Tango is not only a fascinating dance but also a fascinating philosophy, culture and lifestyle. The search of tango is the search of connection, love, fellowship, unity, harmony and beauty, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us into individuals, but tango unites us into a team, community and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through affinity, altruism, cooperation, and accommodation. It is a dance that teaches the world to love.



January 22, 2016

From Steps to Feelings


How tango is danced in Buenos Aires
Many Europeans and Americans dance tango differently than Argentines. For years I tried to find a video to show how tango is danced in Argentina in order to change people's perception. But I couldn't find a satisfying one because tango videos are mostly shot by people interested only in their own version of tango. The few that reflect the truth are poorly made, often with annoying nonsense. Perhaps even in Buenos Aires most milongas are not up to the standard of tango because foreign visitors are always heavily involved, making it difficult to capture a truly porteno milonga. Only recently I came across this video made by Paul Holman, which I found is representative of a milonga that I can call home.




I like this video not only because of its clarity, lighting, color and cinematography but also because of the producer's unique perspective. Paul Holman understood that tango is about embrace, music and feelings, that steps and footwork are secondary, that milonga codes play a crucial role, and that he needs to capture all the essentials and avoid the misleading trifles to let the viewers understand what a good milonga looks like. I watch this video often lately just to enjoy that soulful scene and remind myself of how one should behave and dance in the milongas.

How tango is danced in Europe and North America
In Europe and North America, people have a quite different perception. Here is how they dance tango in their milongas.




They dance tango not to enjoy music, feeling, intimacy and affinity with another soul, but to display or practice steps. I believe most people know tango is an intimate dance, and they came because they want to taste that apple. But for some hypocritical reasons they used an open dance hold to replace the embrace, kept a distance from each other and focused only on the steps rather than the embrace and feelings.

To be fair, this is not the worst case. One can tell it's a growing tango community. A number of dancers danced in the milonguero style, and some were fair to good dancers. But the majority were novices who didn't know how to embrace and dance. They relied on arms and hands to lead and follow. Many were practicing what they had recently learned. Most were emotionally detached. Few actually danced to music. The milonga codes were poorly complied, as exemplified by using verbal invitation, blocking the traffic, remaining on the dance floor during the cortina, wearing ornaments that would rub the partner's chest, loud background noises and a lot of talking. The music, although traditional, was not very engaging. The whole scene was quite chaotic. Towards the end there were a few better dances. But overall, I don't think this milonga is very attractive and satisfying. Unfortunately, this is a typical tango scene in Europe and North America.

Another common Euro-American tango scene
Common among our young people is another kind of tango scene showing below.




Young people seem need to discharge their youthful energy and prove their ability to do things unconventional. Dancing in open hand hold rather than embrace, they can do fancy steps and showy figures. Some even attained certain degree of skillfulness in what they are doing. Nevertheless, there is no fundamental difference between this kind of tango and other sports dances. Personally I don't see how such way of dancing tango is even enjoyable in comparison to the feeling-oriented milonguero style. I wish there were better reasons why some people insist on doing this when there is clearly a better way, other than they need to release energy, show off, have obstacles, or don't know better. As far as comfort, soulfulness, indulgence and gratification are concerned, there is really no comparison between the two styles.

It may be characteristic for young people to act rebelliously, but being obsessed with the stereotype or wanting to prove that they are different from older people is childish and naive. Older people are once young and rebellious, too. In fact, many milongueros can do Nuevo steps better than most young people. They quit doing that because they become wiser after tried everything that young people with their limited experience cannot even imagine. Most young people learned tango from their peers, who learned from their peers, and they simply don't know another way to dance tango. Once they have tasted the milonguero way, most will renounce theirs and follow suit. (See The Styles of Tango.)

This is how milongueros emerge
Three decades of trial and error since 1983 eventually lead some tango dancers in Europe and North America to move away from exhibitionism and pay more attention to the embrace, music and feelings. As a result, scenes like this start to appear in Europe and North America in recent years.




Their embrace and connection become closer and more intimate. Their dance becomes more feeling-oriented. Their steps become simpler, more musical and elegant. Their milonga becomes better organized. Antisocial behaviors are less seen. While showy footwork still occurs, the embrace still brakes sometimes, the hand use still remains habitual for some, the music selections are still more dramatic than sentimental, the hastiness is still common, the dresses are still too casual, the skill levels are uneven, progress nevertheless is evident in comparison to the previous two scenes. Such transformation certainly would not come without pain given the strong Western tradition of liberalism, individualism, feminism and hippie movement. But the dancers in this example proved that they can change. It is a reassurance that there is still a lot of hope in tango, in humanity, and in our ability to adapt.

How social tango should be danced
It is worth your time to watch Holman's video again and compare it to our own tango. The following is an edited version. This time please pay attention to how the milongueros and milongueras follow the milonga codes from seating, making eye contact, doing cabeceo, dancing to sending the woman back to her seat. If you wonder what kind of steps they use to make their dance so coherent and concordant, you can watch those dancing in the background. But nothing fancy really. Their tango is not about steps. (See The Conceptional Beauty of Tango.)




As you can see, they concentrate entirely on the music and feelings as if steps are irrelevant. Dancing tango for them is enjoying the sentiment and intimacy, not doing gymnastics. They dance with complete relaxation, unhurried pace, subtle movements and tasteful suspensions. Their steps are small and simple, totally void of flaunt, and used only to remain synchronized with the partner in the dance. The beauty of their tango lies in the oneness of the union rather than the performance of the individual. In their tango nothing is ornate, but everything is exquisite and elegant. Even their music selections are more sentimental and intriguing than ours, fitting perfectly to the mood of their dance.

Please also pay attention to the woman. Her ability to remain coherent with the man is amazing. She leans comfortably on him with her breasts intimately press against his chest and her arm hooked around his shoulder. Her eyes are dreamily closed to allow herself to focus inwardly on the feelings stirred by the music and the soft whispers of his body. Her inconspicuous footwork magically keeps her body moving in unison with his no matter how he turns.

To tango is to indulge yourself, not to impress others. On a crowded dance floor who cares about your footwork anyway. The only thing that matters is the intimate feelings you experience. That is why performance tango doesn't make good sense in the milongas. I hope Holman's video will inspire more people to learn the milonguero style of tango and accelerate the transformation of our tango from a step-oriented dance to a feeling-oriented dance. (See Social Tango and Performence Tango.)

P.S.
I received several comments on my video selections and understand a little better now why political correctness has become a necessity in our society. Please be aware that the video clips I selected are used only to illustrate a phenomenon. They are neither intended to reflect nor capable of reflecting the whole picture of any community or event.



January 14, 2016

Women's Walk in Tango


Tango walk is performed by two dancers chest against chest in close embrace. The man walks forward, the woman walks backward, and they must walk with matched posture, alignment, CBM, dissociation, pace and rhythm in perfect coordination, balance, harmony and elegance. Many students do not walk well because they do not have the needed stability, flexibility and techniques. Their postures and habits are not up to the standard of tango. Their legs and feet are not strong enough to maintain balance, and their personal praxes conflict with each other, causing instability and disharmony in their walk.

There are more exercises designed for women than men in tango, just like there are more fashions, shoes, jewelry and cosmetics designed for women than men. Which is not surprising given the significance of beauty to women and the fact that, while the man leads the woman, it's the woman who beautifies the dance. How women walk, therefore, matters more than how men walk in tango. (See The Gender Roles in Tango.)

Muscle development
In order to walk well, you first need to develop muscles that enable your feet to suck the floor and stay very grounded in the walk. Dancing a lot certainly helps. Exercise and workout can also be beneficial. One exercise that I found particularly helpful is demonstrated by Vanessa Gauch in the following video.




When done in slow motion, this exercise can effectively build foot muscles and improve stability and elegance in women's walk. The exercise can be summed up in six steps to help you memorize the sequence: (1) Stand on one leg and stretch the other leg forward. (2) Transfer the weight forward until you stand on the heel of the front foot and the toes of the back foot. (3) Change weight back and forth a few times in that position. (4) Transfer the weight completely to the front leg. (5) Start the next step by swiveling the hips and using the hip to move the leg - this will give women's walk a feminine look. (6) Repeat the sequence with the other leg.

Walk backwards
In tango, women mostly walk backwards, which is hard since that is not how they normally walk. To learn to walk backwards, you almost need to start from toddle. The following video, demonstrated also by Vanessa Gauch, can help you understand how it should be done.




Walk in leaning position
It is important to note that embrace affects walk significantly. Walking in an A-shaped frame is very different from walking in an H-shaped frame. A woman using open dance hold cannot stretch her leg back far enough, because without leaning on her partner it's hard for her to keep balance with just one leg when the other leg must stretch back as far as possible. Here is an example.

The two teachers are competent dancers, I believe, but the H-shaped frame hampered their performance. In comparison, walking in close embrace, or an A-shaped frame, is much more stable, balanced and elegant, as illustrated by Jennifer Bratt and Ney Melo in the following video.




Note that Jennifer leans on Ney with an increased incline. She bends her standing leg slightly and uses a little bit dissociation - turning her hips upwards and downwards to allow the free leg to reach back far. Note also that when her hips are turned, she uses the thumb rather than the toes of the foot to reach the floor. Also note that her leg is swayed by the hip slightly sideways in contrast to the forward walk in which the leg is swayed by the hip towards the center, as demonstrated by Vanessa Gauch in the first video. These all add a feminine touch to her walk.

Hip sway
Experienced tangueras use the hip rather than thigh to move the leg. Here is another example danced by Mariana Montes and Sebastian Arce.




Their style is too exhibitionist to suit the milonga, especially on the leader's part, in my humble opinion, but the opening walk (0:15 - 0:28) is absolutely gorgeous, appropriate in social dancing, and worth watching again and again. The walk is done in close embrace that enables Mariana to outstretch her leg far. Her beautiful hip sway, with a subtle dissociation and very straight leg line, contributes to the unequivocal beauty and elegance of her walk. Note that her leg is also swayed slightly sideways as a result of using the hip to move the leg.

Keeping your own balance is the key to be weightless
As comfortable as it is to lean on your partner, you need to keep yourself light and not put too much weight on him. This means you have to maintain your own balance by slightly bending your standing leg when you stretch back your free leg, as explained by Vanessa and illustrated by Jennifer and Mariana, so that most of your weight is carried by your standing leg rather than on him. This will also allow you to outstretch your free leg farther. Personally, I found that when a woman leans lightly with her chest rather than heavily with her stomach on me, she becomes lighter.

Pushing with your standing leg
You stretch back your free leg until the thumb of the foot touches the floor. At that point you should not just wait there for the man to push you. Rather, you activate yourself by pushing with your standing leg. Failure to do that is the reason why some women are heavy in the walk. Beware not to push yourself so hard that you lose torso contact with your partner. You only push with enough force to make yourself light but remain your leaning position and hence the connection with him.




Walking with straight knees
Walking with bent knees is inelegant, which is a common problem for beginners. Although your standing leg needs to bend a little in order that your free leg can stretch back far, the free leg must remain straight until the weight transfer to that leg is completed. You should not use the thigh to move the leg since that could cause the knee to curve. Rather, you should let the leg follow the hip to sway, and you should let it remain straight as you transfer weight to it. Dancing with straight legs looks more elegant.

Alignment
When walk backwards in parallel system, the free leg should move in line with the hip and not cross over the standing leg, otherwise it will cause a distorted line. Even walk in cross system, using crossing steps can still cause a winding path. Instead, you should swivel the hips and move your leg in line with the hip. However, the hip rotation should be very small, since you are just walking back straight along the line of dance, not doing back ocho. Overturn of the hips is the cause of instability.

Synchronization
Tango walk is synchronous. The two partners walk not as two independent individuals but as one coherent body. Their legs must start, move and arrive together with exactly the same timing and pace. The woman must carefully mirror the man's movement and not land her foot too soon before he finishes his step. A common problem is that she walks on her own and lands her foot on the floor before he lands his foot, causing him to step on her toes. The correct way is holding her free leg outstretched in the air to allow him to push her, along with the push of her own standing leg, so that their free legs land on the floor at the same time and with the same pace.

Improving your walk is the key to improve your dance
One's walk defines one's tango. The following video, dedicated to Andrea Misse, a brilliant tango star died too young in a car accident in 2012, is a good example. Please pay attention to Andrea's walk and see how it relates to her dance. Walk is not only a significant part of tango but also the foundation of the dance because other tango steps are but variations of walk. For a woman, elegant walk is a guaranteed eye catcher and proof of her ability. By learning to walk elegantly, your tango can be improved in more ways than you can imagine. (See Walk.)