Tango Is a Language (II)

In order to communicate with someone you need to speak the same language. If you speak a different language, or talk with a strange accent, or use self-invented words, it would be hard for people to understand you. Not speaking the same language is a big problem in our tango. Different leaders often lead the same step differently. Different followers often follow the same lead differently. The leaders complain that the followers are following incorrectly, and the followers complain that the leaders' signals are unclear. This happens often because people do not speak the same tango language.

Many students fail to grasp the significance of standardization. They ignore the instructions, overlook the fundamentals, and disregard the standands. This tendency is particularly noticeable among people embracing unconventional approaches and seeking to dance in a way deviating from the traditional tango. Some tango teachers also contribute to this problem by teaching self-invented and nonstandard steps that are unsuitable for social dancing. While such creative liberties may be acceptable for performing on stage - where the professionals only dance with a fixed partner and can rehearse their routine beforehand - it presents a challenge in the milongas where partners are randomly selected, successful communication and the ability to improvise in harmony largely depend on adhering to the same standards. Without these unified standards, dancers cannot communicate well with each other and dance in unison and harmony.

Social media has further complicated the already divided tango language. Many students mistakenly consider the exhibitions they see online as the standard tango, when in reality, those are performances that differ from the tango danced in the milongas (see Social Tango and Performance Tango).

The tango that most people dance in the milongas is social tango, particularly the milonguero style of tango. This style continues to thrive as a grassroots dance in Buenos Aires today, attracting tango enthusiasts from around the world who come to experience the indigenous, authentic tango at over two hundred milongas throughout the city. No matter what tango language you speak at home, when you visit Buenos Aires you realize that their language is the tango language you must conform to. If social tango needs a standard language to become an international dance, that must be the language of Buenos Aires.

Examining the histories of other languages can provide valuable insights into this matter. The Chinese language, for example, has historically evolved into many dialects due to geographical barriers, making communication challenging between people from different regions. In the past hundred years, the Chinese have endeavored to promote a standard dialect. This goal has only been partially accomplished in recent decades, primarily due to the widespread use of Mandarin in media broadcasting and school education. However, despite progress, many Chinese residing in rural areas still use local dialects incomprehensible to outsiders.

If you study Chinese, you want to study Mandarin and not a local dialect. Likewise, if you learn tango, you want to learn Argentine tango and not Finnish tango or American tango. If your purpose is to dance tango in the milongas, you want to study social tango and not performance tango, and you want to learn the milonguero style danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires, not some self-invented and localized style danced only in a university campus in North America. Some university campuses in North America are fairly isolated. They rarely associate with other tango communities and seldom invite outside teachers in to teach. As a result, they developed their own tango dialect unfamiliar to tango dancers elsewhere.

Similarly, foreigners visiting Buenos Aires often find themselves unable to dance with the locals because they dance differently from the locals. As tango gains worldwide popularity, the possibility that it is transformed into different dialects increases. If we are not careful, we may end up repeating the history of the Chinese language.

Here is how Argentinians dance tango in their milongas.