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For the modern international dance form that evolved from the Argentine Tango, see Tango (dance). Tango is a Musical genre and its associated dance forms that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay and For other uses, see Argentine tango (disambiguation).
The embrace of two Argentine tango dancers
The embrace of two Argentine tango dancers

Argentine Tango is a social dance and a musical genre that originated in Argentina and moved to Uruguay and to the rest of the world later on. Social dance is a major category or classification of Danceforms or dance styles where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America In the US, it is commonly confused with Ballroom Tango, though this is a later derivation. Tango is a Musical genre and its associated dance forms that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay and See History of Tango and Tango music for the origins and development of each. Tango as a distinctive Dance and the corresponding musical style of tango music began in the working-class port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina Tango is a style of music that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. This article describes the dance itself.

Contents

General

Argentine Tango consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions and eras, and in response to the crowding of the venue and even the fashions in clothing. Even though they all developed in Argentina and Uruguay, they were also exposed to influences reimported from Europe and North America. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Consequently there is a good deal of confusion and overlap between the styles as they are now danced - and fusions continue to evolve.

Argentine Tango is danced in an embrace that can vary from very open, in which leader and follower connect at arms length, to very closed, in which the connection is chest-to-chest, or anywhere in between. Close embrace is often associated with the more traditional styles, while open embrace leaves room for many of the embellishments and figures that are associated with Tango Nuevo.

Tango is essentially walking with a partner and the music. Musicality (i. e. dancing appropriately to the emotion and speed of a tango) is an extremely important element of tangoing. A good dancer is one who makes you see the music. Also, dancers generally keep their feet close to the floor as they walk, the ankles and knees brushing as one leg passes the other.

Argentine Tango relies heavily on improvisation; although certain patterns of movement have been codified by instructors over the years as a device to instruct dancers, there is no "basic step. Improvisation (also called extemporization) is the practice of acting singing talking and reacting of making and creating in the moment and in response to the stimulus of " One of the only constants across all Argentine Tango styles, is that the follower will usually be led to alternate feet. Another is that the follower rarely has her weight on both feet at the same time. Argentine tango is a new orientation of couple dancing. As most dances have a rational-pattern which can be predicted by the follower, the ballast of previous perceptions about strict rules has to be thrown overboard and replaced by a real communication contact, creating a direct non-verbal dialogue. A tango is a living act in the moment as it happens.

Argentine Tango is danced counterclockwise around the outside of the dance floor (the "line of dance") and dance "traffic" often segregates into a number of "lanes"; cutting across the middle of the floor is frowned upon. In general, the middle of the floor is where you find either beginners who lack floor navigation skills or people who are performing "showy" figures or patterns that take up more dance floor space. It is acceptable to stop briefly in the line of dance to perform stationary figures, as long as the other dancers are not unduly impeded. The school of thought about this is, if there is open space in front of you, there are likely people waiting behind you. Dancers are expected to respect the other couples on the floor; colliding or even crowding another couple, or stepping on others' feet is to be avoided strenuously. It is considered rude; in addition to possible physical harm rendered, it can be disruptive to a couple's musicality.

Differences from Ballroom Tango

Competitive vs Social Dance

Ballroom tango steps were standardized by dance studios. The steps have been relatively fixed in style for decades.

However, Argentine tango has been an evolving dance and musical form, with continual changes occurring every day on the social dance floor in Argentina and in major tango centers elsewhere in the world.

Argentine Tango is still based heavily on improvisation. While there are patterns or sequences of steps that are used by instructors to teach the dance, even in a sequence every movement is led not only in direction but also speed and quality (a step can be smooth, pulsing, sharp, . . . etc. ).

Embrace (Abrazo)

A striking difference between Argentine tango and ballroom tango is in the shape and feel of the embrace. Ballroom technique dictates that partners arch their upper bodies away from each other, while maintaining contact at the hip, in an offset frame.

In Argentine tango, it is nearly the opposite: the dancers' chests are closer to each other than are their hips, and often there is contact at about the level of the chest (the contact point differing, depending on the height of the leader and the closeness of the embrace). In close embrace, the leader and the follower's chests are in complete contact and they are dancing with their heads touching or very near each other. In open embrace, there can be as much space as desired between the partners, but there should always be complete contact along the embracing arms to give optimum communication. Since Argentine tango is almost entirely improvisational, there needs to be clear communication between partners. Even when dancing in a very open embrace, Argentine Tango dancers do not hold their upper bodies arched away from each other; each partner is over their own axis. Whether open or closed, a Tango embrace is not rigid, but relaxed, like a hug.

Walking (Caminada)

Another difference is that the leader may freely step with his left foot when the follower steps with her left foot too. In English, this is sometimes referred to as a "crossed" or "uneven" walk (or as "walking in the crossed system") in contrast to the normal walk which is called "parallel" or "even. " In ballroom tango "crossed system" is considered incorrect (unless the leader and follower are facing the same direction). Furthermore, the flexibility of the embrace allows the leader to change his weight (from one foot to another) yet keeping the follower's weight unchanged. This is another major difference with ballroom tango, where a weight change by one partner leads to an automatic weight change by the other.

The nomenclature originated with the Naveira/Salas "Investigation Group. " Early on, they used 'even/uneven' to describe the arrangement of legs in the walk (or turn). By the mid-'90s they began using 'parallel/crossed' and later 'normal/crossed'.

Music

Argentine tango music is much more varied than ballroom tango music. A large amount of tango music has been composed by a variety of different orchestras over the last century. Not only is there a large volume of music, there is a breadth of stylistic differences between these orchestras as well, which makes it easier for Argentine tango dancers to spend the whole night dancing only Argentine tango. The four representative schools of the Argentine tango music are: Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Troilo and Pugliese. Carlos Di Sarli ( January 7, 1903 - January 12, 1960) was an Argentine Tango musician orchestra leader Composer Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese ( Buenos Aires, December 2, 1905 - July 25, 1995) was an Argentine tango musician They are dance orchestras, playing music for dancing. When the spirit of the music is characterized by counterpoint marking, clarity in the articulation is needed. It has a clear, repetitive pulse or beat, a strong tango-rhythm which is based on the 2x4, 2 strong beats on 4 (dos por cuatro). Astor Piazzolla stretched the classical harmony and counterpoint and moved the tango from the dance floor to the concert stage. Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla ( March 11, 1921 &ndash July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango Composer and His compositions tell us something of our contemporary life and dancing it relates much to modern dance.

Steps

While Argentine tango does not teach amalgamations of steps like swing, salsa, or ballroom dances do, there are some recurring figures that are taught. Here is a fairly typical order of steps that may be taught in a beginner classes.

Related dances

Argentine Tango dancers usually enjoy two other related dances: Vals (waltz) and Milonga.

Music for the Vals is in 3/4 time but otherwise very similar to Tango music. Tango dancers dance the Vals much like they do tango only with a waltz rhythm that has one beat per measure (at a beginner-level). This produces a rather relaxed, smooth flowing dancing style in contrast to Viennese Waltz where the dancers often take 3 steps per measure and turn almost constantly. Viennese Waltz (Wiener Walzer is the genre of a Ballroom dance. Experienced dancers alternate the smooth one-beat-per-measure walk with syncopated walks, stepping on one- two- or (rarely) all three beats in a measure. Vals is characterized by its lack of pauses, and continual turns (giros) in both directions.

Milonga is essentially Tango; the differences lie in the music, which has a strongly-accented beat, and an underlying "habanera" rhythm. Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of Music which preceeded the tango and the dance form which Dancers avoid pausing, and often introduce syncopations called traspies and broken rhythm into their walks and turns. Milonga uses the same basic elements as Tango, with a strong emphasis on the rhythm, and figures that tend to be less complex than some of those danced in some varieties of Tango.

Milonga is also the name given to tango dance parties. Milonga is a term for a place or an event where tango is danced This double meaning of the word milonga can be confusing unless one knows the context in which the word "milonga" is used. People who dance at milongas are known as milongueros.

Styles of Argentine tango

Tango canyengue

"Tango canyengue" refers to a style of Tango danced until the 1920s. Reportedly, the long tight fashion in dresses of that era restricted the follower's movements. Consequently, the style involves short steps. The dancers tend to move with knees slightly bent, the partners slightly offset, and in a closed embrace. The style tends to be danced to a 2/4 time signature. The time signature (also known as " meter signature" is a notational convention used in Western Musical notation to specify how many beats

Tango orillero

Tango orillero refers to the style of dance that developed away from the town centers, in the outskirts and suburbs where there was more freedom due to more available space on the dance floor. The style is danced in an upright position and uses various embellishments including rapid foot moves, kicks, and even some acrobatics, though this is a more recent development.

Salon Tango

Salon Tango was the most popular style of tango danced up through the Golden Era of the dance (1950's) when milongas (tango parties) were held in large dance venues and full tango orchestras performed. Later, when the Argentine youth started dancing rock & roll and tango's popularity declined, the milongas moved to the smaller confiterias in the center of the city, resulting in the birth of the "milonguero/apilado/Petitero/caquero" style.

Salon Tango is characterized by slow, measured, and smoothly executed moves. It includes all of the basic tango steps and figures plus sacadas, barridas, and voleos. The emphasis is on precision, smoothness, and musicality. The couple embraces closely but the embrace is flexible, opening slightly to make room for various figures and closing again for support and poise. The walk is the most important element, and dancers usually walk 60%-70% of the time during a tango song.

When tango became popular again after the end of the Argentine military dictatorships in 1983, this style was resurrected by dancers from the Golden Era:

One of the most famous examples of the elegant Salon style is the Villa Urquiza' style, named after the northern barrio of Buenos Aires where the clubs Sin Rumbo and Sunderland are located. Villa Urquiza is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires city capital of Argentina. Dancers who are currently leading the wave of Villa Urquiza Style tango are

To this day, tango classes that teach the "Villa Urquiza style" are held in Club Sunderland every Monday and Wednesday nights around 8pm.

"Estilo milonguero" (tango apilado/confiteria style)

This style originated as the 'petitero' or 'caquero' style in the 1940s and 50s in closely packed dance halls and "confiterias", so it is danced in close embrace, chest-to chest, with the partners leaning - or appearing to lean - slightly towards each other to allow space for the feet to move. There are not many embellishments or firuletes or complicated figures for the lack of space in the original milonguero style but now also those figures are danced, which only at first glance seem impossible in close embrace. Actually, a lot of complicated figures are possible even in milonguero.

Although the rhythmic, close-embrace style of dancing has existed for decades, the term "Milonguero Style" only surfaced in the mid- '90s when the name was created by Susana Miller, who had been the assistant to Pedro 'Tete' Rusconi. Susana Miller is one of the most prominent teachers choreographers and dancers of the old milonguero style of tango. Many of the older dancers who are exponents of this style (including 'Tete') prefer not to use the label.

Tango Nuevo

Tango Nuevo is a dancing and teaching style. Tango nuevo as a teaching style emphasizes a structural analysis of the dance. It is a result of the work of the "Tango Investigation Group" (later transformed into the "Cosmotango" organization) pioneered by Gustavo Naveira and Fabian Salas in the 1990's in Buenos Aires. Gustavo Naveira - Argentine tango dancer and teacher He contributed to the evolution of tango and to the detailed analysis of its movements Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is geographically located on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern By taking tango down to the physics of the movements in a systematic way, they have created a method of analyzing the complete set of possibilities of tango movements, defined by two bodies and four legs moving in walks or circles. This investigation provided a view of a structure to the dance that was expressed in a systematic way.

In walks, their explorations pioneered what were once called "alterations" and are now called "changes of direction" or "cambios". In turns, they focus on being very aware of where the axis of the turn is (in the follower/in the leader/in between them). This tends to produce a flowing style, with the partners rotating around each other on a constantly shifting axis, or else incorporating novel changes of direction.

Many of the recent popular elements in tango vocabulary, such as Colgadas, owe their debut on the tango scene to the popularity of Gustavo's and Fabian's approach.

From this teaching style, a new and unique style of dancing has developed, called by many a "tango nuevo" style. The most famous practitioners of "Tango Nuevo" are Gustavo Naveira, Norberto "El Pulpo" Esbrés, Fabián Salas, Esteban Moreno, Claudia Codega, Sebastian Arce, Mariana Montes, Chicho Frumboli, and Pablo Verón. Gustavo Naveira - Argentine tango dancer and teacher He contributed to the evolution of tango and to the detailed analysis of its movements Norberto Esbrez (born November 22, 1966 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian tango dancer choreographer and teacher Interestingly enough, all of these dancers have highly individual styles that cannot be confused with each other's, yet can be easily recognized as Tango Nuevo.

Tango Nuevo is often misunderstood and mislabeled as "Show Tango" because a large percentage of today's stage dancers have adopted "tango nuevo" elements in their choreographies. Astor Piazzolla 1975png|thumb|left|the musical father of "nuevo tango" Bandoneón virtuoso Ástor Piazzolla.

Show tango

Show tango, also called Fantasia, is a more theatrical and exaggerated form of Argentine tango developed to suit the stage. It includes many embellishments, acrobatics, and solo moves. Unlike other forms of tango, stage tango is not improvised and is rather choreographed and practised to a predetermined piece of music. This means that often moves are shown that cannot be led.

Advent of "alternative Tango music"

While Argentine Tango has historically been danced to traditional tango music produced by such composers as Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos Di Sarli, Juan D'Arienzo, in the 90's a younger generation of Tango dancers began dancing Tango to what was referred to as "alternative tango music"; music from other genres like, "World Music," "Electro-Tango," "Experimental Rock," "Trip Hop," & "Blues," to name a few. Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese ( Buenos Aires, December 2, 1905 - July 25, 1995) was an Argentine tango musician Carlos Di Sarli ( January 7, 1903 - January 12, 1960) was an Argentine Tango musician orchestra leader Composer Juan D'Arienzo ( December 14, 1900 - January 14, 1976) was an Argentine tango musician also known as "El Rey del Artists like Kevin Johansen, Gotan Project, Otros Aires, Tom Waits, Portishead & Louis Armstrong are among those favored in alternative tango music playlists. Kevin Johansen ( Fairbanks Alaska, 1964 is an Argentine - American rock Musician. Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris, consisting of musicians Philippe Cohen Solal ( French) Eduardo Makaroff ( Argentine) and Christoph H Otros Aires is a Spanish / Argentine neo-tango group founded in 2003 in Barcelona by Argentine musician/architect Miguel Di Genova Thomas Alan Waits (born 7 December 1949) is an American Singer-songwriter, Composer, and Actor. Portishead (pɔːtɪsˈhɛd IS an English musical group from Bristol. Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter

Tango Nuevo is often associated with "alternative tango music", see Nuevo tango, but any of the other Tango styles can be danced to it. Astor Piazzolla 1975png|thumb|left|the musical father of "nuevo tango" Bandoneón virtuoso Ástor Piazzolla.

Tango films

Argentine tango is the main subject in these films:

A culture developed for tango films in the Cinema of Argentina beginning in the early 1930s. Adiós Buenos Aires ( English language: Goodbye Buenos Aires) is a 1938 Argentine Musical film directed and written by Leopoldo Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay ( March 9, 1940 &ndash October 24, 1994) better known as Raúl Juliá, was an actor from The Tango Lesson ( La lección de tango) ( 1997) is a Drama film by British director Sally Potter. Sally Potter (b 19 September 1949 in London) is an English Film director and Screenwriter. Tango ( Spanish: Tango no me dejes nunca) ( 1998) is an Academy Award - and Golden Globe -nominated for Best Foreign Mía Maestro (born June 19, 1978) is an Argentine actress. Biography Mia Maestro was born in Buenos Aires, Carlos Saura (born 4 January 1932, Atarés, Huesca) is a Spanish film director Assassination Tango is a 2002 Argentine Crime film directed by and starring Robert Duvall. Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American Film Actor and director who has won an Academy Award Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa Singer, Songwriter, Lawyer, Katherine Whitton "Kathy" Baker (born June 8, 1950) is an Emmy - and Golden Globe Award -winning American Character actress Orquesta Tipica (Tango or Death is a 2005 documentary film that tells the story about a tango orchestra who travel all over the World playing the historical Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to " Document " reality Nicolas Entel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a BA in Film Directing from the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, and a Master’s The Cinema of Argentina has a long tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century and has played an important role in the Culture of Argentina for more than See Category:Tango films.

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