Tango Delight dance studio brings Argentine Tango to Inner West Sydney
Tango Musicality
Argentine Tango is rich in musical choices, orchestras, creativity in how you express yourself and a wonderful way to make friends and connect with people.
Tango music is very rich with a lot of possibilities. The ultimate goal of social Tango, is to experience a special connection for that dance set (Called a Tanda).
It is the “Holy Grail” of Tango. The lead is gentle and allows possibility and guides the follower elegantly and safely around a crowded dance floor, while the follower, has the opportunity of self-expression and interaction with the lead and the music, at the same time safely and elegantly maintaining respect for every other dancer on the floor.
Argentine Tango is often called walking in embrace, and sometimes even “a walking meditation”
Tango Delight : Tango Techniques and Steps
This might surprise you if you have never danced Argentine Tango before. A beautiful, smooth, elegant walk is the fundamental of this dance. Unlike Ballroom, Salsa and many other dances where the lead is totally governed by using their hands and arms to lead, the Tango lead is mostly done by the lead creating a space with their torso, thereby suggesting to their partner where and how they would like them to move.
The partner then either accepts or modifies the lead depending on how deep the connection to both their partner and the music is.
As an example there might be romantic music playing and the lead might suggest something that is more rhythmical, so the follower replies (not in words, but in their dance) “no I feel the romance in this moment and I want more time to express this”.
This again might need to be modified by the lead saying (again not in words) “I understand you however we need to move down the line of dance so I am going to modify what I was planning so we can move safely and you still have the opportunity to express yourself”.
You may join the Beginner Tango Delights’ Argentine Tango classesand lessons at any time during the term. No experience necessary.
Thursday night Milonga classes are run as a complete 10 week course, while it would be possible for a beginner, it is not recommended without previous Tango experience. I have taught Milonga to people who have not danced Tango before, however it is a lot easier when you have a basic understand of Tango first.
At a social Milonga (yes a social Argentine Tango dance event is called a Milonga) there will be the opportunity to dance the dance called Milonga.
Enrolments for this beautiful dance are now open for classes and lessons. Current Term details are on the “Lessons and Venue” tab.
Tango Delight Lesson Plan
First half hour:
Is about fundamentals, which is aimed at teaching and improving the foundational skills that make Tango such a beautiful and elegant dance.
Second half hour:
Is a series of exercises to teach techniques, skills and musicality, which are critical for learning and understanding more advanced concepts and steps. This is a must to improving your skills quickly and effortlessly.
We will then be working on steps, variations of steps, musicality, improvisation, as well as entry and exit choices.
Argentine Tango History
EXTRACT
History of Argentine Tango
The development of Tango as we know it today started in the mid-1800s after Argentina undergone massive immigration. A mix of the people from Africa, Spain, Italy, England, Poland, Russia and native-born Argentinian created a very potent cultural mix that soon started forming new traditions and a new way of life.
One of those newly created things came from the mix of European minuet dances, polkas and many African influences that brought rhythms and instruments that formed Tango, a dance that very quickly became very popular in the poor neighborhood of Buenos Aires in the late 1880s where it was known as “music of the immigrants”.
By mid-1800s, tango becomes a dance of choice during “conventillos ” gatherings (large houses owned by several families, which featured dance halls or open ground suitable for dance gatherings) in the booming city of Buenos Aires. Fueled by closed codes of those houses, particular language used during a gathering, the dance became more and more popular, eventually starting to be danced by actors on the stages of the theater houses.
By that point, the expansion of the tango’s popularity became unstoppable. The tango reached the core of the Buenos Aires and other large Argentinian cities, where people of all classes engaged in this dance that became energized with many more types of musical and cultural styles. By that time, the tango music became more and more developed, and dancers started appreciating now “traditional” tango instruments such as solo guitar, bandoneon “tango accordion” and ensemble bands (orquesta típica) that were made from at least two violins, piano, flute, double bass and two Bandoneons.
The popularity of the Tango grew in the 1st decade of 20th century, with over 1000 gramophone records and countless tango sheets being created in Buenos Aires alone. In the year 1910, history of tango was changed forever with the arrival of bandoneon from Germany to Buenos Aires, where it became inextricably linked with tango music from then on. In the 2nd decade, tango was featured on up to 5,500 gramophone records in Argentina.
Today it is believed that one of the first composers of Tango music was s Juan Pérez, who authored songs such as Dame la Lata (Give me my pay). Other popular early tango songs were El Tero and Andate a la Recoleta (Go away to Recoleta).
History of Tango in Other Countries
Tango craze did not stay in Argentina for long.In 1910 it reached New York and in 1912 Pairs. In both of those great cities, this dance brought true revolution to the ballroom floors. The expansion was not fueled this time by lower classes of dancers, but by wealthy Argentine youth who traveled to this hubs of modern society (NY in the Americas and Paris in continental Europe) and promoted this dance directly to the trendsetters who were craving for any new indulgences and were eager for innovation and change of fashion styles.
By 1913, Tango was one of the most popular dances in Paris, New York, and Paris. Other cities quickly followed, and soon tango was danced across entire Europe and North America , but there were some difficulties. Same as with the appearance of Waltz during the early Victorian era, the introduction of Tango was welcomed as distasteful and too flirty. This sentiment thankfully soon subsided, and high class of people soon started accepting it and promoting it with the exploits of famous dancers and musicians. With the arrival of Tango to the elegant dance floors of the best-known ballrooms all across the world, maintaining its popularity to today.