The Conceptional Beauty of Tango

The unity of form and content holds great significance in tango philosophy. Tango is created out of a human need (see Why People Dance Tango). From this need arises beauty, which then leads to a deviation from this need and only pursue beauty, hence the alienation of tango. The admiration for beauty is not without good reasons, otherwise there would not be art. But in the pursuit of art, we must not forget that it is not just a form. Without the content art loses meaning. A watch that is not accurate is not a good watch, although it may look pretty. A selfish woman is not a good wife, although she may be physically attractive. Tango is the same. You may invent fancy steps, but without the essence of tango it is not good tango.

Novices often judge tango by its look, just like some people judge success by possessions. Warren Buffett said, "The truth is, when you come to my age you will understand, success is measured by how many people really care about you and love you. Money doesn't make people rich. What makes us rich is love." You might envy someone's fortune, but in the end you only want to be with a person who truly cares about you, knowing that what's on the inside is more important than what's on the surface. Tango is the same. What makes it gratifying is not its steps but what the steps convey.

Marie Curie said, "If you're not pretty at 17, you can blame your parents for not giving you a pretty face. But if at 30 you still are not pretty, you only have yourself to blame, because in that long period of time you didn't add anything new into yourself." What is truly attractive is one's inner quality. A tango dancer who only values look and ignores feeling is like a parvenus who lives in a big mansion and drives luxury cars but at heart he is still a poor man. What makes a person noble is not his money but upbringing. Formalist dancers and extravagant upstarts are birds of a feather. Arts that stand the test of time, whether painting, music or dance, are those with inherent depth of human spirit rather than just aestheticism. As Mother Teresa once eloquently said: "Hunger does not only mean the need of food, but also the need of love. Cold does not only mean the want of clothing, but also the want of dignity. Homelessness does not only mean without a home, but also the rejection and abandonment by society." What tango quenches is the thirst of the soul. It is not only beautiful in its form, but more so in its content.

This kind of inner beauty is invisible. It exists in the minds, emotions, feelings, characters, relationships and imaginations. In the eyes of a lover his beloved is a beauty. What seems attractive at the first sight may become plain with time, and vice versa. Some people are beautiful because of their intelligence, others because of their charisma. Certain beauty can only be appreciated by the heart and not the eyes, such as poem, music, love and friendship. A tango can stir up different feelings because what people hear may not be the song, but their own emotions. Everything seems bright when the heart is shiny, and gloomy when the heart is clouded. The past is more splendid in memory than it was in reality, and so is the future in the vision. All these suggest that beauty is not just a form but also a subjective feeling.

Ultimate beauty is conceptional, transcending the visual boundaries and allowing the mind to fly in the realm of imagination. Tango is not primarily a visual art but art of feeling and consciousness. In tango you can close your eyes and follow your intuition. You can't see how your partner dances, only feel his/her embrace, touch, move, and through which his/her emotions, feelings, temperament and personality. His masculinity, strength, dependability, support, protection, thoughtfulnes and finesse, her femininity, softness, obedience, affection, seduction and tacit agreement, all are but feelings. Even his/her musicality and quality of dance are conceived through the sense. Tango provides plenty room for imagination. Dancing tango is like attending a banquet of feelings. Its beauty is largely conceptional rather than visual (see Tango Is a Feeling).

It is regretful that formalist dancers focus only on the visible and ignore the invisible. What makes tango unique is its conceptional beauty. Tango has great potentials in this area. Exploring its inner beauty so that tango may become an even richer emotional feast is a worthy goal. Although it is natural for beginners to focus on the external, as comprehension proceeds from the outside to the inside and from the shallow to the deep, my aspiration is that this process can be shortened, so that when you come to the age of Warren Buffett, Marie Curie and Mother Teresa, you would not regret for what you have missed out in your pursuit of vanity. Isn't that often the case beyond tango (see The Psychology in Tango)?