ARGENTINE TANGO

More than just a dance, it is a way of moving. It is a passionate and sensual communicatin between two people, a way of interpreting the music, of moving together, of expressing feelings.

 Tango was born in Buenos Aries and danced in the streets, bars and brothels around the 1800's. Originally developed by the poor immigrants in the ports, as their way of expressing loneliness, frustration, desire and energy, it was seen by the rest of the world as dangerous.

A close embrace, legs often entwined - a dance of passion. A genuine participatory art form which can express the most profound and complex longings that people can have about their lives, about each other, about the nature of existence itself.

Tango was popularized in the 1920's when some of the great tango songs were written, and various big tango orchestras started. It became socially acceptable and many young people started dancing it in ballrooms and at tea dances, both in Buenos Aires and in Paris. Now it is danced all over the world. Tango music can be slow and soulful, or fast and fun. It is beautiful to listen to, but even better to dance to!

Tango is improvised, so there are no sequences of steps that each dancer must laboriously learn. Instead, they must learn to communicate with each other throughout the dance. Since it is improvised, one person must be in charge of leading the couple, deciding on the direction, and the beat, and what step to do next. He indicates to her where he wants her to go, and they both take the step. This doesn't mean the follower is passive. She has to let the man lead her, listen with her body to what he is asking for, and be ready and balanced to execute any step as soon as he asks her to, without anticipating the next one.

At times, it feels like you are meditating with your partner, moving to the music together.

All you need to learn to dance Tango is the ability to walk, listen to the music and listen to your partner-and some patience!!

"The soul is not really united unless all the bodily energies, all the limbs of the body are united."    Martin Buber