon became a regular feature, and pretty soon more people were finding us because of the tango than were finding us for modern jive. This was not a problem for us as we love teaching both, but after a few months we started to realise that people were being confused by the name. Tango at Jivebeat...? Is it really tango? Is it "modern jive in a tango style"? How can modern jive and tango be even slightly compatible? We hadn't thought of this, as since we knew what we were doing we just assumed everyone else would as well. Jive and tango are two separate classes [read more...]


Posted by: Graham   Permalink: link   Keywords: Tango  Nuevo  Neotango  

X-Tango - Alternative Milonga

12 Mar 2018 - by Graham

It has been a long while coming, but we have finally announced our first X-Tango Alternative Milonga, and it's going to be on the 23rd March 2018 in Sevenoaks, in place of our usual weekly class. But what do we mean by X-Tango ? What is the difference between that and regular Argentine Tango? And why are we calling the milonga alternative ? The Argentine Tango we dance and teach at Jivebeat is the same Argentine Tango that you will find anywhere else. Yes, if you come to our class you may find that we put the emphasis in different places to where you might expect, and just like everyone else who teaches tango we have developed our own teaching style. But the dance itself is the same dance you will learn in Buenos Aires, Brighton, Bromley, or Bangalore, no matter how traditional or nuevo (modern) your class [read more...]


Posted by: Graham   Permalink: link   Keywords: Tango  Nuevo  Neotango  X-Tango    

Tango - A Dance Without Steps.

24 Oct 2017 - by Graham

Whenever you think about dance, you think of footwork. There are basic steps that define the character of every type of dance, from the simple “step back, then in” of LeRoc, to the “forward, side, together” of waltz or the “one, two, three-and-four” of latin. The steps are the first stage in learning a new dance. You begin by learning the timing and how to position your feet in the correct places, then when you’ve got the hang of that you start to concentrate on where to put your body to improve balance, posture, and styling and make the dance begin to flow. But Argentine Tango doesn’t have any of that. It is that strangest of things, a dance without steps. When you first start to learn the tango the temptation is to follow the steps that the teacher is doing and try to copy the way his or [read more...]


Posted by: Graham   Permalink: link   Keywords: Argentine Tango  Nuevo  Neotango  

Argentine Tango... Traditional or Modern?

23 Aug 2017 - by Graham

Argentine Tango is a dance that is steeped in tradition. From the music played by the great tango orchestras of the 1930s-1950s to the style and conventions of the social dance evenings (or 'milongas'), the argentine tango dance scene remains deeply connected to its roots in south America, and for some dancers this environment is as much a part of the dance as are the embrace and the steps. For these dancers, tango and its music cannot be separated; to dance one is to love the other and tango without the tradition is not really tango at all. This environment is often the first introduction that people get to the unique and evocative dance of Argentine Tango, and the 'other worldly' atmosphere created by the music and traditional tango culture is what encourages them to stick around. "Golden Age" music is used in the classes, and teachers can trace their [read more...]


Posted by: Graham   Permalink: link   Keywords: Argentine Tango  Nuevo  Neotango  

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All Articles

09-12-24 : Dissociation

05-12-24 : Music For Tango

25-11-24 : Your Input Please!

12-11-24 : Class Reminder Videos

25-10-24 : Remembering Fred

25-10-24 : Subscribe to our Diary

22-10-24 : Beginners' Workshop

15-10-24 : A Conversation about Tango

11-10-24 : Traditional or Nuevo

04-10-24 : Tango Terminology

27-09-24 : The Tango Walk

20-09-24 : Leading and Following

04-09-24 : Back from Summer - Important Information

18-05-24 : Private Classes

06-05-24 : X/Tango - Alternative and Neotango

05-05-24 : A long time ago in a venue far far away...

03-04-24 : X/Tango is Back!!!

13-12-23 : Merry Christmas!

01-11-23 : What is tango?

19-06-22 : Is Tango its own worst enemy?

19-01-22 : Social Dancing... not Social D[ist]ancing

30-12-19 : Happy Neo Year!

21-10-19 : What do you dance at a milonga?

19-09-19 : Three Years of Teaching Dance

05-07-19 : Dancing Without Tandas

19-06-19 : Tango with Bounce

27-01-19 : I'll never be as good as them!

31-12-18 : Happy Neo Year!

11-12-18 : I'm not good enough to go to a milonga...

22-10-18 : Tango - The First Steps

31-05-18 : England International Tango Festival 2018

21-05-18 : It's Only Music

01-05-18 : When You Start to Learn Tango

22-04-18 : Tangosynthesis is Here!

12-03-18 : X-Tango - Alternative Milonga

19-02-18 : Why is Tango So Hard?

05-11-17 : What Makes a Tango Teacher

02-11-17 : The Accidental Tango Teacher

24-10-17 : Tango - A Dance Without Steps.

27-09-17 : Our First Birthday

23-08-17 : Argentine Tango... Traditional or Modern?

28-06-17 : I will never be that good!

15-05-17 : Tango at Jivebeat

 


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