Essence

[will35]

I have noticed that Americans love to argue about styles of Tango, while Argentines simply talk about other things. One of the things some Argentines like to discuss is their version of "La Esencia de Tango", normally accompanied by an oath never to be untrue to it. Can we really distill it down to anything? If so, what is the essence? Can we put a name to it? What makes Tango Tango? In a dance with such diversity, how do we know Tango when we see it?

[DanceMentor]

I think of ochos and gaunchos. It's the first image in my mind...legs moving and bending and intertwining.

[will35]

I guess what I was thinking was a little tougher to grasp than a particular technical maneuver. Some people just don't do ganchos. And anyway, you could do a gancho and an ocho in a foxtrot, but would that make it Tango? You could throw a girl up in the air in Tango, maybe, but would it become a Lindy competition?

[DanceMentor]

I think gaunchos and ochos are important features of tango that an outsider would recognize. Also, I don't know the name usually used in Argentine Tango, but the corte is another movement that is well recognized. Of course, the music is also very important...without the music it would be difficult to describe the essence, no?

[will35]

Sure, the music is important. But it seems like the same question to me. Is tango music just anything with a bandoneon? That leaves out a lot of dancers and musicians who don't use bandoneons or ganchos. This may sound strange to someone who does not know the various places to dance Tango in the U.S., but there are places where people dance what they call Tango to strange music. The Village People, etc. So, is what they are dancing the Tango?

[DanceMentor]

That's a great point, Will.

Could it be the bandoneon that that is the strongest contributer to the essence of the Tango?

[will35]

Well, maybe Firpo and his piano have shaped tango as much as the bandoneon people (Aieta, Arolas, Ortiz). Maybe Gardel's and Corsini's guitars have also. But that was not really the original thing I had in my head when I started this post. I realize now it is too difficult a question for me. I'll have to take some time off, dance, listen to Tango, and think it over. I was thinking of the dance in particular, and an analogy I had in mind of a beach. The Tango as a social dance is a religious rite. Folky and urban at once. If we consider all the histories of Tango, apocryphal and otherwise, it comes from one or another social dance or a mix of several. I consider it a folk dance in an urban setting. I'll have to dance some more and clear my head. Religious ceremony, mating ritual, perhaps, but I am very tired of all the salesmanship about sex. Tango is not sex, and should not be billed that way. Very narrowminded. Petroleo calims to have taken the sex out of Tango, but somebody keeps slipping it back in to sell it.

[will35]

Here is something like my definition of the essence of Tango. It is like a beach. When you go to the beach, there are certain things you will find. There is always water and sand. The water is the improvisation, the sand is the walk and the turn. There are sometimes seashells and crabs. Those can be particular movements such as back and front ochos. Every now and then, there are condos. They are the ganchos. Some people hate beaches with condos, sort of like private places. There are regional differences on my beach. Some beaches have brown sand, some have white. Walks and turns are different to every dancer, but they all walk, and they all turn. I grew up on the coast, so I like saltwater on my beach. Somebody in Indiana might not. There is salt on the beach in Buenos Aires. Let us hope that our United States Tango beach has at least brackish water.
If we consider the history of Tango, whether it is true or not, we see that it grew up around slummy places where people went for sex. That does not mean the Tango is sex. Besides, that is the long ago history. More recently, there were some dirty things associated with Tango, but not everybody was just looking for sex. If we consider the story of the all male practicas, it seems like a gentlemanly kind of dance. Imagine a man going to practice with men for years before even allowing himself to get on the floor with a woman. The man worked hard to perfect his dance for the pleasure of his partner even though he had never met her. No matter what kind of girl she was. But, they were in love with the Tango. That is why they danced, not sex.
Tango is a good way for a very introspective person to express himself/herself. It is a lot of work to perfect a personal style, a personal dance.
That is the essence of the Tango I swear by. Improvised, personal, pleasurable for both partners, although let's face it, mostly I feel good if the woman feels good. It is walking and turning, simple, but only because I am simple, whatever fits me and my mood. It is danced to Tango music, because it ceases to be Tango when it is danced to other music. Some people say it is a conversation, but I think it is as much a conversation with oneself as with one's partner. It's not really that sad, but sometimes I cry like a baby when I hear the right music. It's nostalgiac, and I especially like that. It is something like a religion. But everything is just an analogy. The real thing is the dance, and we cannot put it on paper.
The Tango is also like family and friends. You don't force things, you just let things move however they want. You can give advice, but not force, or you lose your friends, and your family turns you out.

[ssjss]

The walk, confedence, connection and improvision to me are the main part of the soul of Tango.

[Steve Pastor]

When Louis Armstrong was asked to define jazz, he is reported to have replied "Man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."

[bordertangoman]

When Louis Armstrong was asked to define jazz, he is reported to have replied "Man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."


THE TA(ng)O THAT CAN BE SPOKEN OF IS NOT THE TRUE TA(ng)O

[Zaratustra shaking it]

When Louis Armstrong was asked to define jazz, he is reported to have replied "Man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."
THATS a true quote!