The other week I caught myself saying, “Tango has nothing to do with dancing.” I don’t know what caused me to say it, I hadn’t planned to say it, it just came out without my control. Since my time in Buenos Aires, where I felt like I discovered Tango in places where there wasn’t any dancing, I’ve had the question “What is Tango?” swimming back and forth in my head. I’ve lost a little bit of sleep over it and cried a few tears as well, to be honest. (Remember, I’m half Italian).
Certainly Tango has something to do with dancing, obviously! Of course the dance is an aspect of Tango. But I guess what I was saying was that I think Tango is not only a dance. So much of what we see (at least in the States) is Tango but not exactly… Tango. Sure, people are dancing to Tango music, doing ochos and boleos and sacadas, and well… you know, dancing. But it’s not necessarily the only aspect of Tango. At least not the Tango that I’m talking about. Tango is so much more than that. Tango is something else. And damn it’s been bugging me.
This is not a critique on any dancer’s ability level, it’s not a critique of style. And it’s certainly not a critique on those who have fallen in love with the beautiful dance that is called Tango, devoting themselves to learning it well and enjoying every step they take, every connection they (hopefully) make, every pair of Comme il Faut shoes they buy. I’m one of those people, after all!
So many times in Buenos Aires, whether I was sitting in a café, talking to our old milonguero friend Pedro, eating lunch with the family of Mi Amor, or standing on the sidewalk looking around me at the people and the buildings, trying to understand the special “something” in the air, I would say to myself, “This is Tango.”
Tango is the eyes of Mi Amor. Tango is his family. Tango is his wonderful circle of friends (none of whom dance) in Buenos Aires. Tango is las calles (the streets) I’ve walked on – Entre Rios, Corrientes, Callao, Solis (the street my happy apartment was on), and many others. Tango is the waiter in my favorite café, who would gently place my coffee, water, sugar, and cookies on the table, one thing at a time, while wearing his rather classic uniform. Tango is the older people I would discreetly watch in that same café, as they greeted each other or sometimes stared off at a distant memory. There
was one old man in particular, with beautiful blue eyes, who seemed to have something on his mind each time I saw him – I imagined him coming to this café daily, year after year, maybe since his youth? I imagined him a few decades ago, living the young, fun life… I imagined him growing older, living through one crisis or another. I wondered what his feelings were each day that he’d been at the café. What significant parts of his life were lived in the vicinity of that café. What sorts of changes he’d been through in life, while the café itself never changed – always the same coffee, the same medialunas, the same style of service, the same uniforms, the same name. This man was definitely Tango. Tango is that interesting feeling in the air of Buenos Aires– that “something” I could feel, that “essence” that permeated my mind, my body, my soul every time I would breathe in or blink my eyes. (Which makes sense- I mean Buenos Aires roughly translates to Good Air, right?) I could go around and around with this, and the truth is I still don’t know exactly how to explain Tango. I don’t know if it can be explained.
I know I will get some complaints from Tango dancers who read this and have never been to Buenos Aires, but I think that to make the most of Tango, you’ve got to experience Buenos Aires. Or maybe the better way to say it is that you really should experience Buenos Aires to elevate your understanding of Tango to a new level. 
I’ve been dancing Tango for 4-and-a-half years, but it wasn’t until this past February and March when I plunged myself into the cultura porteña that I actually began to learn Tango. And I’m still learning.
All photographs in this post copyright 2007, A. Ferrari
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16 users responded in this post
Luckily you are not Argentinian because Argentinians are criticized if we say something like that. I think you are right. The Tango is something so deeply Argentinian that you have to live, or at least know, the truly essence of Argentine to be able to fill it and understand it.
But that is not the case only in Tango. I think is the same thing with the Flamenco dance, for example. No way you can really know the Flamenco, if you dont experience how spanish Gipsy’s dance it, sing it and live it. Or like with Salsa Music, you dont have a total knowledge of the dance if you dont know Cuba (Yes, I know, Salsa is from Puerto Rico, but is Cuba where it lives with more passion).
And is the same with Tango lyrics. I was able to really understand them after some bad experiences in my life. Just then I learn how immensely sad (and beautiful) were some of them. You have to live certains things to fully understand others. Is That reflected in your dance? You bet.
I’m really touched with your vision. Because you perceive that indefinable thing that is the essence of a culture. Something invisible to most foreigners, specially the ordinary tourist, but sometimes visible for those open mind and open heart.
Again, that doesn’t happen only in Buenos Aires, but in a lot of places.
Sorry, I wasnt very clear writing my thoughts. Is very late here, and my english is so bad.
Besos!
This is exactly why I am going to Buenos Aires in 55 days.
Tanguillo - Thank you for the support - and your English is just fine. I’ll be in Buenos Aires again this January or February, to learn more…
Sarah - 55 days, cool! You’re not counting the days are you?
Hi Tina,
I agree with some of the things you say. But I believe that it is very important to realize that Tango - just like any form of expressing art - is what you make of it. It’s personal. It is not rewarding to try and live other’s tangos. What you call Tango, is what you want to believe Tango is. And that is exactly why you believe that man was Tango. And that is perfectly fine, because Tango is what you will realize it is for you.
Being an european from a latin country - Portugal - I know why Argentinians are so defensive about tango and knowing BsAs. No one knows Europe until you’ve been in some capitals w/ the really old buildings, etc
It’s the same as someone telling me you can fully understand Fado music without at least being curious about the culture and visiting Lisbon. That said, I believe every portuguese has its idea of Fado. There’s not one way to sing and play Fado. There’s as many as persons that are willing to do it. Art is about trying to first understand as much as possible about it and then re-interpreting. You appropriate yourself of concepts and mold your own expression of it.
If you don’t re-interpret and create your own Tango, you will never live it, you will never breath it, you will never enjoy it. Don’t spend too much time trying to be an argentinian or living their tango. It will be sad to one day realize you never lived your own tango. Absorb all that culture and then make your own journey !
happy tango journey!
b
Tina, I understand completely!
Tango is more than a dance–it’s a culture, a way of life, a philosophy, a music AND a dance, among other things. Why do you think there are more than 400 products in the U.S. named “tango?” And they have nothing to do with a dance, or even a music.
I disagree with Tanguillo, though, about the origins of “salsa,” which is a sauce, afterall. But the mambo, that we call “salsa” in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), is Cuban, just like the very old roots of tango.
I have to wait until January or February for you to return! That’s so far away!!!
There is something in the air here that is pure tango, but some special souls although they were not raised here for sure have the tango spirit running through their veins.
Dear Tina,
Beautiful post, and very romantic. I loved that… “Tango is the eyes of Mi Amor”…
Ohhhh :} (I want a Mi Amor, too!)
Bruno - I’m so glad you commented, your words are very well taken. For the record, by the way, I love Fado… I had a Portuguese friend in Italy who shared some of his favorite artists with me and it’s just such beautiful music. I hope to make it there someday.
I’d like to respond to something you said - “Absorb all that culture and then make your own journey!” Absolutely. That’s the story of my life. I try everything out and really just do what feels right for me personally.
However, I also want to respond to what you said about trying to become Argentine. I feel the need to clarify that I am not trying to become an Argentine. I’m Tina, no matter where I am. I may reinvent aspects of myself to adapt to different surroundings, but I’m still Tina, heart and soul. I don’t want to be Argentine. I love my Argentine boyfriend, and I love Argentina, but don’t want to become Argentine.
I experience my own tango but it is further enhanced and better understood and made more true because I have gone to the origins of Tango and breathed Tango in it’s most pure form. In my opinion, my Tango was not really Tango until I went to Buenos Aires and really consumed Tango. I still maintain that Tango is best understood when you go to Buenos Aires.
You are right when you say it would be sad not to experience your own tango, but in my opinion I would be even more sad to live in a bubble, never having experienced the birthplace of my beloved Tango, never having learned it from the perspective of the people who have lived it.
I relate to Argentines in certain ways culturally because I am part Italian (by blood and soon by citizenship) and have been living in Italy until recently. So I do have a bias towards Argentines. But I have never wanted to BE Argentine. That’s just not possible. I’m me. And this blog is called tinatangos for a reason.
Please keep reading and commenting, I appreciate it a lot!
Miss Tango - Very true - there are special souls who have it in their veins….for example, you’re not BsAs born but you definitely have Tango running through your veins. Well, that and Gancia. It’s fabulous.
Tina,
Great answer and I’m glad you are not trying to become someone else!
btw, nice mix of countries running in your blood
b
Tango Cherie: I will not argue with you… you seems a lot more salsera than me
. When I live in Miami people (even cubans!) told me that Salsa was from Puerto Rico, but now, I dont know. It seems more your field than mine!
Bruno: I will like to add that to be able to create your own style in Tango (or in other dance or in music) you have to know the roots and essence of it (I mean, to do it in the right way). Is not that you have to dance like argentinian, but you have to know how argentinian dance.
Is the same with fado, im sure. If i never listen a fado played by portuguese people, If I dont know how fado really sounds, well, something is gonna miss in my fado music.
Saludos
Sadly….I haven´t had a Gancia since we had one… or more together!
I agree that tango is so much more than dance and music and poetry. It is really a state of mind and an emotion that some people know and that others (some of whom even dance) will never comprehend. But the true spirit of tango is not limited to Buenos Aires, and there are those who “get” it without having ever been there. It requires some understanding of tragedy and loss, and the ability to embrace those things in your life.
Hey look, it’s Gregory! Hi Gregory.
I should add on to that by saying that simply going to Buenos Aires is not going to inflict a person overnight with the sudden understanding of Tango. That would be nice and I’d be sending a lot of people down there were that the case, but it requires understanding (and embracing) of not only tragedy and loss (among many other emotions and experiences) but also willingness to break down personal barriers. Ah, the tangled web of Tango.
If one remains open, I maintain that it can be most enriched by experiencing Buenos Aires and learning the history and the people and their culture and their experiences.
(That said, a guy doesn’t have to have Buenos Aires on their travel resume in order to dance with me. Sensitivity to our connection is usually my big requirement.)
But back to the concept Tango. It’s kind of like my Italian - my ability to speak Italian was made so much richer by having lived there - and not because I got to speak Italian all the time (though it helped) but because there were certain cultural things that make the language what it is. No verb conjugation or grammar book could possibly teach me to really truly understand Italian language beyond being able to converse - the culture taught me to truly communicate in Italian. And there are certain cultural things that make Tango what it is.
hello tina,
thank you for this amazing post. i agree with you wholeheartedly. i have never been to buenos aires. but i want to go there. i will search for the true essence of tango with passion, and maybe someday i’ll find it in argentina, maybe i’ll see glimpses of it here in new york… as i sometimes think i do.
i think it’s important to remember that we’re all blessed to live in a world where the tango is a living dance, and its birthplace can be found on a map. there are so many beautiful things that have disappeared from the world, so many cities that have been destroyed through time. venice very soon, and recently new orleans…
buenos aires is still here, and i am so thankful for that!
kisses from nyc,
nuit.
What a beautiful comment, nuit! Thank you for writing. Though it sounds to me like you’ve found Tango… the ghost. (Not that I’m the ultimate judge of knowing such things, but I am guessing this.)… I bet if you get down to Buenos Aires you’ll never want to come back!
Regarding Venice - The good news is that Venice is no longer ’sinking’ (at least that’s what I read in the news in Italy)… it’s something to do with boat traffic, etc… and um… yeah. Anyway - thanks for commenting!
[…] Why do I have a preference for dancing with the men of Buenos Aires? It’s not because they know fancy steps that they learned from a well-known teacher, and it’s not because they lead perfect turns. It’s because they dance WITH ME. They’re not dancing with me to see how well I follow, to test me, to show off, to see if I’m good enough - they are dancing with me to dance with me. They find me, they find where I am in the music, they somehow magically understand where my center of gravity is and take good care of me on the dance floor. This, my friends, does NOT come from countless private lessons with Javier Rodriguez. In my opinion, it comes from something else. […]
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