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More on the History of Argentine Tango…

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The true birth of the Argentine Tango is a bit of a mystery, but it is certain that the dance is an emotional, intimate one that came from a unique cluster of people. One generally accepted theory of the Argentine Tango and its origins is that it was brought to Argentina in the mid-1800s by African slaves and their descendants. Africans picked up the dance on slave ships and it began to influence local culture by 1853. At this time, Argentina had banned slavery and African slaves and free Africans would gather to dance.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was experiencing a major influx of people. The population went from 180,000 people in 1869 to 1.5 million people by 1914. Most of these immigrants were single men dreaming of finding fortune to take back to their homeland or to bring their families to their new home. They were mostly poor and desperate, longing for success and missing their families and homelands. This desperation was expressed through dance and is seen in the evolution of the Tango. Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, African, British, and native-born Argentine inhabitants created a melting pot of people and their cultures. They lent dances and music between their groups and new styles were being created.

At one point, a group of young men called compadritos frequented the African-Argentine venues where the basic dances of the Tango were being danced. These compadritos were mostly native born, poor, and of mixed immigrant ancestry. They took the dance to different districts of Buenos Aires and ignited the dance’s popularity in infamous places like dance halls, bars, and brothels. In these places, the Argentine milonga music fused with African percussion and rhythms, leading to new steps and ultimately creating the Tango as its own form of dance. The exact time and place of its creation are unclear, but it is clear that the Tango was known as a dance stemming from poverty-ridden neighborhoods.

As with many forms and types of dance initially, high society looked down on the Tango and its dancers, but some people of upper classes snuck away to mingle with the lower classes and dance. The Tango gained popularity and became a well-known and established form of dance and of music by the early 1900s. It trickled out of Buenos Aires into other Argentine towns and hopped the River Plate to Uruguay. It came to know the same fame in this new place as it did in Buenos Aires.

Parisian society was also excited by this new dance that wealthy Argentine men were bringing, and by 1913 the Tango had spread to Paris, London, and New York. The upper classes of Argentina were reluctantly accepting the dance as a form of national pride and it spread worldwide in the 1920s and 1930s. Not before long, the tango reached movie screens and Tango singers took the music around the world. The world of Tango was part of the flourishing culture of the Golden Age of Argentina from the 30s to the 50s. With the declining economy of Argentina after the Golden Age, the Tango was forced underground with its political expression and the ban of large gatherings at the time.  It survived nonetheless, and rose up again in the mid-1980s when the Tango Argentino opened in Paris. The Argentine Tango was ignited once again and thrives in the current revival it exists in today.

Are you prepared to learn this most exciting and passionate dance? If so, and you live here in Phoenix, Arizona, join us at Dance FX Studios for Argentine Tango dance lessons. We are located close to Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert in the East Valley of Phoenix in Mesa, AZ for your convenience. Private Tango lessons begin with our introductory offer for either singles or couples. We would love the opportunity at Dance FX Studios to share our love of the tango with you.

Dance for the Art of It!

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The artistic benefits of knowing how to dance are endless! What do salsa dancing, swing, Country or even the Argentine tango have in common? They all allow us to explore our creative, right brain on a deeper level. Dancing opens the doors for self-expression, appreciation for the arts, musicality and rhythmic expression, creative freedom, imagination and innovation. When you think about it, dancing has much to offer in the way of enhancing ones’ life. Learning steps on the dance floor is minor in comparison to what one can gain by taking a Latin dance class or a Country two step lesson. Let’s further investigate the ties between dancing and the arts…

Art Appreciation: If you have ever watched television shows like “Dancing With The Stars” or “So You Think You Can Dance”, you may have seen the same waltz or salsa danced in a hundred different ways. As artists, the choreographers of those dances continue to push their creative limits to make the same dance unique in its appearance and therefore limitless in terms of creative possibilities. For spectators, the creativity of the choreographers provides true dance entertainment. This, in and of itself, makes dancing attractive to those who value creative expression.

Appreciation for the arts is the recognition of those timeless qualities that characterize not just dance, but all great art. By its nature, dance seeks to defy confinement and boundaries creatively.  By exploring dance through pure movement, ritual, lifestyle, communication, tradition, self-expression and high art, one can tap into a side of themselves that is new, life-enhancing and exciting.

Musicality and Rhythmic Expression: Musicality in dance has two main components, receptivity and creativity. Musical receptivity is the ability to hear, comprehend, be sensitive to and have a working knowledge of musical concepts like rhythm, tempo, phrasing and even mood. Musical creativity is the ability to connect with accompanying music, interpret it, and add movement dynamics that relate to music even in the absence of accompaniment in a way that is unique or interesting. Musicality in dance then might be considered a degree to which a dancer is receptive and creative in his/her translation of music through movement. It is a key ingredient in a dancer’s display of artistry. When dancing the Argentine tango, for example, the leads of two different couples may hear different nuances in the music and therefore dance a different set of moves according to what part of the music that they are interpreting. While musical interpretation does not often come naturally to leaders on the dance floor, one can be taught what to listen to so as to begin to train their ear for the patterns within each piece of music. Understanding musicality takes dancing to the next level and gives beginner dancers something to strive for and grow into with their dancing.

Creative Expression: Creativity is a matter of translating messages of passion, excitement, and soul into our own musical language through structure, harmony, rhythm, and style. The broader our exposure and the more sensitive our inner listening, the richer our unique interpretation will be. Dancing is about self-discovery, self-expression and spontaneity. When you dance, the body expresses itself by means of the motions which are natural to it. By making the body a free instrument of free expression we are able to express in bodily movement the ideas and emotions that come from within. Again, two people can be swing or salsa dancing to the same music and be inspired to do completely different movements with their bodies.
Imagination: Through listening to music and then responding to it, the body and brain are connected. We sometimes tend to concentrate on training the brain and forget the importance of the body in terms of human development. The language of music and dance provides a lot of nutrition to our human expression. Humans need to develop their creative potential and imagination and dancing is a great way to develop these skills.

Innovation: Creativity is thinking up new things, innovation is doing new things. Through dancing, we can inspire creativity, deep listening, and cross-generational understanding. Our minds and bodies are intrinsically linked; movement acts as a messenger between the two. When we can understand our own and others’ movements, our capacity to collaborate and harness our intuition skyrockets. And growing research in many disciplines–from neuroscience to sports medicine, from psychology to anthropology–supports these ideas.

If you are looking to have more creativity in your life, dancing is for you! Don’t have a dance partner? That’s alright! You can explore your artistic side with one of our dance  instructors at Dance FX Studios in Mesa, Arizona. At Dance FX Studios, you will enjoy the art of learning popular social dances like salsa, swing, Country two step and Argentine tango. We offer dance lessons for adults in Phoenix who want to have fun, connect with others and learn a healthy, new hobby. Get into dancing today by checking out our website. Our introductory offer will show you how you can become a confident and creative dancer in no time!