Notes On Musicality

If a tango is mono-rhythmic, it is palling to dance to. But if it contains too many layers of unrecognizable rhythms, it becomes un-danceable also. A good, danceable tango has a clear rhythm with variations that are creative but not too difficult to follow. In fact, it often contains layers of rhythms and melodies, but there is usually a dominant rhythm and melody interwound with subordinate ones. The dancers can choose to follow the dominant rhythm or melody, or the subordinate ones, or jump from one to another, depending on their interpretations of the music and how they want to express their feelings in the moment. Some dancers are more rhythmic. Others are more melodic. They develop different dance styles according to their musicality.

Within each piece of music there are different movements and phrases. Some are shorter; some are longer. Some are slower; some are faster. They express different emotions: sad, happy, romantic, sentimental, passionate, melancholy, and nostalgic… Dancing to the music not only means stepping on the beat, but also means dancing to the emotions of the music. A good dancer steps on the beat. An excellent dancer dances to the emotions of the music.

Tango music is quadruple time. It has four beats in each measure. The first and third beats are the strong beats. The second and fourth beats are the weak beats. The dancer usually steps on the strong beats, but there are many other possibilities. For example, one can step on the weak beats, or a combination of strong and weak beats, or just on any one beat or all beats, or make two steps on one beat, or pause to skip few beats, etc.

A small step takes less time. A larger step takes more time. A quick step takes less time. A slow step takes more time. A 180-degree turn takes longer time than a 90-degree turn, but shorter time than a 360-degree turn. A good dancer has the ability to use these tools, to make very fast as well as very slow, very small as well as very large movements to play with the music.

A beat may last a fraction of a second. Although stepping anytime during that duration can be regarded as “stepping on the beat”, precision requires stepping on the beginning, not the end, of the beat. A good dancer, however, can use the duration of the beat to delay or catch up time, to adorn a footwork, to finish a movement, to sustain a posture, and to change the rhythm by shortening one step in order to elongate another, or vice versa.

Too many tango students pay too much attention on learning visible movements than invisible musicality, but what is invisible is more important than what is visible. Musicality is an art that only few master. Unless you master it you can’t reach excellence.