Social Tango and Performance Tango

The more I think about the challenges that tango is facing, the more I feel the need to distinguish between social tango and performance tango. People who promote performance tango often say, “Why draw a line? They are all tango. The tango is one.” But that is not true. Social tango and performance tango are different dances that serve different purposes. They are different in almost every aspects, including appearances, embraces, feelings, steps, techniques, lead/follow methods, and philosophies (see Three Theories on Leading). Any definition describing one dance automatically excludes the other. In fact, people who have only learned one dance are not able to dance the other dance without learning it. Instead of peddling performance tango to beginners, it's better to tell the truth, so students would know what they actually are getting into.

Social tango is a popular dance form catered to the tastes, needs and abilities of ordinary people. It is a spontaneous and improvisational dance, typically danced in close embrace with substantial physical contact, serving the need for affinity and intimacy between the two sexes. It is danced for personal pleasure in milongas under the guidance of the milonga codes. Although containing many aesthetic elements, its steps are uncomplicated, allowing dancers to concentrate on the inner aspects such as emotions, intimacy, comfort, and feelings. Dancing social tango is a deeply personal and soulful experience. What matters is how it feels and not how it looks (see Highbrowism and Populism in Tango).

Performance tango, on the other hand, is a highbrow dance form designed for stage performance. It is a theatrical rendition of tango, incorporating intricate steps and techniques that are beyond the scope of ordinary individuals but tailored for trained professionals with advanced skills. It is a choreographed and rehearsed dance, typically danced in an open dance hold to allow for expansive movement possibilities. Its steps are wide, fancy, often dangerous, and demanding ample space. Unlike social tango, performance tango is not aimed at providing an intimate, soulful, or personal experience; rather, it serves as a showcase for flashy figures and dazzling movements intended to impress and entertain the audience. It does not abide by the milonga codes and is unsuitable for crowded dance floors. Safety, comfort and user-friendliness are not its concern. What matters is how it looks and not how it feels.

I believe it's not in most students' interest to learn performance tango, especially before they have mastered social tango, because it's a waste of their time and money since very few of them will ever become stage performers, because the bad habits acquired from learning performance tango, such as using arms and hands to lead and follow, the inability to use the torso to communicate, the focus on the look rather than feelings, the disregard of safety and comfort of others, and the difficult movements and dangerous footwork, not only hinder their own enjoyment of social tango, but also cause disturbance to others in the milongas, and because without the foundation of social tango they cannot achieve high-level performances anyway.

For most students, social tango should be the focus of their learning, because their purpose is to dance in the milongas for pleasure and not on stage to entertain the autience, because they want a user-friendly dance suited to their abilities and not a difficult dance beyond their reach, because they want a dance that serves their need for affinity and intimacy, not a gaudy and uncomfortable dance to show off their ego, and because they want to be a good social dancer and lay a solid foundation before, if ever, they decide to learn performance.

In the US, social tango and performance tango are mixed, which is the cause of many problems in our milongas. In Buenos Aires, the two dances are separated. Social tango is danced in the milongas. Performance tango is danced on stage (see The Styles of Tango). The professionals who dance performance tango on stage will dance social tango exclusively when they go to a milonga. Those who teach social tango will say they teach social tango, and those who teach performance tango will say they teach performance tango. They don’t hang up a sheep’s head and sell dog meat. Separate competitions are organized for each dance. I believe that is how it should be elsewhere in the world.

Highbrowism and Populism in Tango

Art forms that cater to the preferences, requirements, and educational backgrounds of the general public are known as popular arts. Conversely, highbrow arts are regarded as having cultivated tastes and exceptional skills that exceed those of the general public. Highbrow music, for instance, has limited singers because its range and complexity are beyond the capabilities of most individuals. In contrast, a pop song has a narrower range and simpler technique, making it accessible to everyone.

The belief that intricate and challenging forms of art are inherently better than straightforward and accessible ones, however, is flawed. Painting does not necessarily surpass photography, and pop songs can be just as beautiful as those in opera. In fact, simplicity and ease often result in superior outcomes. Being simple does not equate to being artistically inferior, and being easy does not imply a lack of skill. In truth, attaining simplicity and ease requires a great deal of sophistication. Accomplished artists can execute their work with ease, and those who simplify their craft are often more virtuosic than those who cannot (see Simple Is Beautiful).

Individuals who believe in art for art's sake don't understand that arts, particularly popular arts, are for people. What’s the value of a pop song if it is too complex for the general public to enjoy? What's the worth of a social dance if only the elite can dance it? Argentine tango is a social dance. It was created by sailors, gauchos, immigrant workers, and street women. It remains a grassroots dance in Argentina today. Most people who dance tango are ordinary people. They love tango because it is a simple and easy dance that serves their need for connection and affinity with other souls. Those who regard themselves above the crowd try to make tango increasingly intricate and challenging. I don’t think that attempt serves tango well. Tango will continue to evolve as an art form, of course, but transforming it into a highbrow dance akin to ballet is a step in the wrong direction, in my view. The vitality of tango lies in its popularity and sociability, without these qualities, it risks becoming a castle in the air.

"Man is either vulgar or lonely." Schopenhauer's well-known quote can be interpreted in various ways. It can be taken to mean that one should embrace their individuality rather than conforming to the crowd. It can also be interpreted as a warning against becoming too aloof and ending up lonely. Alternatively, it can be seen as a call to balance refined and popular tastes to avoid extremism. Concerning tango, I believe the latter interpretation is more prudent. As a Chinese proverb goes, "Water that is too clear has no fish, and a man who is too high standard has no followers." Schopenhauer's words, therefore, can also be viewed as a cautionary note.

Tango and Romanticism

Romanticism is a cultural and artistic movement that emerged in the late 18th century in celebration of the human spirit, emphasizing emotion, imagination, heroism, romance, and idealism. This movement arose as a response to the dehumanizing effects of industrialization, which prioritized mechanization and efficiency over the intricacies of human experience. Romanticism sought to reclaim the depth of human connection, the beauty of individual expression, and the power of emotions. Its influence on literature, art, and culture has been both enduring and transformative.

In our postmodern world, where the focus often shifts towards modernity, technology, and superficiality rather than humanity and authenticity, the principles of Romanticism hold even greater significance. This is particularly true for tango, a dance form inherently intertwined with the expression of longing, connection, and the intricate relationship between the two sexes. Tango was created not merely as a form of entertainment, but as a deeply expressive medium for the yearnings and desires that lie at the core of human experience. Tango captures the essence of romanticism, making it a dance of dreams, aspirations, and emotional connection. (See Tango Is the Search for a Dream.)

Critics often lament that certain tango performances have devolved into mere displays of gymnastics or acrobatics, where the focus is on physical prowess and spectacle rather than the intimate, emotional connection that defines true tango. While gymnastics and acrobatics are impressive in their own right, they emphasize technical skill, strength, and entertainment value. In contrast, tango is fundamentally about the relationship between the partners - their connection, emotional interaction, and the communication of feelings. Tango is evocative of a beautiful romance, mirroring the dynamics of a real-life relationship where the two partners face all kinds of challenges but remain united, connected, supportive, and inseparable. At its core, tango is imbued with the spirit of romanticism, standing in stark contrast to the athletic spectacle of gymnastics and acrobatics. Tango dancers, therefore, should focus on the human spirit and experience, placing emphasis on relationship, connection, emotion, and the communication of feelings, rather than on the execution of physical tricks (see The Conceptional Beauty of Tango).

If romanticism is stripped from tango, what remains is merely a sport or a show - a hollow performance devoid of the emotional richness and depth that defines the dance. Unfortunately, in a culture increasingly dominated by games over classics, sports over arts, and technologies over humanity, tango risks losing its essence. Many individuals raised in this culture exhibit a lack of depth and lasting quality, focusing only on flashy forms and constantly seeking change and novelty without appreciating the substance that makes tango timeless.

To preserve the classic beauty of tango, it is imperative that we infuse more romanticism into our teaching and dancing. This means prioritizing simplicity and naturalness, valuing elegance over flashy tricks, and striving to convey genuine emotions and feelings through the dance. While fashion trends may come and go, romanticism is a timeless aspect of our humanity. It endures, waiting to be rekindled, and when brought to life in tango, it transforms the dance into a powerful expression of human connection and emotion that resonates across time (see Embracing Elegance).

Tango Is a Language (I)

You might not consider tango to be a language, but in reality, tango is indeed a language, which can be taught, acquired, comprehended, and employed to convey intentions, emotions, feelings, musical interpretations, as well as aspects of movement such as type, size, direction, speed, variations, and more. Those who know this language can effectively communicate with each other, discern the intentions and feelings of their partner, and dance together harmoniously as a unified entity. Those who are unfamiliar with this language find it challenging to express themselves and respond to others, and they feel awkward and frustrated in dancing together.

Similar to other languages, tango has its own alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and composition. The various body parts, including the head, arms, hands, torso, waist, hips, legs, and feet, can be seen as the alphabet of tango. We use these elements to make steps, which are the vocabulary of tango. Musicality and communication are like the grammar, according to which steps are improvised to form a dance. Choreography, which combines various steps into a coherent and artistic performance, is the composition of the dance.

Like studying any language, learning tango should start with the alphabet and grammar. Without using alphabet, we can't spell words. Without understanding grammar, we can't put words into proper use. One of the problems in our tango learning is that we focus only on studying vocabulary and don't pay nearly enough attention to the alphabet and grammar. We don't embrace correctly. We don’t understand the functions of verious body parts and often use them incorrectly in dance (see The Functions of Various Body Parts in Tango). Our posture is ugly. Our connection is broken. Our body is stiff, heavy and inflexible. We are unable to dissociate the upper body and the lower body. There is no balance and stability in our movements. We don't listen to music. We don't step on the beat. We don't follow the sentiment and mood of the music. We don't communicate well. Our lead is unclear and follow is clumsy. As a result, although we've memorized a lot of steps, we can't put them together in a meaningful, musical, harmonious and beautiful way.

Like any language, tango has a large vocabulary. No one can do all the steps in tango, just like no one knows all the words in a language. The fact is, we don't need to memorize the entire dictionary to speak a language. For example, in Chinese language there are more than 60,000 characters. The Kangxi Dictionary includes 47,000 characters. The official Xinhua Dictionary includes 8,550 characters. Among them only 950 characters are the most frequently used, which cover 90% of the total characters used in popular literature. An addition of 2,800 characters of the second highest use frequency increases the coverage to 99.9%. Most Chinese characters are rarely used.

Tango is the same. There are only limited steps that are essential in tango, such as walk, salida, resolution, switch between balance 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, calesita, enganche, volcada, americana, media vuelta, media luna, arrastrar, zarandeo, etc., form the other 9% less common, optional and dispensable steps in social tango. In addition to the above are steps used primarily in performance tango, such as enrosque, giro-enrosque-lapiz combination, high boleo, castigada, back sacada, gancho, colgada, single axis turn, soltada, patada, sentada, kick, lift, flip, etc. These steps are mainly used by professional performers for special effects only. They lack the friendliness of the social tango steps, are difficult, uncomfortable, dangerous and requiring a lot of space to do, therefore are not suitable for social dancing (see Social Tango and Performance Tango).

It is unwise to put your time and money on stuffs that are of very little use, but neglect the essentials that can benefit you most, and it is affected to use professional jargon to carry out a daily conversation. Unfortunately, that is what many tango students are doing. A much better approach to tango is to focus on the alphabet, grammar and basic vocabulary of tango 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. If you understand that, then tango is really a simple and easy dance. Those who are particularly talented and want to become stage performers can go further to learn performance, but that should be pursued after they have laid the foundation, not before, and certainly not at the milonga where even the professionals dancers dance sociably. (See Tango Is a Language (II).)

Driving and Synchronization

Raul Cabral is a tango master, a brilliant thinker and teacher of the milonguero style of tango. He published a series of essays on http://www.raultangocabral.com.ar. The following is a brief summary of his key message on achieving synchronization through proper embrace.

The most important qualities of a dancer have nothing to do with steps. What are essential for the leader are his musicality and his ability to drive the follower. What are essential for the follower are her abilities to be weightless and to synchronize the movement.

The leader is the driver in tango, who uses his body to effect the movement of the body of his partner. Every step of the leader should be expressed through his partner. Driving does not mean that he moves and waits for his partner to follow. Tango is synchronization, or moving exactly at the same time. This suggests that the word “follow” is an incorrect notion because “follow” implies a moment later. Even if the moment is minimal, there is no synchronization. What is correct for the follower is to enter the moving car of the leader and allow herself to be transported by him on their musical journey.

The unique and magical essence of tango, two bodies moving as one, is achieved solely by the ability of the body to communicate the message of its movement through the embrace. Many people, through tango, are beginning to discover the importance of the embrace, which takes us back to the first years of our lives, to the protection of the chest of women. It is the need of that connection that brings people into tango. The embrace is the reason that tango has triumphed in the multitude of societies in the world.

Driving and synchronization are achieved through proper embrace. Since the beginning of tango, there is only one communication in this dance and it is corporal, from body to body, not arms to arms. The two partners make contact through their bodies, which are weighted slightly forward on the balls but supported by the entire feet on the floor including heels. Each partner is responsible for his/her own balance. The man spreads his chest, offers it to the woman and welcomes her into his body. He embraces her firmly, but puts no pressure on her. There is nothing tense or hard in his body. He leads her with his whole body but his main message comes from his chest, from which he communicates the feelings, the direction, the size of the step, the timing, the cadence, the pause, etc. He never loses his contact to her, not even an instant, and he never cuts the flow of communication.

The woman settles into the man’s embrace, molding herself on him until it feels as if he were wearing her. She leans her body slightly forward against him and properly positions her chest so she can receive every minute message from his torso. She stretches her body from the waist on upwards, as if she were the string of a violin vibrating at his slightest touch. Her body is soft and relaxed. It is upon relaxation that her extremities, legs, arms and head, become void of matter, and her torso, especially her chest, becomes the main focus. This allows her to feel the messages from the body of the leader and move in unison with him. Her weight is on the inside of the ball of her foot, but her whole foot including the heel is in contact with the floor. Her arm lands gently and weightlessly on his shoulder. She doesn't hang on him or use the embrace to stabilize herself, but keeps her own balance, thus she is light. She is supple but toned, soft but with nothing loose (hips, for instance). Her presence is notable with subtle but assured pressure of her chest against his. She does not efface herself or break the connection, knowing if she separates herself from him she won‘t get the information from his body. She is continuously tuned to the messages he emits from his chest. Until the tango is over, her chest is permanently in contact with his. This is the most exact way to achieve synchronization.

Tango Embrace

Tango can be danced in a variety of ways. For example, it can be danced in a "virtual embrace," in which two partners dance around each other at a distance, without physical contact. The man leads with visual signals from his torso to indicate movements, while the women interprets these cues to execute each step. A visual lead is difficult to perceive because it cannot be felt and must be seen. The differences between different signals often are so subtle that they are difficult to discern with the eye. It's quite a challenge for the man to send a clear visual signal and for the woman to apprehend it. Also, a virtual embrace lacks the physicality, sensation and comfort of a physical embrace and limits movements that require physical support. Despite these, the virtual embrace highlights an essential distinction between leading and following: one is ploting the dance, and the other is beautifying the dance. It also underscores that leading and following are not only physical processes but also psychological, requiring mental focus and understanding. This awareness is crucial, as we cannot dance well with our feet unless we also dance with our hearts.

Tango can also be danced in an open hold, similar to that in ballroom dancing, where the dancers connect only through their arms and hands, without torso contact. Arms and hands are extensions of the body, so even without direct bodily contact, dancers can still sense each other’s intentions through these points of connection. The open hold, also known by its fine-sounding name “open embrace,” provides more space for dancers to maneuver, making it popular among movement-oriented dancers who enjoy performing elaborate figures. It is arguable, however, that in open embrace dancers still lead and follow with their torsos as they theoretically should. In reality, the absence of direct torso contact often leads dancers to rely on their arms and hands for signaling, which is not as seamless as leading and following with torsos. Also, the open embrace lacks the intimacy, comfort, and soulful quality of the close embrace.

Tango can also be danced using only torso communication, without the use of arms and hands. This torso communication is unique to Argentine tango, making it an intimate, feeling-oriented dance distinct from other dance forms. However, beginners who lack training and feel shy about intimacy often adhere to the habit of relying on their limbs. To help them overcome this habit, tango teachers may ask students to dance completely without using their arms and hands, relying solely on their torsos to send and receive signals. Some teachers even place a piece of paper between the students' chests, instructing them not to let it fall as they dance. While people don’t actually dance tango this way, the skills developed through this training provide students with a solid foundation for the dance.

The most comfortable and communicative embrace is the close embrace, in which partners lean into each other, chest to chest, with their faces touching. His left hand and her right hand hold at shoulder height, his right arm wraps around her body, and her left arm hooks over his right shoulder. The close embrace provides the most intimate connection and effective communication, making it favored by feeling-oriented dancers who enjoy the intimate, cozy, and soulful interactions between partners more than gymnastic movements.

Beginners may find close embrace hinders their movements, but that is only because they are novices. Dancing in close embrace requires techniques different from those used in open embrace tango, such as dancing in a compact way, using small, simple, rhythmic and synchronized steps, the command on dissociation, the mastery of cadencia, the ability to do spot dancing, the knack in floorcraft on a crowded dance floor, the focus on feelings rather than steps, and the emphasis on the elegance rather than flaunt of the movements, ect.

Experienced dancers may also use some variations of close embrace to increase movement possibilities. One variation is the V-shaped embrace in which the two partners are connected with one side of their torsos and leave the other side open. Another is increasing the lean of the body to allow more space between their legs. The combination of the two is yet another option. These variations require more flexibility and stamina of the body, and are less comfortable than the standard close embrace. In actual dancing the embrace often varies. For example, when dancing ocho the woman may alternate from one side V-shaped connection to a chest-to-chest connection to another side V-shaped connection.

The choice of embrace dependends on many factors, including physical conditions (flexibility and stamina of the body), dance styles (movement-oriented or feeling-oriented), purposes (social dancing or performance), environment (floor density and milonga codes), music (fast or slow tempo), movements (fancy or simple, large or small steps), maturity (age and experience), and genres (tango, vals or milonga). Every embrace has its merits and limits. In the milonguero style of tango, close embrace is used to facilitate the communication of feelings. In the Villa Urquiza style of tango, a loose embrace is used to ease fancy footwork. In stage tango, open embrace is used to deliver intricate performance (see Three Theories on Leading).

The close embrace earned tango a reputation as the "dance of the brothel" and led to its rejection by "polite society." The emergence of the open-embrace style contributed to the spread of tango. Some young generation dancers saw an opportunity for more elaborate performance in the open-embrace style and launched the tango Nuevo movement, which gained particular momentum outside Argentina, where intimacy between the sexes is often culturally discouraged. As tango moved in this direction, it began to lose its original feel. Gymnastic tendencies, antisocial behavior, breaking of the embrace, adoption of non-tango elements, shifts in gender roles, alternative music, same-sex partnerships, and other efforts to reform the dance emerged in succession, transforming tango into a hybrid form. The old guard in tango's homeland, the Argentine milongueros, strongly defend its roots. Their style of tango, known as the milonguero style, danced in close embrace, remains the dominant style in Buenos Aires today. Still, the battle between traditionalists and reformers continues. (See The Fourteenth Pitfall of a Tanguera.)

The Signature of Tango

Music plays a critical role in tango. Mediocre, unfamiliar, eccentric, and non-tango music has never produced a beautiful tango. Well-performed tangos are all danced to excellent classic tango music, which is an inspiration indispensable for bringing the dancers’ skills into full play. Good classic tango music excites the dancers, stirs up their emotions, kindles their creativity, generates synergism, and leads to what the Argentinians call duende, an elated state in which the dancers perform exceptionally well. Without good music, there is little scope for even a master’s abilities.

There are tens of thousands of tango songs available on the market. Only a fraction of which are high quality danceable songs, and the remainder are either of mediocre quality or made only for listening. CD makers are aware of this. They mix the good and bad songs together to avoid selling only a few songs. As a result, a CD with twenty tracks may only contain one or two good, danceable songs, with the rest being subpar. Argentines who grew up in tango culture know what a good tango song is. They buy a CD for that one or two good songs and discard the rest. American tourists, on the other hand, buy a CD and play everything on it. Without adequate knowledge of tango music, they collect tango songs as indiscriminately as they collect tango steps, and they display a preference for exotic and alternative music.

Experts all agree that familiarity with music is essential to an exuberant tango experience. The Argentinians only play well-known classic tango music in their milongas. They don’t even play unfamiliar tango songs, let alone alternative music. Playing such music does a disservice to tango. It is weird. It lacks the richness and depth of the classic tango music. It changes tango to a hybrid dance that caters to the taste of the amateurs and repels the seasoned dancers who in Argentina are treated with great respect, free or discount admission, best seats and their favorite classic tango music, because they are the mainstay of the milongas.

Classic tango music is the signature of tango. It is created and developed with tango and for tango. People recognize it and associate it with the dance when they hear it. There is a sentimental attachment between the two. In fact, tango dance and classic tango music are two aspects of one thing called Argentine tango, inseparable as body and soul. The fact that tango can be danced to other music doesn’t mean it can remain intact when so danced. One may dance tango to the music of Beijing opera, but that is no longer tango. Alternative music from different cultural background does not have the same rhythmic structure and sentimental richness of the classic tango music, which is passionate, multi-layered, manifold, changeful, sentimental and moody, allowing the dancers to interpret and improvise (see The Characteristics of Classic Tango). Any music sharing the same rhythmic structure and sentimental richness will be recognized as tango and not alternative music. By definition, alternative music is music that lacks the structural and sentimental depth of tango, therefore is not the best music for tango dancing. It only appeals to novices deficient in good taste or weird dudes seeking novelty, and people who choose to pander to their taste in order to make money.

Those who love tango more than money, on the other hand, can do one thing for tango. A three-hour milonga only contains 15 tondas or 60 songs. If we meticulously select 600 best classic tango songs and play them repeatedly in our milongas like the Argentinians do in the milongas of Buenos Aires, we will change our tango culture and raise the level of our dance in more ways than we can imagine. After all, tango is intimately related to its music. The better the music, the better the dance, the better the milonga, and the better we all will be. (See My Two Cents on Music Selections.)

Simple Is Beautiful

In societies of scarcity, people are accustomed to simplicity and frugality. In contrast, in societies of abundance like ours, luxury and waste are the norm. Tasks that others complete with a simple kitchen knife, we do with multiple specialized tools: one for chopping eggs, another for cutting meats, another for slicing tomatoes, another for peeling apples, another for shredding cucumbers, and so on. Our kitchens are crammed with clutter. Our houses are increasingly crowded, and the same is true for our shopping malls, governments, and tax codes. Our national debt has surpassed $14 trillion, with $350 billion paid in interest each year, yet we still spend as if there’s no tomorrow. Our commercial culture is obsessed with catching attention, which explains why TV ads are becoming increasingly bizarre. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our young people confuse weirdness with beauty. Just look at the punk hairstyles, tattoos, nose rings, lip and eyelid piercings, and sagging pants - they’re all about grabbing attention rather than conveying genuine beauty.

The way we dance tango reflects this culture. Tango is actually a simple dance, but we insist on making it complex and difficult. In Argentina, tango is danced with natural, normal, simple, and comfortable steps, while our version is cluttered with showy, gaudy, exaggerated, and awkward movements. Simplicity and naturalness are an acquired taste we often lack. We regard complexity and oddity as beautiful. In Argentina, tango focuses on music, feeling, harmony, and physical pleasure, whereas our tango emphasizes fancy footwork, showy figures, dramatic performances, revealing costumes, luxurious hotels, and costly festivals. We’re too focused on superficiality.

Let me champion an aesthetic that values simplicity and naturalness. Nature is simple and beautiful. Light makeup is more comfortable than heavy, unnatural makeup. A house decorated simply is more pleasant than one cluttered with ostentatious ornaments. Concise writing is superior to redundant expression. Simple movements look more elegant than intricate steps. Empty space adds design and depth to a painting. Silence often says more than words. Too much can be worse than not enough. A kung fu master practices his skill with great ease; the best way is often the simplest (see The Advantages of Simplicity versus Flashy Movements).

Artistic simplicity is a key principle in aesthetics, capable of achieving unexpected, often superior, results. The video below, in which dance recreates a classic Chinese painting, is a prime example.

The same principle applies to tango. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - a quality those who focus only on the surface lack. Tango is not an extravagant luxury; it is a simple pleasure and a personal experience that shouldn’t cost an absurd amount of money to enjoy. As tango dancers, we must keep ourselves free from the commercialism and frivolous customs of our time. We must turn our attention from the superficial to the internal. An ordinary-looking woman with refined inner qualities is much more attractive than a pretty woman without them. Tango is the same. It is for feeling, not for show. When tango stops being a performance, it will be simpler, deeper, better, and more enjoyable (see The Conceptional Beauty of Tango).

True Beauty Comes from Within

We love tango in part because it's a beautiful dance. This affinity for beauty is intrinsic to our nature. Just as flowers bloom and birds sing to attract mates, beauty serves as a natural advantage, enhancing the chances of survival and prosperity. Consequently, it is coveted, revered, and imitated. Yet, the relentless pursuit of beauty has led to its transformation. What was once natural and genuine has become an artificial and deceptive illusion.

In our fixation on this illusion, substance often takes a back seat, leading to a myriad of issues. While a beautiful woman may enjoy certain advantages, she may also face drawbacks. She might become entitled, superficial, and unprepared for the tough realities in real life. She might demand more and be hard to please. A likely prey of men, jealousy of women, and heart breaker to many suitors, she may have more enemies than she can handle. Consequently, she can be arrogant, aloof, suspicious, mistrustful, and overly protective. She may live a less worry-free life. It is crucial to acknowledge that everything has a cost. Beauty is only a skin deep. It is neither the only thing nor the most important thing in life and tango.

Just as an obsession with appearance blinds us to inner worth, an infatuation with flashy steps obscures the essence of tango - connection and feelings. However, without these tango becomes an empty show. True beauty emanates from within. It lies in the shared commitment, understanding, musicality, agreement, and harmony between the partners. If you visit Buenos Aires, you will see that is how tango is danced by the milongueros. They don't care much about fancy steps. They concentrate on the relationship, music and feelings, and their dance is so beautiful that it is imitated by superficial foreigners without understanding its essence.

Tango is still young in the US. It takes maturity to overcome shallowness and to understand true beauty. The more I dance with women of all ages, the more I appreciate mature women. I found that, even in Buenos Aires, mature women are better dancers overall. Their youthful freshness is fading, and they start to focus more on the true essence of this dance. It is my aspiration that tango in our country will also overcome its superficiality and focus more on the substance as we become more mature dancers (see The Conceptional Beautify of Tango).

Women’s Role in Cabeceo

When a man finds a woman attractive, the first thing he does is gazing at her. His eyes are captured and he cannot take them away from her. The woman may respond by ignoring him if she doesn’t want to encourage him, or looking into his eyes if she, too, is interested. The encouraged man then may wink or nod at her with intent to approach her, or he may take his eyes off her if he decides not to pursue. This game between men and women is played every day, everywhere.

In the milongas of Buenos Aires, this is also the game men and women play. A man looks around the dance hall to search for a partner. If he found a woman he likes to dance with, he stares at her. The woman who is also looking for a partner will soon notice him. If she doesn’t want to dance with him, she averts her eyes. If she wants to dance with him, she fixes her eyes at him and waits for him to invite her. He does so by nodding his head at her, and she responds with a nod of her head to accept his invitation. All these are done silently without verbal exchange.

This way of inviting a woman to dance is called cabeceo. Cabeceo becomes a practice in the milongas of Buenos Aires mainly because tango is an intimate dance. Argentine tango is danced in close embrace with considerable physical contact between the partners. For a woman to engage in such an intimate activity with a man, she has to do it by her own will. Otherwise, even if she reluctantly accepts his invitation, she will be reserved, cold and dry. She will not surrender herself to him and dance with passion and feelings. That's why cabeceo is considered as a requisite part of tango. A milonguero will not dance with a woman unless she shows a clear desire to dance with him by looking into his eyes and responding to his cabeceo with a smile and nod.

The advantage of cabeceo over a verbal invitation is that it puts women in an advantageous position. For tango to be a fulfilling experience for a woman, she needs a partner matching her in skills and musicality. To find such a partner, she cannot passively sit there waiting for someone to come to invite her, but must choose her own match, and she must select among all men, not just the few who happened to walk up to her table. An Argentine woman does not sit there waiting for someone to pick her. She takes initiative in the process by willingly showing her desire to dance with the man of her own choice. In that way she invites him to cabeceo her and prevents herself from being bothered by those who she doesn’t want to dance with.

For men, cabeceo is also a better way to invite a woman to dance. To verbally ask a woman to dance, the man must traverse the room to reach her. If she declines, not only does he have to swallow the embarrassment, but he also has to make the return journey. By that time, other potential dance partners may already be taken, forcing him to wait until the current tanda concludes for another opportunity. But by using cabeceo, he can quickly and remotely secure a dance partner without risking potential public rejection.

For cabeceo to work, women must participate in the process. If women do not actively search for a partner, then men cannot cabeceo them even if they want to. But for women to be active, tango must be an intimate experience so personal to them that they don’t want to do it with anyone other than the men of their choice, just like they don’t want to sleep with anyone other than those they love. The reason cabeceo doesn’t work in the US is that our tango has not yet reached that level. Most women here are novices to tango and are unable to dance tango in a deeply personal way. They do not surrender and intimately engage themselves with men in the dance. They use an open dance hold to avoid physical contact. They focuse on the steps and neglect their partner. They sit there talking to each other and don't give a damn about men. They avoid eye contact with men for fear of giving men ideas. They turn a blind eye to men who stare at them because they do not know what that means and how to respond. Consequently, they can only wait for someone to come and accept any verbal invitation. (See Tango Etiquette: Eye Contact, Talking, Clique and Hierarchy).

It is ironic that in macho Argentina women get to decide with whom they want to be intimate by using cabeceo, while in feminist America women have so little control on a matter so personal to them. Cabeceo is a practice found only in mature tango communities. It results from women's active participation in the partner selection process. Most importantly, it is an indication of their tango education and experience. This, by the way, is another reason why milongueros only use cabeceo to invite women to dance. (See How to Get More Invitations in the Milonga.)

Tango Is a Relationship

Tango is an intimate dance. It allows your partner to touch your body, enjoy your snug embrace, gentle obedience, attentive leading, accommodating following, and loving protection. It also allows your partner to access and listen to the inner voice of you. In fact, your partner can learn a lot about you by dancing with you. How you connect, move, communicate, respond and adapt tells a lot about the somatic, psychological, ethical, artistic and aesthetic qualities in you. The way you dance unreservedly reveals who you are: friendly or aloof, shy or oppen, emotional or impassive, spontaneous or rigid, musical or unmusical, sensitive or sluggish, calm or irascible, agreeable or disagreeable, coordinated or clumsy, yielding or demanding... all are exposed in the dance.

Tango is a relationship. Like any relationship wherein the well-being of the involved individuals are related and interdependent, you have to be and do your best in order to bring out the best of your partner. In tango, as in any relationship, your ego is your worst enemy. It’s the ego that makes you self-centered, arrogant, controlling, inflexible, irascible, rude and counteractive. Tango is fully enjoyed only when the two partners act as one in complete agreement and harmony. You need to let go your ego, surrender yourself to your partner, listen to their inner voice, follow their intention, accommodate yourself to them, tacitly complement them to bring out their strength and make up their weakness, and let them feel totally comfortable and enjoy dancing with you. If you only focus on yourself and neglect your partner, you will fail the dance even if you can do all the fancy steps in the world. After all, tango is a social act that requires good manners. Learning tango is much more than learning steps. It is, alongside other things such as acquiring a taste, a new set of values, and a different culture, learning to be one with another person. Unfortunately, this very important perspective is often being neglected.

Tango as a Philosophy

Tango is different things to different individuals: for men, it is leading; for women, it is following; for beginners, it is steps; for seasoned dancers, it is the expression of music and feelings; for lovers, it is a relationship; for attention seekers, it is a show; for heterosexuals, it is a gender expression; for homosexuals, it is a gender-neutral play; for social dancers, it is a dissipation for personal pleasure; for professionals, it is a job to entertain audiences; for casual enthusiasts, it is a recreation; for devoted milongueros, it is a lifestyle; for foreigners, it is a simple interest or fascination; and for Argentinians, it stands as a deeply ingrained emblem that bears their history and culture... We all dance tango differently because of who we are and how we understand tango.

Tango philosophy involves issues that make us different. The following is an incomplete list of such issues. Each may have many answers. Some answers may be more or less correct or incorrect, others may just be personal preferences and neither right nor wrong. But collectively these opinions and preferences decide the way each of us dances and behaves, and divide us into diffferent categories. Studying and exchanging views on these issues can help deepen our understanding, learn from each other, improve our dance, and, hopefully, achieve mastery through a comprehensive grasp of all aspects of tango.

1. What is tango
2. Why people dance tango
3. The gender roles in tango
4. The relationship of the two sexes
5. Gender neutrality vs. gender expression
6. Independence vs. interdependence
7. Feminism and its impact on tango
8. Individualism and its impact on tango
9. Individual performance vs. teamwork
10. Tango as a skill vs. tango as a fellowship
11. Elitism vs. populism
12. Steps vs. chreography
13. Cultural bias and impacts
14. Social tango vs. performance tango
15. Close embrace vs. open embrace
16. Embrace-oriented style vs. step-oriented style
17. Movements vs. feelings
18. Romanticism vs. gymnastics
19. Prioritizing look vs. prioritizing essence
20. The unity of form and content
21. Classic tango music vs. alternative music
22. Dancing steps vs. dancing music
23. Dancing to rhythm vs. dancing to melody
24. The danceability of tango music
25. Tango styles
26. Three theories on leading
27. Self-centered leading vs. partner-centered leading
28. Active follow vs. passive follow
29. Simplicity vs. complexity
30. Elegance vs. fanciness
31. Comfort vs. beauty
32. Reform vs. tradition
33. Creativity vs. standardization
34. Imitating steps vs. developing skills
35. Progressive dancing vs. spot dancing
36. Cabeseo vs. verbal invitation
37. Artistic sublimation vs. vulgarism
38. Liberty vs. milonga codes
39. The freedom in tango
40. Tango and the outlook on life
41. A dance that teaches the world to love

Walk

The traditional tango pedagogy places significant emphasis on walking. In the past, tango masters would spend extended periods teaching the walk before moving on to any figures, and there were sound reasons for this approach. First, tango is fundamentally a walking dance, no other dance form incorporates walking to the extent that tango does. Second, there’s a strong correlation between walking and dancing. The challenges dancers have in the walk often surface in their dancing; those who walk well generally dance well, while those who struggle with the walk often experience issues in other movements. Third, the walk is the simplest of all tango steps, yet it is the foundation on which more complex steps are built. If dancers cannot execute a basic walk correctly, it is unlikely that they will perform advanced steps well, and their problems can often be traced back to a weak walk. Lastly, because the walk is such a straightforward movement, it can be used to develop other basic skills such as embrace, posture, connection, communication, balance control, dissociation, and musicality. Beginners cannot effectively focus on all these elements when learning complex movements. They need to first master the basics before moving on to intricate steps and figures. To achieve this the exercises need to be kept simple, and practicing walking is a perfect way to that end.

The subpar quality of our tango is due in many ways to inadequate training in walking. American culture holds that learning must be fun and effortless. Our schools have the most entertaining environment and least homework. Our teachers do not want to bore students with repetitive drills, and our students are eager to try advanced moves before mastering the basics - believing they already know how to walk.

Nothing is farther from true. You look normal only till people see you learning to walk in tango. In fact, everyone looks clumsy and funny in their first tango walk. This is because walking chest-to-chest with a partner in close embrace is not something you commonly do. You feel awkward and uncomfortable in such close proximity with a stranger, leaning into him while stepping backward. Your body is heavy, stiff, and unbalanced. You struggle to keep up with the beat, extend your leg far enough back, or avoid being stepped on by your partner. Your posture is misaligned, with your hips sticking out, knees bending excessively, or a tendency to bounce or wobble. Many also find it challenging to dissociate their upper and lower body when walking alongside their partner, leading to an unsteady embrace and inadvertently pulling their partner off balance (see Women's Walk in Tango).

Until you find comfort in the embrace, you are not ready for the next steps. This is why walking is so important. It is simple, it keeps you grounded, and it helps you focus on the essentials. In fact, it’s not just about walking; it’s about everything foundational: embrace, posture, connection, musicality, balance, stability, flexibility, lightness, dissociation, communication, elegance, and harmony.