Tango Is the Search of a Dream

Tango contains the dream, longing and hope of the early immigrants to Argentina. It is a utopia or refuge where brotherly love, intimacy, fellowship and kindness triumph over animosity, prejudice, hatred and injuries, where peace and harmony are achieved through submission, cooperation and accommodation rather than conflict, antagonism and aggression, where the opposite sexes complement and comfort each other rather than being hostile and belligerent to each other, and where people can enjoy a temporary relief from the pressure and stress of modern day living. (See Tango: The Historical and Cultural Impacts.)

Those who see modernization as progress fail to see its downside. In many ways, modernization is a dehumanization process that transforms people from interconnected and interdependent social beings into self-sufficient, independent individuals. It weakens the natural bonds between people and shifts their attention from their common good to individual interests. The attachment, fraternity, interdependence and mutual responsibilities 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, inequality, 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 In short, humanity has been replaced by so-called modernity.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 have blind faith in modernization need to reflect on reality. A blogger wrote, "The world is like water, and humans are like ink. What humans do to the world is like what ink does to water. With the passage of time, ink only makes water muddier, not clearer. Comparing to our 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 unhappy people." Another blogger 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 like us who are able to invent 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 people how to dance tango but also promote its values, because without these values, tango, too, will be assimilated by the world. (See How You Dance Matters.)