Tango is not only a fascinating dance but also a fascinating philosophy, culture and lifestyle. The search of tango is the search of connection, love, fellowship, unity, harmony and beauty, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us into individuals, but tango unites us into a team, community and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through affinity, altruism, cooperation, and accommodation. It is a dance that teaches the world to love.



March 18, 2014

The Affinity and Harmony between Partners


Tango only happens when the two dancers are immersed in the music and find the connection between them. There cannot be tango between two beginners who don't listen to the music, are physically detached, emotionally disconnected and unable to communicate their feelings. (See Tango Is a Feeling.) They dance like two individuals bickering and disagreeing with each other. In contrast, mature dancers are fully connected. They immerse themselves in the music, which moves them, stirs their emotions, resonates with them, and enables them to find connections. As a result, they dance like two soulmates in perfect agreement. This agreement is what makes tango intoxicating.

What we are looking for in tango is the affinity and harmony between the dancers. A good tango partner doesn't have to be good-looking, but he/she must be a good match so dancing with them makes you feel the chemistry. Novice dancers tend to focus on superficial things like steps and impression. But such external things are unessential. What is essential is the dancer's inner quality: his masculinity, musicality, strength, leadership, protection, thoughtfulness and finesse; her femininity, lightness, flexibility, obedience, agreeableness, adaptability and coordination; and the connection and harmony between them. Those who pursue vanity and ignore the essence cannot find tango, just like they cannot find love. People often compare tango to love because the two share a common theme. (See A Dance that Teaches People to Love.) They both involve a relationship in which the two sexes play different roles but complement each other. They both aim at achieving oneness and harmony through commitment, submission, communication, understanding, cooperation and accommodation. A reader, after read my post The Gender Roles in Tango, remarked, "These seem to be applicable to real life relationships as well." Indeed, the concept of tango has a universal value. It reveals the way to achieve oneness and harmony in all kinds of relationships between individuals, genders, political parties and social groups, etc. (See The Lessons of Tango.)

Beginners need to turn their attention from the external to the internal. Instead of focusing on steps, they should focus on being one with each other. Concentrating on steps may cause them to ignore their partner, or blame their partner for not dancing well and want to correct him or her, resulting in incoordination. Focusing on being one with each other, on the other hand, will allow the dancer to work closely with the partner, or even be conceding enough to make the partner feel at home, so that the two may become one in the dance. Tango is like marriage. What makes it work is not pressing your partner to follow your will, but being cooperative and accommodating. Novice women often feel comfortable dancing with a milonguero, not because the novices know their stuff, but because the milonguero knows how to accommodate them. Surrendering, adapting to and being one with your partner, therefore, are more important than doing steps. (See Tango Is a Relationship.)



March 13, 2014

Tango Is the Search of a Dream


Tango contains the dream, longing and hope of the early immigrants to Argentina. It is a utopia where brotherly love, intimacy, affinity and kindness triumph over animosity, prejudice, hatred and injuries, where peace and harmony are achieved through submission, agreement, cooperation and accommodation rather than contest, competition, hostility and aggression, where masculinity and femininity comfort each other and bring out the best in each other, and where people can enjoy a temporary relief from the conflicts and stresses of everyday life. (See Tango: The Historical and Cultural Impacts.)

Those who see modernization as progress overlooked its negative side. Modernization dehumanizes mankind by turning us from an intimately connected social species to self-sufficient and independent individuals, weakens the natural bond between people, and shifts our focus from common interests to self-interest. The attachment, fraternity, interdependence and mutual care among people have faded away. Family is falling apart. Family values are lost. The ecological balance is disrupted. Natural resources are depleted. The environment is irreversibly damaged. Egoism, individualism, feminism, division, polarization, divorce, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, single-parent family, materialism, competition, stress, corruption, violence and crimes become the new norm. In short, humanity has been replaced by modernity. (See Tango and Individualism.)

The popularity of tango in our times is a profound phenomenon. We dream of a society that is equal, fair, friendly, cooperative, orderly and harmonious like a well-organized milonga, not a society that is driven by self-interest and imbued with competition, hostility, injury, stress, madness, inequality, division, and shooting. Those who blindly pursue modernization need to reflect on reality. Is modernity worth pursuing at the expense of humanity and the environment? A blogger wrote, "The world is like water and man is like ink. What man does to the world is what ink does to water. With the passage of time, ink only makes water muddier, not clearer. Comparing to today's postmodern world, the past is simpler, purer, hence better." A woman wrote, "In modern-day life we are centered around our work, which demands aggression. But if we keep being aggressive in our marriage, constantly fighting for self-interest and pushing our partner to make concessions until he gives up, then such marriage can only create an unhappy person." A Facebook friend wrote, "How many American businessmen lie in a hospital bed, after their heart attack, before they look around and ask themselves, 'How did I end up spending my life this way... working too many hours... the love of my life is a stranger, if we haven't divorced... I missed my children growing up because I worked too much... I spent my lifetime, not with my friends, but pursuing financial security... and in the end, I ended up here?'" Indeed, modernization is like a fatal attraction that causes us to lose the essence of being human. What happened to our sanity? Why an intelligent species who have invented computers, internet and GPS couldn't build a world for ourselves that makes more sense? (See The World Needs a Different Philosophy.)

I believe this universal reflection on modernity versus humanity, this yearning for a balanced life and a harmonious society, is not irrelevant to the revival of tango today. One hundred years ago, immigrants far away from home created this dance in which they placed their dream, a dance full of human spirit and beauty, a dance that highlights connection, fraternity, cooperation and harmony. Today's tango dancers are chasing the same dream, I believe. People who have the fortune to get involved in tango must take the responsibility to preserve this sanctuary for mankind. We not only need to teach others how to dance tango but also teach its values, because without these values, tango, too, will be assimilated by the world. (See The Freedom in Tango.)