“Cortinas” & “tandas”
“Cortinas” are small pieces of songs that separate different sets of tangos, milongas or valses (“tandas”). Each “tanda” contains four songs by the same orchestra. In this way, you know that after the “cortina” a new set, played by a different orchestra, is coming, usually a different rhythm and style than the set played right before. The “cortinas” are also a chance to change partner. The etiquette in Buenos Aires is to dance with the same partner until the end of the set. So, when the “cortina” starts to play you can say “Thank you” and go back to your table. The “cortina” makes clear that the set is over. You will have to wait for the next set to begin before to ask any other partner to dance. Once you and your partner get into the dance floor, you want to make sure what kind of rhythm (slow, fast) is being played, so please don’t start to dance right away! “Tandas” of Latin rhythms, Swing and Argentine Folklore are also played in Buenos Aires milongas.
"Eye contact" – Asking someone to dance
Facing the fact that to be rejected is always painful, the Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) developed the “eye contact” as the proper way to ask someone to dance. They just look at the person they want to dance with.
This applies either for men or women. If the man wants to dance, he will let the woman know by a nod of head towards the dance floor. If she does not want to dance, she will deny with the head.
If the woman wants to dance, she will answer back with a smile or an assenting sign with her head.
After these subtle signs, he will go to her table (or where she is) and take her to the dance floor.
If the other person does not want to dance (man or woman), when the “eye contact” occurs, he/she will look to a different direction. Another way to ask a woman to dance, and this one is maybe for the more braves, is to go to where she is at and introduce yourself (if you don’t know each other from before) and/or start a conversation. After exchanging some words, you can ask her if she would like to dance with you.
Tango is a SOCIAL dance. It is not a sport, so the milonga is a place not only to dance, but also to meet new people, chat with friends, etc. In Buenos Aires if a person come out of the blue and asks you to dance, it is considered a very aggressive attitude. It will be almost like saying: “I just want to dance with you and I don’t really care what you think about that”. There are many benefits of these “techniques”. One is that it takes in consideration the feelings of both partners, so when the dance finally happens, they both know they are where they want, which is the most important requirement to have a good dance. They are not dancing because they have to. Also, it is part of the ritual of tango which is a very intimate dance. We think that if we are learning to dance a foreign dance, like tango or any other, we have to try to understand the codes that come with it, because for sure we will find out they have some kind of sense.
“Line of dance”
The line of dance is not an Argentine invention; it did not begin with Argentine Tango. The line of dance was already in the European dances in fashion of that time (1800’s).
The counter clockwise direction roots in ritual dances that proceed from the social dances that originated during the Renaissance. The Argentine Tango dancers just adopted it.
In Argentine Tango the line of dance is an expression of the dance itself, understanding it as a way of walking. Also, it is the result of an agreement that shows the respect among the dancers on the dance floor.Seeing it from a practical point of view and making analogy: it is like traffic on the freeway, without the speed, but everyone is going in the same direction in your lane of traffic.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
About Argentine Tango
Argentine Tango is a dance originated in the poor neighborhoods of the largest cities in Argentina and Uruguay at the end of the XIX century. It represents the cultural mix of immigrants and the established population.
In the 1800’s, Buenos Aires and Montevideo had a population of 25 % to more than 50 % of Africans each. They were servants of the most influential families of these cities and were more integrated to the life of these families and the society in general than the Africans of other societies like North America.
“Tangos” were called the black people celebrations and places of meeting since the beginning of the XIX century.
Is in these places where the dance known today as tango began the development of its choreography and music.
Other African terms directly related to tango are “milonga” and “candombe”.
“Milonga” is a Quimbunda expression that means “words” and referred originally to a kind of duel between two countryside singers called “payadores” that playing guitar will improvise verses of eight syllables with a structure type question/answer; while “candombe” is a Bantú word that referred originally to the rhythms and dances made by the Africans in their tango meetings and also to these meetings.
When they were given freedom (1853) they created several associations -kinds of unions- to help themselves, and placed them mostly in the area of the neighborhood of Montserrat. During carnival, they used to go out on the streets with bright colored costumes and big-feathered hats, dancing many hours to the monotonous rhythm of “candombe”— the music they played at these events. Different associations competed for the supremacy and this developed into bloody incidents in the streets. The repetition of the violence forced the police to close many of those associations in 1877. It was the end of black people’s carnival. The consequence of this was the creation of several dance centers where they developed a kind of couple dance called “tango” using the same choreographic elements they used before in their candombes. But that tango was not an embraced couple dance. They danced it separately.
Other influence in the origins of tango comes from a typical character of the Argentine Pampas: the “gaucho”.
The “gaucho” is the product of the mix between the first Spanish arrived to the lands later called Argentina, and the natives. They were very skillful in the techniques needed to survive in the countryside. They liked to live far away from populated cities and towns, had not regular jobs, occasionally get hired by the owners of the “estancias” (farms), and knew the secrets of the knife fencing and horse riding. They had a strong morality of independence and, if needed, faced the arbitrarily police.
These “gauchos” had a very important participation in the battles for the emancipation against the Spanish Kingdom. They symbolized the ideals of autonomy, courage and justice without arbitrariness.
After the Constitution of 1853 the ideas of modernity and progress start to shape the new country. The “gaucho” did not fit in this project and began to suffer a persecution. The lands where the gaucho used to wander were confiscated and given to others. Having not other option they moved into the poor suburbs of the city and got jobs as butchers, herdsmen, horse-breakers or cart drivers.
Even though the gaucho goes under a metamorphosis, leaving the horse, shortening his knife to hide it better because it was not allowed in the city, changing his clothes and getting the new name of “compadre”; he still keeps the same ideals of justice, independence and courage. His new neighbors start to admire him and many times came to him looking for protection or advice.
The young men of these poor suburbs start to imitate the attitudes of the compadres and soon got for themselves the name of “compadritos”.
Although the gaucho, transformed in compadre, brought the “milonga” to the slums, he did not dance. His inheritors, the compadritos, did dance. They took the choreographies of other dances which had arrived from other places of the world and were danced in the port of Buenos Aires and Montevideo such as polka, mazurka, waltz, and habanera; and danced with them to the music of the milongas. Further more, they also incorporated elements from the black people’s dances, from their “tangos”, most of the time with racist sarcasm. This originated a way of dancing called either “tango” or “milonga”.
This new way of dancing was absolutely original. Even though it was in the beginning a melting pot of different dances, in order to put together choreographic elements of varied precedence, the compadritos had to create a novel technique in the couple dance.
Since the Renascence and the arising of the dance as a social activity, it is observed in the development of the couple’s dance a tendency to get closer. With the waltz appears the embrace for the first time in the end of XVIII century. After the waltz all dances will use this technique in the linkage of the partners during the dance.
When this dances arrived to the port of Buenos Aires in the second half of XIX century, the embrace technique was known as “dancing to the European fashion”.
The compadritos adopted this technique and incorporate it to the movements they took from the African’s tangos.
Until this moment, all the embraced dances were of continuous movement, which means that one time the couple starts to move will not stop until the end of the song. On the other hand, the African’s tangos, as well as the other not embraced dances, used “figures”, which means that one or both partners will suddenly stop and take a position called figure.
In order to put together these two different ways of dancing – the embrace and the figures – the compadritos had to go further into the embrace technique and create the “close embrace” technique.
Before the tango, there was space in-between the partners in all the embraced dances. With tango there are not space in-between partners anymore.
Tango incorporated the close embrace technique that allows the “figures” in the embraced dance: one partner will stop while the other keeps moving or both will suddenly stop for a while and restart the movement a few beats later.
The close embrace was enough for tango to be disapproved by the serious society. In addition, the compadritos liked to play with the scandal and with a mocking and unconcerned attitude making provocative movements in the dance for the amusement of some and the shock of the others.
The 1853’s Constitution opens Argentina to the immigration. Millions of immigrants, mainly Italians and Spanish, arrived to the country and changed it radically.
Tango was influenced by the immigration too. Its rhythm slowed down and its melodies acquired a nostalgic flavor in contrast with its original joking attitude. Its choreography also changed, leaving its provocative character and tidying up its figures. A novel instrument was incorporated to the tango music, the bandoneon, created in Germany, which fits perfectly with the new shape of tango. Soon, the bandoneon became the icon of tango music.
All this will prepare tango for its acceptance in the Europeans ballrooms.
The 1913 was the year of its highest popularity in Paris. This made it return to Argentina, its natural country, from the “big door”. Rejected before by the high society as a product of the slums, it became praised for everyone thanks to its international fame. Everybody wanted to learn to dance tango at this time.
Only the 1917 World War will stop the popularity of this dance in Europe, but just for a while.
The same year, 1917, a countryside singer, included in his repertoire the first tango with a lyric, creating the way of singing tangos. This man was Carlos Gardel, and even he died in 1935, he still reigns as the model of the tango singer thanks to his 1500 records.
The WWI, the post war crisis and the bright presence of Carlos Gardel eclipsed tango as a dance for a while. This was the period of the popularity of the “tango-canción”(tango-song), good for listening but not necessarily for dancing.
In 1935 Juan D’Arienzo incorporated the piano player Rodolfo Biaggi in his orchestra and with a fast and playful rhythm which reminded the origins of tango, started to attract thousands of dancers back to the ballrooms.
The acceptance of this orchestra was so big, that other orchestras begun to imitate its characteristic rhythm.
At this point, tango was a mature artistic expression. Music, dance and poetry reached its pinnacle and developed during the 1940’s in what was known in Argentina as the Golden Age of Tango. During these years, tango defined the shape we know today.
Three decades of dictators made tango blur in Argentinean’s life, especially tango as a dance, but was not enough to make it disappear. 1984 was the year where the democracy came back in Argentina and it also the year which tango revived.
The worldwide acceptance of Astor Piazzolla music, who knew how to integrate tango to other musical expressions as classical music, jazz and rock, incorporating electronic instruments; the triumph in Russia of Julio Boca, an international known Argentine ballet dancer who danced to Piazzolla music; and the amazing success in Broadway of the show “Tango Argentino” which presented the greatest tango dancers at that time; all of these plus the freedom of expression that democracy brought to Argentineans, made possible what we are able to see today: a strong presence of tango not only in Argentina, its natural country, but also in the whole world.
Why did tango triumph all over the world? It is not easy to find one absolute answer but maybe has to do with the necessity of expression and Tango is a dance where all the range of human feelings can be expressed: happiness; homesickness; passion; wittiness; and much more.
Bibliography“Crónica general del Tango”, José Gobello. Editorial Fraterna, Buenos Aires, 1980.“La historia del Tango”, tomo 2 “Primera época”, Roberto Selles y León Benarós. Editorial Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 1977.
In the 1800’s, Buenos Aires and Montevideo had a population of 25 % to more than 50 % of Africans each. They were servants of the most influential families of these cities and were more integrated to the life of these families and the society in general than the Africans of other societies like North America.
“Tangos” were called the black people celebrations and places of meeting since the beginning of the XIX century.
Is in these places where the dance known today as tango began the development of its choreography and music.
Other African terms directly related to tango are “milonga” and “candombe”.
“Milonga” is a Quimbunda expression that means “words” and referred originally to a kind of duel between two countryside singers called “payadores” that playing guitar will improvise verses of eight syllables with a structure type question/answer; while “candombe” is a Bantú word that referred originally to the rhythms and dances made by the Africans in their tango meetings and also to these meetings.
When they were given freedom (1853) they created several associations -kinds of unions- to help themselves, and placed them mostly in the area of the neighborhood of Montserrat. During carnival, they used to go out on the streets with bright colored costumes and big-feathered hats, dancing many hours to the monotonous rhythm of “candombe”— the music they played at these events. Different associations competed for the supremacy and this developed into bloody incidents in the streets. The repetition of the violence forced the police to close many of those associations in 1877. It was the end of black people’s carnival. The consequence of this was the creation of several dance centers where they developed a kind of couple dance called “tango” using the same choreographic elements they used before in their candombes. But that tango was not an embraced couple dance. They danced it separately.
Other influence in the origins of tango comes from a typical character of the Argentine Pampas: the “gaucho”.
The “gaucho” is the product of the mix between the first Spanish arrived to the lands later called Argentina, and the natives. They were very skillful in the techniques needed to survive in the countryside. They liked to live far away from populated cities and towns, had not regular jobs, occasionally get hired by the owners of the “estancias” (farms), and knew the secrets of the knife fencing and horse riding. They had a strong morality of independence and, if needed, faced the arbitrarily police.
These “gauchos” had a very important participation in the battles for the emancipation against the Spanish Kingdom. They symbolized the ideals of autonomy, courage and justice without arbitrariness.
After the Constitution of 1853 the ideas of modernity and progress start to shape the new country. The “gaucho” did not fit in this project and began to suffer a persecution. The lands where the gaucho used to wander were confiscated and given to others. Having not other option they moved into the poor suburbs of the city and got jobs as butchers, herdsmen, horse-breakers or cart drivers.
Even though the gaucho goes under a metamorphosis, leaving the horse, shortening his knife to hide it better because it was not allowed in the city, changing his clothes and getting the new name of “compadre”; he still keeps the same ideals of justice, independence and courage. His new neighbors start to admire him and many times came to him looking for protection or advice.
The young men of these poor suburbs start to imitate the attitudes of the compadres and soon got for themselves the name of “compadritos”.
Although the gaucho, transformed in compadre, brought the “milonga” to the slums, he did not dance. His inheritors, the compadritos, did dance. They took the choreographies of other dances which had arrived from other places of the world and were danced in the port of Buenos Aires and Montevideo such as polka, mazurka, waltz, and habanera; and danced with them to the music of the milongas. Further more, they also incorporated elements from the black people’s dances, from their “tangos”, most of the time with racist sarcasm. This originated a way of dancing called either “tango” or “milonga”.
This new way of dancing was absolutely original. Even though it was in the beginning a melting pot of different dances, in order to put together choreographic elements of varied precedence, the compadritos had to create a novel technique in the couple dance.
Since the Renascence and the arising of the dance as a social activity, it is observed in the development of the couple’s dance a tendency to get closer. With the waltz appears the embrace for the first time in the end of XVIII century. After the waltz all dances will use this technique in the linkage of the partners during the dance.
When this dances arrived to the port of Buenos Aires in the second half of XIX century, the embrace technique was known as “dancing to the European fashion”.
The compadritos adopted this technique and incorporate it to the movements they took from the African’s tangos.
Until this moment, all the embraced dances were of continuous movement, which means that one time the couple starts to move will not stop until the end of the song. On the other hand, the African’s tangos, as well as the other not embraced dances, used “figures”, which means that one or both partners will suddenly stop and take a position called figure.
In order to put together these two different ways of dancing – the embrace and the figures – the compadritos had to go further into the embrace technique and create the “close embrace” technique.
Before the tango, there was space in-between the partners in all the embraced dances. With tango there are not space in-between partners anymore.
Tango incorporated the close embrace technique that allows the “figures” in the embraced dance: one partner will stop while the other keeps moving or both will suddenly stop for a while and restart the movement a few beats later.
The close embrace was enough for tango to be disapproved by the serious society. In addition, the compadritos liked to play with the scandal and with a mocking and unconcerned attitude making provocative movements in the dance for the amusement of some and the shock of the others.
The 1853’s Constitution opens Argentina to the immigration. Millions of immigrants, mainly Italians and Spanish, arrived to the country and changed it radically.
Tango was influenced by the immigration too. Its rhythm slowed down and its melodies acquired a nostalgic flavor in contrast with its original joking attitude. Its choreography also changed, leaving its provocative character and tidying up its figures. A novel instrument was incorporated to the tango music, the bandoneon, created in Germany, which fits perfectly with the new shape of tango. Soon, the bandoneon became the icon of tango music.
All this will prepare tango for its acceptance in the Europeans ballrooms.
The 1913 was the year of its highest popularity in Paris. This made it return to Argentina, its natural country, from the “big door”. Rejected before by the high society as a product of the slums, it became praised for everyone thanks to its international fame. Everybody wanted to learn to dance tango at this time.
Only the 1917 World War will stop the popularity of this dance in Europe, but just for a while.
The same year, 1917, a countryside singer, included in his repertoire the first tango with a lyric, creating the way of singing tangos. This man was Carlos Gardel, and even he died in 1935, he still reigns as the model of the tango singer thanks to his 1500 records.
The WWI, the post war crisis and the bright presence of Carlos Gardel eclipsed tango as a dance for a while. This was the period of the popularity of the “tango-canción”(tango-song), good for listening but not necessarily for dancing.
In 1935 Juan D’Arienzo incorporated the piano player Rodolfo Biaggi in his orchestra and with a fast and playful rhythm which reminded the origins of tango, started to attract thousands of dancers back to the ballrooms.
The acceptance of this orchestra was so big, that other orchestras begun to imitate its characteristic rhythm.
At this point, tango was a mature artistic expression. Music, dance and poetry reached its pinnacle and developed during the 1940’s in what was known in Argentina as the Golden Age of Tango. During these years, tango defined the shape we know today.
Three decades of dictators made tango blur in Argentinean’s life, especially tango as a dance, but was not enough to make it disappear. 1984 was the year where the democracy came back in Argentina and it also the year which tango revived.
The worldwide acceptance of Astor Piazzolla music, who knew how to integrate tango to other musical expressions as classical music, jazz and rock, incorporating electronic instruments; the triumph in Russia of Julio Boca, an international known Argentine ballet dancer who danced to Piazzolla music; and the amazing success in Broadway of the show “Tango Argentino” which presented the greatest tango dancers at that time; all of these plus the freedom of expression that democracy brought to Argentineans, made possible what we are able to see today: a strong presence of tango not only in Argentina, its natural country, but also in the whole world.
Why did tango triumph all over the world? It is not easy to find one absolute answer but maybe has to do with the necessity of expression and Tango is a dance where all the range of human feelings can be expressed: happiness; homesickness; passion; wittiness; and much more.
Bibliography“Crónica general del Tango”, José Gobello. Editorial Fraterna, Buenos Aires, 1980.“La historia del Tango”, tomo 2 “Primera época”, Roberto Selles y León Benarós. Editorial Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 1977.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
11-17-08 Alberto's Intermediate class review with Olga
Lead and follow, weight change, parallel and crossed system, little boleo, musicality.
11-17-08 Alberto's Fundamental and Technique class review with Marina
Posture, connection, weight change, musicality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)