Tango (dance)

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Tango
Stylistic origins: Habanera,African, Milonga, Polca
Cultural origins: 1850s-1880s urban Argentina and Uruguay
Typical instruments: Bandoneón, piano, guitar, violin, double bass, human voice and more
Mainstream popularity: Rioplatense working class urban areas until the 1910s; upper and middle class cosmopolitan urban areas thereafter
Derivative forms: Canyenge, Maxixe, Tango Waltz
Subgenres
Finnish tango, Ballroom Tango, Tango Fantasia, Tango Nuevo, Tango Argentino, Tango Oriental, Tango Liso, Tango Salon, Tango Orillero, Tango Milonguero
Fusion genres
Alternative tango, Tango Electronico
Other topics
Tango music
Image:TangoCouple.jpg
A couple dances Argentine Tango.
Photo by Raphael Koerich.

Tango is a musical genre and its associated dance forms that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay and spread to the rest of the world soon after that.

Early tango was known as tango criollo, or simply tango. Today, there are many tango dance styles, including Argentine Tango, Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom tango (American and International styles), Finnish tango and vintage tangos. What many consider to be the authentic tango is that closest to that originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay, though other types of tango have developed into mature dances in their own right.

Music and dance elements of tango are popular in activities related to dancing, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming, etc., because of its dramatic feeling and its cultural associations with romance and love.

Contents

History

Main article: History of Tango
Image:TangoPostcard1920.jpg
Tango postcard, c. 1919

The exact origins of tango—both the dance and the word itself—are lost in myth and an unrecorded history. The generally accepted theory is that in the mid-1800s, African slaves were brought to Argentina and began to influence the local culture. The word "tango" may be straightforwardly African in origin, meaning "closed place" or "reserved ground." Or it may derive from Portuguese (and from the Latin verb tanguere, to touch) and was picked up by Africans on the slave ships. Whatever its origin, the word "tango" acquired the standard meaning of the place where African slaves and free blacks gathered to dance.

Argentina was undergoing a massive immigration during the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s. In 1869, Buenos Aires had a population of 180,000. By 1914, its population was 1.5 million. The intermixing of African, Spanish, Italian, British, Polish, Russian and native-born Argentines resulted in a melting pot of cultures, and each borrowed dance and music from one another. Traditional polkas, waltzes and mazurkas were mixed with the popular habanera from Cuba and the candombe rhythms from Africa.

Most immigrants were single men hoping to earn their fortunes in this newly expanding country. They were typically poor and desperate, hoping to make enough money to return to Europe or bring their families to Argentina. The evolution of tango reflects their profound sense of loss and longing for the people and places they left behind.

Most likely the tango was born in Afro-Argentine dance venues attended by compadritos, young men, mostly native born and poor, who liked to dress in slouch hats, loosely tied neckerchiefs and high-heeled boots with knives tucked casually into their belts. The compadritos took the tango back to the Corrales Viejos—the slaughterhouse district of Buenos Aires—and introduced it in various low-life establishments where dancing took place: bars, dance halls and brothels. It was here that the African rhythms met the Argentine milonga music (a fast-paced polka) and soon new steps were invented and took hold.

Tango styles

Image:Tango-Show-Buenos-Aires-01.jpg
Tango Show in Buenos Aires

Tango consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions and eras of Argentina and Uruguay as well as in other locations around the world. The dance developed in response to many cultural elements, such as the crowding of the venue and even the fashions in clothing. The styles are mostly danced in either open embrace, where lead and follow connect at arms length, or close embrace, where the lead and follow connect chest-to-chest...

Different styles of Tango are:

  • Tango Argentino
  • Tango Oriental (uruguayo)
  • Tango Canyengue
  • Tango Liso
  • Tango Salon
  • Tango Orillero
  • Tango Milonguero (Tango Apilado)
  • Tango Nuevo
  • Show Tango (also known as Fantasia)
  • Ballroom Tango
  • Finnish Tango

These are danced to several types of music:

  • Tango
  • Vals (the tango version of waltz)
  • Milonga (a related dance that usually has a faster tempo)
  • Tango Electronico
  • "Alternative Tango," i.e. non-tango music appropriated for use in the dance

The "milonguero" style is characterized by a very close embrace, small steps, and syncopated rhythmic footwork. It is based on the petitero or caquero style of the crowded downtown clubs of the '50s.

In contrast, the tango that originated in the family clubs of the suburban neighborhoods (Villa Urquiza/Devoto/Avellaneda etc.) emphasizes long elegant steps, and complex figures. In this case the embrace may be allowed to open briefly, to permit execution of the complicated footwork.

The complex figures of this style became the basis for a theatrical performance style of Tango seen in the touring stage shows. For stage purposes, the embrace is often very open, and the complex footwork is augmented with gymnastic lifts, kicks, and drops.

A newer style sometimes called "Tango Nuevo" has been popularized in recent years by a younger generation of dancers. The embrace is often quite open and very elastic, permitting the leader to lead a large variety of very complex figures. This style is often associated with those who enjoy dancing to jazz- and techno-tinged "alternative Tango" music, in addition to traditional Tango compositions.

Ballroom tango

Main article: Tango (ballroom)
Image:TangoLesson4.jpg
Ballroom tango illustration, 1914.

Ballroom tango, divided in recent decades into the "International" (English) and "European" styles, has descended from the tango styles that developed when the tango first went abroad to Europe and North America. The dance was simplified, adapted to the preferences of conventional ballroom dancers, and incorporated into the repertoire used in International Ballroom dance competitions. English Tango was first codified in October 1922, when it was proposed that it should only be danced to modern tunes, ideally at 30 bars per minute (i.e. 120 beats per minute - assuming a 4/4 measure).

Subsequently the English Tango evolved mainly as a highly competitive dance, while the American Tango evolved as an unjudged social dance with an emphasis on leading and following skills. This has led to some principal distinctions in basic technique and style. Nevertheless there are quite a few competitions held in the American style, and of course mutual borrowing of technique and dance patterns happens all the time.

Ballroom tangos use different music and styling from Argentine tangos, with more staccato movements and the characteristic "head snaps". The head snaps are totally foreign to Argentine and Uruguayan tango, and were introduced in 1934 under the influence of a similar movement in the legs and feet of the Argentine tango, and the theatrical movements of the pasodoble. This style became very popular in Germany and was soon introduced to England, one of the first proponents being Mr Camp. The movements were very popular with spectators, but not with competition judges (Source: PJS Richardson, History of English Ballroom Dancing, Herbert Jenkins 1946, page 101-102)

Finnish tango

Main article: Finnish tango

The tango spread from the dominant urban dance form to become hugely popular across Finland in the 50's after the wars. The melancholy tone of the music reflects the themes of Finnish folk poetry; Finnish tango is almost always in a minor key.

The tango is danced in very close full upper body contact in a wide and strong frame, and features smooth horizontal movements that are very strong and determined. Dancers are very low, allowing long steps without any up and down movement. Forward steps land heel first, and in backward steps dancers push from the heel. In basic steps, the passing leg moves quickly to rest for a moment close to the grounded leg.

Each year the Tangomarkkinat, or tango festival, draws over 100,000 tangophiles to the central Finnish town of Seinäjoki, which also hosts the Tango Museum.

Tango Nuevo

In the late 1990s a new style of tango dancing began appearing worldwide. Tango Nuevo dance style features an open embrace, fluid partner movements, trading of lead and further regional reinventions of the tango dance. Tango Nuevo is largely fueled by a fusion between tango music and electronica, though the style can be adapted to traditional tango and even non-tango songs. Gotan Project released their first tango fusion album in 2000, quickly following with La Revancha del Tango, released in 2001. Bajofondo Tango Club, a Rioplatense music band consisting of seven musicians from Argentina and Uruguay, released their first album in 2002. Tanghetto's album Emigrante (electrotango) appeared in 2003 and was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2004. These and other electronic tango fusion songs bring an element of revitalization to the tango dance, serving to attract a younger group of dancers.

Technique comparison

Image:Tango contortions.jpg
A choreographed and stylized gancho

Argentine, Uruguayan and Ballroom Tango use very different techniques and vocabularies, to the point where some consider them related in name only. In Argentine tango, the body's center moves first, then the feet reach to support it. In ballroom tango, the body is initially set in motion across the floor through the flexing of the lower joints (hip, knee, ankle) while the feet are delayed, then the feet move quickly to catch the body, resulting in snatching or striking action that reflects the staccato nature of this style's preferred music.

In Argentine tango, the steps are typically more gliding, but can vary widely in timing, speed, and character, and follow no single specific rhythm. Because the dance is led and followed at the level of individual steps, these variations can occur from one step to the next. This allows the dancers to vary the dance from moment to moment to match the music (which often has both legato and/or staccato elements) and their mood.

The Argentine Tango's frame, called an abrazo or "embrace," is not rigid, but flexibly adjusts to different steps, and may vary from being quite close, to offset in a "V" frame, to open. The Ballroom Tango's frame is flexible too, but it is always danced in closed position: higher in the elbows, tone in the arms and constant conection through the body.

There is a closed position as in other types of ballroom dance, but it differs significantly between types of tango. In Argentine Tango, the "close embrace" involves continuous contact at the full upper body, but not the legs. In Ballroom tango, the "close embrace" involves close contact from the top of the ribs down to the pelvis or upper thighs. In Argentine Tango, the ball or toe of the foot may be placed first. Alternately, the dancer may take the floor with the entire foot in a cat-like manner. In the International style of Tango, "heel leads" (stepping first onto the heel, then the whole foot) are used for forward steps.

Ballroom tango steps stay close to the floor, while the Argentine Tango includes moves such as the boleo (allowing momentum to carry one's leg into the air) and gancho (hooking one's leg around one's partner's leg or body) in which the feet travel off the ground. Argentine Tango features other vocabulary foreign to ballroom, such as the parada (in which the leader puts his foot against the follower's foot), the arrastre (in which the leader appears to drag or be dragged by the follower's foot), and several kinds of sacada (in which the leader displaces the follower's leg by stepping into her space).

Finnish tango is closer to the Argentine than to Ballroom in its technique and vocabulary. Other regional variations are based on the Argentine style as well.

Other Uses of Tango

Tangolates is a method of conscious, mind-body exercises designed in Buenos Aires by Tamara Di Tella. It is based on certain characteristics of both Tango and Pilates, yet it is different from both. It combines the core stability of Pilates with the concentration, coordination and fluid movement of Tango music. It is unique in that it utilizes a partner method rather than individual exercises and that it incorporates the aerobic or cardio element of music.

Tangolates is usually performed on a specially designed apparatus called T-DITELLA™, but it also may be performed on a mat, or on the Pilates apparatus.

Originally a rehabilitation technique conceived for patients with severe dysfunctions of the nervous system, Tangolates has transcended the hospital environment to become a fashionable workout for healthy people. Today, celebrities and stage professionals like the famous American Ballet Theatre dancer Julio Bocca, and the internationally known musician Sting enjoy performing this new method.

Tamara Di Tella has written two books and many articles concerning the Pilates and the Tangolates methods: Tamara Di Tella Pilates (Lumen Publishing House), Buenos Aires, 2003; and (forthcoming) Tangolates: a Different, Distinctive and Unique Method, Sudamericana/Random House Mondadori, Editors (Buenos Aires, 2008). See also www.clarin.com and www.elpais.com. She publishes widely in newspapers and magazines in Argentina and abroad (See her columns in www.clarin.com/tamaraditella and www.elpais.com) She has also presented her Tangolates method at International and United States Pilates Conventions (California, 2005 and 2006.) (see www.tangolates.com and www.tamaraditella.com).

History and Origins

Tangolates originated in 2004 in a public hospital for patients with motor disorders. Pilates’ exercises were prescribed as part of their treatment at the Tamara Di Tella Pilates Room in the Hospital of the School of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires. In order to help patients with their workouts, each one was coupled with an instructor in partner exercises. Later on, a strong beat rhythm -- Tango -- was introduced to help them initiate movement. Gradually, these routines designed for two and choreographed to Tango music, became Tangolates.

Tangolates Today

In recent years Tangolates has transcended the hospital environment and worked itself into the mainstream as more and more healthy people enjoy performing its new workouts. The music exerts an irresistible attraction. Hollywood has “pushed” Tango in movies starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas, and Tangolates has adopted many of the same movements and choreographies. As a result, Tangolates has been transformed into a fashionable, highly sophisticated method of exercises preferred by Hollywood stars.

Today Tangolates has its own celebrities. The American Ballet Theatre idol Julio Bocca; and the internationally renowned singer, Sting, and his wife, Trudy, have become devotees. [16]

Yet, the science behind it and the fact that it has demonstrated success in both hospital and exercise studios are Tangolates best credentials.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Image:Mural Paez Vilaro.jpg
Mural of Carlos Gardel painted by Uruguayan Carlos Páez Vilaró

For 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Adidas designed a ball and named it Tango[1] likely a tribute to the host country of the event. This design was also used in 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain as Tango Málaga[2], and in 1984 and 1988 European Football Championships in France and West Germany.

Tango in film

Argentine tango is the main subject in these films:

A number of films show ballroom tango in several scenes, such as:

Finnish tango is featured to a greater or lesser extent in the following films:

See also

References


    External links

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