To walk is typical. To dance is a joy. Tango is the dancing art of walking.
As a dance school dropout, I cannot emphasize enough how much I regret having stopped dancing. I appreciate the opportunities I had by not being heavily involved in dancing; however, not going to dance classes altogether was an unfortunate decision. I have been hesitant to attend dance classes again because after so many years, picking up where I left is not trivial.
However, when twenty percent of your iTunes playlist is dedicated to Tango, you cannot deny the urge to dance. My appreciation for Tango is relatively recent. Back in the day, I most enjoyed Swings, Jive, or Cha Cha Cha. Ballet routines were boring; and slow dances -- perfect for setting a romantic mood in social contexts -- were something the young me did not comprehend (nor the current me, in regards to the romance part). And then there was the Hip Hop hype.
Argentine Tango is different. It is by no mean lacking appreciators -- quite the opposite. But it did take me a long time to properly appreciate the subtlety and expressiveness of the dance.
Many people, me included, are drawn into Tango by watching Fantasia, also known as show or performance tango, such as the video above. Tango purists claim choreographed Fantasia is not real tango, for Argentine Tango was meant to be an improvisational dance. I think of all the reasons to not do something, "because it was not meant to be done" is a pretty lame one. After all, it takes creativity to produce a good choreograph, and then it takes a lot of techniques and weeks of practice to be able to perform. Who can deny that this Fantasia dance is not a highly refined performance art (performance starts at 1:00) ?
Here's an equally impressive performance by the same couple. I prefer the first one -- maybe it's just me, but Tango just feels more elegant when it doesn't take much space.
Of course, this is not to devalue Milonga. As a musician, I enjoy improvisation more than anything else. Although I have not explored dancing enough to tell, there is no reason why I would not enjoy some tango improvisation. And after all, who's to say this Milonga dance is not as impressive as some Fantasia performance?
It is, however, a different expression. After all, it is hard to successfully coordinate the passion and subtlety seen in choreographed performances into one like this.
