The Characteristics of Classic Tango

Dancing Tango is not just stepping to the beat of the music being played - that perhaps is how disco is danced, but not tango. Dancing tango is dancing the sentiment and feelings of the music. Sentimentalism is a notable feature of classic tango. Created by early immigrants to Argentina, tango contains the homesickness and nostalgia of its creators and reflects their thirst for love and longing for a better life. (See Tango: The Historical and Cultural Impacts.) Modern rock bands with electronically amplified instruments might be able to create a more majestic sound, but they can't replicate the lingering sentiment of classic tango. That is not only because electronic instruments are short on expressing the mood of tango, but also because the contemporary rockers lack the experience of the early immigrants. Classic tango is a product of that particular era in Argetina. The environment of its mass production has ceased to exist in modern times, but the human emotions expressed in classic tango are universal and timeless, which people of the contemporary age, especially those struggling at the bottom, can still understand and resonate. (See Why People Dance Tango.) Dancing tango, one should not just dance the steps and ignore the feelings of the music, because only by understanding and resonating with these feelings can one dance tango well.

The feelings expressed in classic tango are the feelings of the men and women of the time, represented by two different but intertwined moods. Classic tango is heterosexual rather than homosexual in nature. It has a rhythm that is masculine - strong, forceful, steady and predictable, and a melody that is feminine - soft, emotional, beautiful and moody, Each note or phrase expresses the strength, resolution and firmness of men, or tenderness, affection and obedience of women. The two opposite moods intertwine with each other, reflecting the two sexes in the dance. Dancing tango, you have to imagine that you are playing music with your body. The man and the woman are different instruments. One is like the bandoneon, the other is like the violin. One is the passion of the drums, the other the beauty of the melody. One is philosophy, the other poem. Each with a unique sound, expresses a different emotion. Both are indispensable and irreplaceable, and they must collaborate harmoniously and complement each other in order to create a beautiful tango. (See The Gender Expression in Tango.)

Those who deny gender roles do not know what they are doing. (See The Gender Roles in Tango.) The so-called new tango or alternative music promoted by them often lacks an opposite theme. (See The Signature of Tango.) It is either too soft, without a lucid rhythm, or too monotonous, short of rhythmic diversity. In contrast, classic tango is created in line with the characteristics of the dance. Unlike mush soft-music and monotonous march, classic tango not only has a recognizable rhythm but also is rich in syncopation, therefore is very danceable. Syncopation means changing the location of an accented beat by stressing an upbeat, or beginning a tone on an upbeat and continue it through the next downbeat. Syncopation modifies the rhythm and makes it more adaptable to a rich variety of footwork possibilities to express complex emotions. (See Tango Music and Its Daceability.) This feature of classic tango, however, may cause a difficulty for beginners to grasp the rhythm of the song. As a result, some people prefer monotonous alternative music instead. The taste of the beginners will evolve with their education and experience. Tango dancers need to study tango music, understand its emotions and be familiar with its melody, rhythm, tempo, syncopation, pause, extension, etc., in order to dance tango well.

Most classical tango music has a vocal part, which usually is not throughout but appears only in certain parts of the song, as if it is an instrument collaborating with the other instruments. The lyrics are commonly written in lunfardo, the old street slang of the lower classes in Buenos Aires, expressing nostalgia, homesickness and the pain of lost love. These are songs of the immigrants. Only old milongueros and a small number of portenos today can fully understand them. Those who do not understand the lyrics may not always feel easy to grasp the syncopated and extended syllables, thus could have a difficulty to follow them. But these beautiful lyrics express delicate feelings and are favored by the milongueros. Many of whom can sing the lyrics and dance to them with facility, which is one of the reasons why the milongueros perceive their dance quite differently from the foreigners. Not understanding the lyrics is a disadvantage of the foreigners, but that is not an insurmountable obstacle. The dancers' education can compensate for their inadequacy in language, because as long as one is willing to listen, the sentiment and emotions of the song can be perceived through the melody, rhythm, tempo, tone and mood of the music. Of course, learning the language can help to better understand the feelings of the songs. By the way, some foreigners understood neither the culture nor the language of tango, but they thought they knew tango better than the milongueros, which to me is arrogant and ridiculous. (See Tango and Gender Equality.)