Argentine tango is part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Tango emerged from a blend of dances from various cultures. Through tango, you can discover how we express aesthetic postures and movements. The great cultural richness of tango will enrich your life!
Why does tango look so beautiful?
To learn tango is to get to know your posture and movement!
Argentine Tango – An old-fashioned, misogynistic macho dance?
Does tango put a strain on our bodies?
Tango – an encounter of cultures
Why does tango look so beautiful?
We find tango beautiful because it originates from traditional dances of various cultures.
Argentine tango is an art form that expresses the elegance and coolness of our posture and movement. Tango is based on traditional dances from different cultures. Since these postures and movements are perceived positively in those cultures, tango also appears beautiful to us.
Through tango, we learn more elegant and cooler postures and movements. This is the main reason why tango looks so beautiful. This also affects your daily life. Your demeanor will become more graceful and cooler.
To learn tango is to get to know your posture and movement!
Tango has no basic step, unlike what you might know from other partner dances. Figures or step combinations play only a minor role in tango. Instead, we focus on our posture and movement. Since we don’t have a basic step, we communicate with our dance partner through movements.
I can guarantee you that this great flexibility in tango’s movements will be much more fun than just following prescribed step sequences.
Argentine Tango – An old-fashioned, misogynistic macho dance?
Quite the opposite is true! Tango is a living art form that continues to evolve. More and more women are learning to lead, and men are embracing the ability to be led. The relationship between the leader and the follower is complementary and has nothing to do with dominance and submission.
Whether you lead or are led in tango, both dancers need empathetic skills. I’ve also noticed that women usually learn leading techniques faster than men.
Men who try to subordinate women and lead from their ego quickly realize that tango doesn’t work that way. Unfortunately, there are still many women who want to “let go” while dancing. This kind of attitude prevents true communication between two dancers, and their dance doesn’t look beautiful at all.
The dynamic is more like a “gentleman” who accompanies and protects the lady and a “lady” who expresses her grace and tenderness. In the late 19th century, when tango was born, there was a massive wave of migration to Argentina. Most migrants were young men from European countries, with very few women. Buenos Aires had an extreme imbalance between men and women. A man with a misogynistic attitude would have had no chance with women. Men had to put in real effort to win their favor. This societal backdrop is reflected in Argentine tango.
Respectful interaction with others—especially with women—is a fundamental aspect of tango.
Does tango put a strain on our bodies?
It is an ergonomic dance that strengthens the inner muscles supporting our organs and spine. You also develop better body awareness, and it minimizes the risk of injury.
Tango is a relatively complex dance that requires good body awareness and cognitive ability. This combination of movement and mental effort keeps you mentally fit.
Tango – an encounter of cultures
As we have just seen, most migrants during this period came from various European countries. In the evenings, they would gather and dance. At first, they danced their own traditional folk dances, and little by little, these dances merged into a new form. Gradually, the dance of Argentine tango as we know it today emerged.
Although tango originated in Latin America, the dance is a blend of various European dances. The bandoneon, the iconic musical instrument of tango, comes from Germany.
Let’s not forget that Japanese audio companies, among others, used state-of-the-art sound processing technologies to remove the scratchy noises from old shellac records of tango music. Without their efforts, the global dissemination of Argentine tango as we know it today would not have been possible.
(1) Tango is a living art form that continues to evolve in the present. Therefore, some facts may change over time. I always try to stick to the facts, but it can happen that some descriptions are no longer up to date. I ask for your understanding.