I thought of being a little proud of my “argentinity”, and post a bit of tango.
This is a quite famous tango, Called “goodbye nonino”. Piazzolla compose this tango after His father, called Vicente died, Vicente was “nicknamed “Nonino”.
Tango is different things to different people:
to men it is leading, to women it is following, to novices it is steps,
to veterans it is feelings, to lovers it is a devotion, to peacocks it
is a display, and so on. To those who breathe it, it is a lifestyle, for those who are foreign to it, it is merely a dance. The truth is we all understand and dance tango differently for
who we are and what philosophy we have.
It’s why tango defies easy categorisation because of the complexity of meaning to those who do it. But there are ways to think about it when two people come to embrace each other into tango.
The traditional theory on how
tango is led is the driving theory.
According to this theory, the man is the driver of the dance. He leads
the woman
in much the same way as he holds a baby in his arms and gently sways her
to dream. This
theory reflects the macho culture of tango’s home country Argentina. The
man tenderly embraces the woman with his arm encircles her body. The
woman settles into his embrace, rests comfortably in his arms with her
breasts intimately touches his chest.
She doesn’t
need to think, plan and initiate the movement. She simply surrenders herself to him and lets him drive her. With the torso-to-torso connection
the man can easily actuate the woman.
He can use his torso to gently propel
her, or turn his torso to make her turn with him, or use his torso to tilt her
until she has to make a step, or let her walk on his
side by twirling and moving his torso to one side, or
use his torso to swing her body, which will bring the swing of
her leg to form a step, or increase the momentum that, after her leg
lands on
the floor, will carry her body pass over the center of gravity and lead
to the
next step, etc.
The driving method is used by the feeling-oriented
dancers who
incline to the feeling of the embrace, the intimate torso-to-torso
connection
between the partners, and the rhythmic motion of the two connected
bodies moving together
in sync to the music.
For them, tango is synchronization.
The word
“follow” is
an incorrect notion because it implies separation and delay. What makes a
good
leader is his ability to use his body to effect the movement of the
woman’s body.
What makes a good follower is her ability to synchronize her movement to
his,
so that unity, oneness and harmony can be achieved. One needs to
know the steps to dance tango, but the purpose of the steps is to
facilitate the
embrace so that the two may remain one in motion.
The feeling-oriented
dancers
use simple steps to avoid distractions. They concentrate on the music,
embrace, connection, communication, synchronization and feelings.
This
theory is the foundation of
themilonguerostyle of tango.
A second
theory is the la marca
theory, which defines the lead as a mark or signal. The mark can be a
push or pull with his hand, a pressure on her back, a tapping on her
side, a squeezing in her palm, a press with his thigh against her thigh,
a body posturing,
or any combination of such. It is a
secret code used by the man to tell the woman how he wants her to move.
“Mastering tango is mastering the making of signals.” (Tango, the Art History
of Love, by Robert Farris Thompson.)
The problem of this method,
however, is
the lack of standardisation. Every man marks the steps in his own way.
Without learning his set of signals, the woman would have difficulties
to
follow the marks. Due to such ambiguity this method remains not well
defined.
Nevertheless, it had a significant impact on the development of
tango. Using signal to lead makes it necessary for the woman to
interpret it. The man then has to adapt to her subjectivity. That
changes
how tango is danced. The Villa Urquiza style danced in a loose embrace and hence relying more on the hands to lead, is associated with this theory.
The third theory dominating Europe and North America
is the invitation theory, influenced by their individualistic, feminist and “politically correct” ideologies.
According to this theory, what the gentleman sends to the lady is not a drive
but a suggestion or invitation. The gentleman who has given the suggestion
needs to wait for the lady to initiate her movement at the pace of her choice, and then follow her.
The
sequence is like this: “The leader ‘invites’ the lady to enter a room. She
accepts the invitation and, in her own time, enters, and he then follows. In a
sense, therefore, the leader has become the follower.” (A Passion for Tango, by
David Turner.)
This theory breaks away from the traditional tango. It suits the
movement-oriented dancers who prefer to dance in an open dance hold that allows
more individuality. Without the torso-to-torso contact, the drive, which
comes from the man’s torso, becomes less direct and assertive, and hence
depends to a large degree on the woman’s choice of whether, when, and how to
accept the “invitation”. The man has to wait and adapt to her choice.
As a
result, gender roles reverse, movement triumphs over feelings, individual performance replaces synchronization, fanciness supersedes simplicity, and tango becomes tango Nuevo.
I personally prefer the driving theory and la marca theory as I believe that tango is primarily about intimacy that is sensual without it being eroticised – or mistaken for sexual feelings. On a personal deeper level I feel tango is like a drawn out courtship through the language of dance. Primal in its raw energy and yet civilised in its elegance and sophistication. You learn a lot about a man the way he holds you and moves his feet than you do from what comes from his mouth.
I think tango Nuevo while interesting is seriously flawed in conception and design. Tango is about tradition but within that tradition it allows for individual expression within synchronicity that results in balance and harmony but also explosive excitement.
Tori