From Steps to Feelings

How tango is danced in Buenos Aires
Many Europeans and Americans dance tango differently than Argentines. For years I tried to find a video to show how tango is danced in Argentina in order to change people's perception. But I couldn't find a satisfying one because tango videos are mostly shot by people interested only in their own version of tango. The few that do reflect the truth are poorly made, often filled with irritating details. Perhaps even in Buenos Aires most milongas fail to meet the standard because foreigners are always heavily involved, making it difficult to capture a truly porteño milonga. Only recently did I come across this video made by Paul Holman, which I find represents a milonga that I like to call home.

I like this video not only for its clarity, lighting, color, and cinematography but also for the producer's unique perspective. Paul Holman understood that tango is a dance of intimacy, connection, and surrender; that steps and footwork are secondary; that milonga codes play a crucial role; and that he should focus on the essentials, avoiding misleading trifles to let viewers experience a truly great milonga. I’ve been watching this video often, simply to enjoy that soulful scene and remind myself of how one should behave and dance in the milongas.

How tango is danced in Europe and North America
In Europe and North America, people have a quite different perception. Here is an example of how they dance tango in their milongas.

They dance tango not to enjoy the music, feeling, and intimacy with another person, but to display or practice steps. I believe most of these people knew that tango is an intimate dance, and they came because they wanted to taste that apple. Yet, for some hypocritical reasons, they used an open dance hold to replace the embrace, distanced themselves from each other, and focused solely on the steps rather than the music, partner, and feelings.

To be fair, this is not the worst case. One can tell it’s a growing tango community. A number of dancers danced in the milonguero style and were fair to good dancers. But most of them were still beginners who didn’t know how to embrace and dance. They relied on their arms and hands to lead and follow. Many were practicing what they had recently learned. Most were emotionally detached, and only a few actually danced to the music. The milonga codes were poorly followed, exemplified by verbal invitations, wearing ornaments that rubbed against their partner's chest, blocking traffic, remaining on the floor during the cortina, loud background noise, and excessive talking. The music, while traditional, was not particularly engaging. The overall scene was quite chaotic. Toward the end, there were a few better dances, but overall, I don’t think this milonga was very attractive or satisfying. Unfortunately, this is still a typical tango scene in Europe and North America.

Another common Euro-American tango scene
Common among our young people is another kind of tango scene showing below.

Young people seem to need to discharge their youthful energy and prove their ability to do things in unconventional ways. Using an open dance hold rather than an embrace, they can perform fancy steps and showy figures. Some have even attained a certain degree of skillfulness in what they do. Nevertheless, there is no fundamental difference between this kind of tango and other sports dances. Personally, I don't see how this way of dancing tango can be considered enjoyable, compared to the feeling-oriented milonguero style. I wish there were better reasons why some people insist on doing this when there is clearly a better way, except they want to show off, have obstacles, or don't know better. As far as comfort, soulfulness, indulgence, and gratification are concerned, there is truly no comparison between the two styles.

It may be characteristic of young people to act rebelliously, but being obsessed with stereotypes or wanting to prove they are different from older generations is both childish and naïve. Older people were once young and rebellious too. In fact, many milongueros can perform Nuevo steps better than young dancers today. They quit doing so because they became wiser after tried everything that young people with their limited experience cannot even imagine. Most young people learn tango from their peers, who, in turn, learned from their own peers, and so they simply don’t know another way to dance tango. Once they have experienced the milongueros’ approach, most will renounce theirs and follow suit.

This is how milongueros emerge
Three decades of trial and error since 1983 eventually lead some tango dancers in Europe and North America to move away from exhibitionism and pay more attention to the embrace, music and feelings. As a result, scenes like this start to appear in Europe and North America in recent years.

Their embrace and connection become closer and more intimate. Their dance becomes more feeling-oriented. Their steps become simpler, more musical, and more elegant. Their milonga becomes better organized. Antisocial behaviors are less seen. While showy footwork still appears, the embrace still breaks at times, hand use still remains habitual for some, music selections are still more dramatic than entimental, hastiness is still common, dresses are still too casual, and skill levels are uneven—progress is nevertheless evident compared to the previous two scenes. Such transformation certainly could not come without pain, given the strong Western traditions of liberalism, individualism, feminism, and the hippie movement. However, the dancers in this example have demonstrated that change is possible. It reassures us that there is still a lot of hope in tango, in humanity, and in our capacity to adapt.

How social tango should be danced
It is worth your time to watch Holman's video again and compare it to our own tango. The following is an edited version. This time please pay attention to how the milongueros and milongueras follow the milonga codes from seating, making eye contact, doing cabeceo, dancing to sending the woman back to her seat. If you wonder what kind of steps they use to make their dance so coherent and concordant, you can watch those dancing in the background. But nothing fancy really. Their tango is not about steps.

As you can see, they focus entirely on the music and feelings, as if steps are irrelevant. For them, dancing tango is about enjoying sentiment and intimacy, not performing gymnastics. They dance with complete relaxation, an unhurried pace, subtle movements, and tasteful suspensions. Their steps are small and simple, devoid of any flaunt, and are used solely to remain synchronized with their partner in the dance. The beauty of their tango lies in the unity of the partnership rather than the performance of the individual. In their tango, nothing is ornate, yet everything is exquisite and elegant. Even their music selections are more sentimental and intriguing than ours, perfectly complementing the mood of their dance.

Pay special attention to the woman. Her ability to remain cohesive with the man is remarkable. She leans comfortably against him, her chest intimately pressed to his, and her arm hooked around his shoulder. Her eyes are dreamily closed, allowing her to focus inwardly on the feelings stirred by the music and the subtle whispers of his body. Her inconspicuous footwork magically keeps her body moving in harmony with his, no matter how he turns.

To tango is to indulge yourself, not to impress others. On a crowded dance floor, who cares about your footwork anyway? The only thing that matters is the intimate feelings you experience. This is why performance tango doesn’t make sense in the milongas. I hope Holman’s video inspires more people to embrace the milonguero style of tango and accelerates the transformation of tango from a step-oriented dance to a feeling-oriented one.

P.S.
I received several comments on my video selections and now have a better understanding of why political correctness has become a necessity in our society. Please note that the video clips I selected are used solely to illustrate a phenomenon. They are neither intended to represent nor capable of capturing the full picture of any community or event.