Tango Is a Language (I)

You might not think of tango as a language, but it truly is. Like any language, it can be taught, learned, understood, and used to convey information: intention, emotion, musical interpretation, and qualities of movement—such as type, size, direction, speed, and variations. Those who speak this language fluently can communicate seamlessly on the dance floor, reading their partner’s cues and responding in harmony. Those who don’t often struggle to express themselves or interpret their partner, leading to awkward and frustrating experiences.

Tango, like any language, has its own alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and composition. The parts of the body—head, arms, hands, torso, waist, hips, legs, and feet—form tango’s alphabet. With these, we build steps—the vocabulary. Musicality and communication provide the grammar, guiding how steps are combined into an expressive, improvised dance. Choreography, which arranges steps into a cohesive artistic performance, is the composition.

As with any language, the study of tango should begin with its alphabet and grammar. Without the alphabet, words cannot be formed. Without grammar, words cannot be used. A common problem in tango learning is that we focus almost entirely on vocabulary—memorizing steps—while neglecting the alphabet and grammar. We don’t embrace correctly. We don’t understand the functions of various body parts, using them awkwardly or improperly in dance (see The Functions of Various Body Parts in Tango). Our posture is poor. Our connection is broken. Our bodies are stiff, heavy, and inflexible. We are unable to dissociate the upper body and the lower body. Our movements lack balance and stability. We don’t listen to the music. We don’t step on the beat. We don’t follow the mood or sentiment of the music. We don't communicate well. Our lead is unclear, and our follow, clumsy. As a result, even though we may know many steps, we cannot combine them in a way that is meaningful, musical, harmonious, and beautiful.

Tango also has a vast vocabulary. But just as no one knows every word in a spoken language, no one masters all the steps in tango. Fortunately, fluency doesn't require exhaustive knowledge. In Chinese, for example, there are over 60,000 characters. The most comprehensive dictionary—the Kangxi Dictionary—contains 47,000 characters. The popular Xinhua Dictionary lists about 8,500. Yet, just 950 characters make up 90% of what’s used in everyday writing. Adding another 2,800 covers 99.9%. Most Chinese characters are rarely used.

Tango is similar. Only a limited number of steps are essential for social dancing: walk, salida, resolution, switch between parallel system and cross system, cruzada, pivot, dissociation, cadencia, front ocho, back ocho, molinete, giro, rock, and traspie. These basic steps form 90% of the steps used in social tango dancing. More complicated steps, such as ocho cortado, sacada, sandwich, boleo, rulo, parada, barrida, corrida, carpa, planeo, lapiz, enganche, volcada, americana, media vuelta, media luna, arrastrar, zarandeo, make up the other 9% less common, optional and dispensable steps in social dancing.

Then there are 1% steps primarily used in performance tango: enrosque, giro–enrosque–lapiz combinations, calesita, castigadas, back sacadas, ganchos, high boleos, colgadas, single-axis turns, soltadas, patadas, sentadas, kicks, and lifts. These are the domain of professional performers, added for dramatic effect. They lack the friendliness of the social tango steps, are difficult, uncomfortable, dangerous, or requiring a lot of space to do, therefore are not suitable for social dancing (see Social Tango and Performance Tango).

It’s unwise to focus on what is rarely used while neglecting the fundamentals that truly matter. Yet many tango students do exactly that. A better approach is to focus on tango’s alphabet, grammar, and core vocabulary instead of jumping into big fancy words without a solid foundation. Frankly, for most people, the basics are all they need to enjoy social tango. Once you understand that, tango becomes a simple and accessible dance. Those with special talent and interest in performance can pursue that path—but only after mastering the fundamentals, and certainly not at a milonga, where even professionals dance socially and respectfully. (See Tango Is a Language (II).)