There are many ways of dancing Argentine tango. It is up to the couple to discover this in the moment.
But !
There is ‘Social’ tango which agrees with that idea, and ‘Show’ tango or ‘Stage tango’ which requires very precise choreography to a particular piece of music. Many Show dancers have become famous, are highly skilled dancers, and some are also very good teachers. We can and should learn as much as we can from them, whilst at the same time remembering that Argentine Tango is a dance for two people living and dancing together ‘in the moment’. Social tango is an ongoing dynamic ‘conversation’.
We invite you to stop and watch different couples dancing. Maybe you like or appreciate some; others not. Here are a few to get us started:
- Juan Carlos Copes 1931-2021.
- Maria Nievas 1934- –
- Pablo Veron 1971- –
- Carlos Gavito 1942 – 2005
- Puppy Castello 1936 – 2007
- Rodolfo Cieri 1932 – 2000 y Maria Cieri
- Mingo y Ester Pugliese
The first four are famous stage dancers. Carlos Gavito started as a social tango dancer, but became a stage dancer. The other dancers; Puppy, Rodolfo, Maria, Mingo and Ester are social dancers, or ‘old milongueros’.
They learned by doing over their lifetimes at ‘practicas’ and milongas. They taught the younger new generation of professionally trained stage dancers how they danced tango, and the professional stage dancers sharpened up the individuals’ techniques. At ‘The Welsh Centre’ (London) in the late 1990s Mingo told a story of how some professional dancers who wanted to create a show asked them to demonstrate some tango dancing. So, he and Ester did a demonstration dance. The professionals loved it, and asked them to explain what they just did. Mingo and Ester were unable to put it into words the professionals understood, and just danced again to demonstrate. In the end the professionals had to teach Mingo and Ester the ‘language’ and details of professional dancing so they could then teach the professionals what they were doing. And that was an early example of the ‘Technology Transfer’ from Milongueros to Show dancers, and vice versa.
Go to https://www.todotango.com/english if you want to read more information about most of these people.