The Alienation of Tango

Tango faces serious challenges in the liberal West. In a sense, it has become a self-inflicted dance. The steps of tango do not have fixed configurations, and its music allows for interpretation, giving dancers the freedom to improvise and create as they dance. This untrammeled nature of tango has led to dramatic changes, particularly now, as free-spirited foreigners pour in, introducing a profusion of outlandish influences.

No matter what people do, there are always some who take it to the extreme—tango is no exception. While we humans seek freedom, unrestrained freedom often defeats itself. Our forefathers recognized this danger, which is why they established systems of checks and balances and the rule of law. Tango, outside of Argentina, however, remains uncharted territory, where individuals can act at will. Some replace the tango embrace with an open dance hold, supplant traditional tango music with alternative tunes, redefine gender roles, and incorporate non-tango elements such as underarm turns, high kicks, and body lifts into the dance. Now you go to the milongas in the US, you often hear exotic music of foreign lands and see rogues of all kinds dancing wildly. It is still called tango, but the essence of the dance has been altered. There is little resemblance to the tango danced in Buenos Aires’ milongas.

Tango is a free dance, but it is not a “do-whatever-you-want” dance. It has distinct characteristics. For example, it is a close-embrace dance. Breaking the embrace and distancing partners is not tango (see The Fourteenth Pitfall of a Tanguera). Tango is an intimate, emotional, and soulful dance. In fact, tango is more about feelings than steps. No matter how many new steps people try to create, without feelings it is not tango (see Tango Is a Feeling). Tango is a heterosexual dance danced by a man and a woman, allowing his masculinity and her femininity to glitter in each other's company (see Tango and Gender Interdependence). The man is the leader who plots the dance and shines the woman. The woman is the follower who surrenders to the man, synchronizes her movements with his and beautifies the dance. Refusing to surrender, switching gender roles and forming same-sex partnership are against tango (see The Gender Roles in Tango). Tango is danced to the sentimental music specifically created for the dance. Foreigners often don't realize that the magic of tango lies in its music, which connects the dancers, stirs up their nostalgic feelings, resonates with them, inspires their creativity, and enables them to fully showcase their dance skills. Changing tango music to outlandish tunes, the dance ceases to be tango (see The Signature of Tango).

No one can prevent the evolution of a dance that encourages free expression. Only time will tell which changes endure. Tango has undergone this trial for 150 years. Whatever changes that people try to bring to tango today must have been tried by others before, most of which did not last. The current form of tango—including its music, embrace, steps, and protocols as practiced in Buenos Aires—is the survivors of fitness among zillions of attempts to alter the dance along its history. Tango will continue to evolve, of course, but it will evolve in the same direction that made it tango. Any attempt to change tango into a non-tango dance or hybrid will fail. If not so, tango would have stopped being the tango danced in Buenos Aires today long ago.