Argentine Tango

More often than not, any title that includes the words “Argentine Tango” will be closely followed by a sub-heading that’s based on one of three key descriptions, each of which conveys the same ultimate meaning, but with a varying degree of discretion. There’s the amorous, the history of love in three minutes; the more ambiguous, a conversation without words; and the downright salacious, the vertical expression of a horizontal desire.1  In fact, there is one word that single-handedly portrays a dance that is at once seductive, melancholic and erotic. Argentine Tango is the dance of passion, writes Katie Gregory, and to understand why is to delve into a past shrouded in mystery and legend, and a story that has gone full circle, travelling the length and breadth of the world in the process

Today, the history of Argentine Tango is a hotly debated topic. The most widely accepted of the various theories concerning its origins dates back to Argentina during the second half of the 19th century. At that time the country housed a diverse mix of cultures, brought together by thousands of young men from all over Europe who arrived at the port of Buenos Aires, looking for work at a time when Europe’s economic climate was devastated by war and famine. With them, each brought their own traditional music and dances, which, when combined, began a period of experimentation. Dances shared and taught in homes and on the streets such as the Candombe, Polka and Mazurka, combined with various other styles, are said to have led to the development of the Milonga. This cheerful dance – the name roughly translates to party – metamorphosed as more dances were added to the melting-pot. The Cuban Habanera, for example, is thought to have slowed and subdued the Milonga’s spritely nature, and what emerged as a result was the Tango in its earliest form.

This developmental process took place in the outskirts of the city – the back streets of the poorer areas, which the constantly growing population of immigrants inhabited along with the gauchos – Argentinian cowboys – of the time. These areas were regarded with a degree of contempt and gained a particularly shady reputation due to the brothels, bars and seedy cafés that lined the streets. Such haunts became popular with the ever-increasing community of young males who rapidly outnumbered the female population, and so the Tango soon moved from the streets where it had been created and in to these venues instead. Some believe that it was during this transition from backstreet to brothel that the Tango, previously simply known as “baile con corté” (dance with a stop), was first given its name as a means of setting it apart from its inferior predecessor. Another widely held belief is that the word itself is of African origin, referring to a “meeting place”.

Considering that the men eventually outnumbered the women by a huge proportion in Buenos Aires, rivalry was fierce, and the Tango became the vehicle for this macho competition: the best male dancer could attract the most glamorous women. With no dance schools available to them, the men taught each other and practised together before testing their skills out in public – in the brothels. And so, the dance came to be associated with sex from the outset – the vertical expression of a horizontal desire* – one of the themes that can be said to run through the characteristic movements of the Tango we are familiar with today.

One of the foundational characteristics is the Tango hold, which is much closer and more intimate than its Ballroom counterpart, with the man and woman connected by the top part of their bodies, often dancing cheek to cheek or looking into one another’s eyes, sometimes with the woman resting her head on the man’s chest. The rhythm of the music is said to be based on a heartbeat, and the connection between the man and woman dancing the Tango is the primary focus, making it a fundamentally introspective dance, hence, a conversation without words. There are various other factors considered to have brought about the seductive nature of the movements, one being the lack of space available in the cramped venues, resulting in a compact dance where the couple take up minimal space on the floor. Another suggestion is that the restrictive clothing worn at the time prevented extroverted movements and instead encouraged a sense of containment.

Another important factor to consider in the creation of the Tango as we know it is the music, which plays a vital role in creating what is often considered to be the haunting nature of the dance. All the dances of the time emerged as an expression of the music that came before them, and Tango was no exception. The young men of the city sung of the homes and lives they left behind, as well as the future they looked towards. The bandoneón, an instrument similar to an accordion or concertina that was initially invented by a German as an alternative to the church organ, became instead the instrument of the Tango – a far cry from its original pious purpose. Its naturally melancholic sound, combined with the pining lyrics, provided the very essence of the Tango’s movements that give the authentic Argentine Tango its very distinct appearance.

Today, social Argentine Tango dancers will usually travel around the floor in an anti-clockwise direction, albeit only very gradually, and there are other elements of the authentic style that have been altered in the same way along the course of time. For example, the original Tango’s highly improvisational content naturally required a degree of codification over time to make it suitable for teaching, and as a result, while today’s Argentine Tango dancers add personal expression to the dance with “adornments” or “embellishments”, in general the dance has become more structured. Other elements, however, were changed to such an extent that there are now two formally recognised Tangos: Ballroom Tango, and Argentine Tango. The former is derived from the latter, and the reason behind the division lies in the controversy that surrounded the Tango from its very conception, as a result of its undesirable past.

In Buenos Aires, Tango soon caught the attention of the higher classes, and its popularity began to spread to the more respectable neighbourhoods in the centre of the city where Tango salons were quickly established to meet the growing demand. It was around 1910 that the dance was first introduced in Paris, which set the ball rolling for what was to become a worldwide phenomenon. At the time, the French city was the leading light for culture and entertainment in Europe, and the Parisians welcomed the Tango – controversial nature and all – setting the standard for the rest of Europe and later, America. In Britain, Tango dances were held at hotels, Tango parties hosted at home, and the fashion for “restaurant dancing” also became de rigeur. In short, anybody who was anybody was dancing the Tango.

The dance’s ascendance to the height of fashion was not without its drawbacks, and its emergence as “the thing to do” prompted a large degree of toning down in order to make the Tango more acceptable to its new following. The sexual nature of the dance meant that wherever the Tango went, feathers were ruffled, and just as many people were shocked as were seduced by it. Government and religious authorities branded the dance as un-Christian and indecent, and so its content began to be controlled. The practicalities of the dance also needed a degree of re-assessment as a result of its new-found status. Walks were added to enable progression around the now much larger ballroom floor and a snappier beat was introduced, leading to an emphasis on the more staccato, almost spiky movements of the dance, and resulting in the sharp jerking movements of the head that are often associated with Tango today. All in all, these changes altered the fundamental dynamic of the dance and placed the emphasis on performance rather than intimacy, changing the face of the original Argentine Tango forever, and giving rise to what is now referred to as Modern or Ballroom Tango.

The popularity of this new version of the Tango continued to grow, slowed only marginally by World War I, after which it hit its peak in the 1920s when the new style was further refined and the music became tailored to the mass market. However, by 1930, the Tango as a dance was rapidly going out of fashion due to a combination of factors, including the arrival of new music and dances causing a stir around the world. In Argentina the Tango took on new meaning and came to represent the culture of the nation. Musicians like the singer Carlos Gardel were, and still are, seen as cultural icons. While Tango music and poetry thrived, Tango as a dance began to resemble its former self as the larger salons gradually closed and the dance was once again confined to smaller venues.

Between 1960 and 1980, the Argentine Tango as a popular social dance seemed to fall off the radar, and it was with the arrival of a touring show – Tango Argentino – as well as various tangueros on the silver screen, including Al Pacino’s famous portrayal in Scent of a Woman (1992), that interest was revived. While the dancing in Tango Argentino and the similar productions that have followed is a variant of the authentic Argentine Tango – the movements are exaggerated and “showy” to make them suitable for the stage – interest in the authentic form was sparked, and led to the Argentine Tango as a social dance once again rising in popularity, a trend that continues today. Classes, clubs and Milongas are increasingly available in the UK and abroad, while in Argentina the three-fold cultural passion for Tango dance, song and music remains, and spills out of bars and restaurants and onto the streets of Buenos Aires. For this reason, the history of love in three minutes is perhaps the most appropriate description for the dance, although the true meaning lies beneath the surface. Dancing the Argentine Tango not only expresses the complexities of love between a man and woman, but also tells the history of the Tango itself, as a cultural passion that has travelled the world and returned once again to its roots – the ordinary people who created it.

This article first appeared in Universal Music’s Argentine Tango CD sleevenotes, which is available from Marks and Spencer plc.

End Note

1 Dancing as the “horizontal expression of a vertical desire” has been attributed to the poet Robert Lee Frost, writer George Bernard Shaw (who added “legalised by music”), and also Jorge Luis Borges.

Picture Captions:

1. Miguel Angel Zotto and Romina Levin of Tango Por Dos. Photograph by Carlos Seigeur.
2. Miguel Angel Zotto and Romina Godoy. Photograph by Carlos Seigeur.
3. Miguel Angel Zotto and Romina Levin. Photograph by Gimena Vazquez and Gonzalo Garcia