I was 20, lots of my friends started in their early 20s. Never had any problems with dancing with old men after the first few weeks. Nothing to stop you starting young. In fact it can be an advantage being very young and wearing miniskirts as you get more hours of dancing and more practice.
At what age did you started to dance tango?
- Thread starter viktorija3105
- Start date
actually this is true although I probably would have just spent the last 6 years falling out of pubs drunk.
piimapoika
Member
I started tango at the age of 15, after I had passed my Junior Bronze. This would have been ballroom tango, as nothing else was known in Blighty back in 1962. Argentine tango would not arrive till 30 years later. Nevertheless, I thought that tango was the most exotic and exciting thing imaginable, a feeling reinforced by the sleeve of what I thought then (and still do) was the best tango record: http://ring.cdandlp.com/lerayonvert/photo_grande/114958862.jpg
The "Too young for tango" question raged in the Finnish papers in 2007, when Jenna Bågeberg became Tango Queen at the age of 18 years 11 months. It was argued that to a teenager, the feelings of love, passion, obsession, loss, and so on are unfamiliar, overwhelming, and scary; and that tango is more appropriate to a young person than to a sexagenarian who had been round the block a few times and had experienced it all before.
How many tangos speak of the problems and passions of the young? The Hispanophones on this forum will come up with Argentine examples; but meanwhile here is a Finnish one, composed by Kaj Chydenius and translated by Barbara Helsingius:
Nuoruustango (Tango of Youth)
Caring and warmth I will give you:
youth is a beautiful thing!
Roses of summer with morning dew -
this is what I will bring!
All that I can surrender
are precious years that I own:
they're free and young and tender
and will be yours alone.
You are the one I have dreamed of:
tell me you'll always be here!
Young is our mind and so young our love:
all other things disappear!
Shadows of our tomorrow
will never darken our day.
Never a trace of sorrow
on our chosen way.
The "Too young for tango" question raged in the Finnish papers in 2007, when Jenna Bågeberg became Tango Queen at the age of 18 years 11 months. It was argued that to a teenager, the feelings of love, passion, obsession, loss, and so on are unfamiliar, overwhelming, and scary; and that tango is more appropriate to a young person than to a sexagenarian who had been round the block a few times and had experienced it all before.
How many tangos speak of the problems and passions of the young? The Hispanophones on this forum will come up with Argentine examples; but meanwhile here is a Finnish one, composed by Kaj Chydenius and translated by Barbara Helsingius:
Nuoruustango (Tango of Youth)
Caring and warmth I will give you:
youth is a beautiful thing!
Roses of summer with morning dew -
this is what I will bring!
All that I can surrender
are precious years that I own:
they're free and young and tender
and will be yours alone.
You are the one I have dreamed of:
tell me you'll always be here!
Young is our mind and so young our love:
all other things disappear!
Shadows of our tomorrow
will never darken our day.
Never a trace of sorrow
on our chosen way.
LadyLeader
Forum Master
@Piimäpoika - It was quite strange but for totally other reasons I was surfing to Finnish videos from around 1970 and came across this Nuoruustango you mentioned. It is part of the music tradition for the politically awakening generation in Finland during that period - that kind of caring for others I have not experienced since then.
You recognize the special style by the way how the singer is using her voice; it differs from the traditional tango, and the arrangement are unique as well. Tango has its aspect of social dynamite and so it was used in Finland that time; a cultural tool to change a person and the society.
The old one here:
http://youtu.be/QLoxDErSbco
New generation makes it differently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3HabBdHDw
I am deeply moved here now; so many years and so different world today.
You recognize the special style by the way how the singer is using her voice; it differs from the traditional tango, and the arrangement are unique as well. Tango has its aspect of social dynamite and so it was used in Finland that time; a cultural tool to change a person and the society.
The old one here:
http://youtu.be/QLoxDErSbco
New generation makes it differently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3HabBdHDw
I am deeply moved here now; so many years and so different world today.
piimapoika
Member
@LadyLeader - thank you for this! Kiitos tästä!