The Tangosynthesis Blog
with Graham and Nathalie
Traditional or Nuevo
11 Oct 2024 - by Graham (from Newsletter)
The question of what makes tango “traditional” or “nuevo” has been around since the 1970s but in that time there has never been any real consensus as to what these words mean. People say “he is a nuevo dancer” or “that is a very traditional style” as if that explains everything, but what is being described? Is it the hold? The steps or techniques? The way they stand? The rhythm? The music choice may be an obvious difference, but does it affect the dance all that much? The rhythmic structure of a track by Pugliese is no different to a Tanghetto track or something from the modern album chart, and there is at least as much musical variance in a jazz or blues piece as in anything from the golden age. So whilst different music may give the dance a different feel, it does not change anything fundamental about [read more...]
Tango Terminology
04 Oct 2024 - by Graham (from Newsletter)
When you first start to learn tango you soon begin to hear lots of unfamiliar words, such as ganchos, ochos, giros (although your teacher will insist it is pronounced ‘heroes’), sacadas, and more. If you speak Spanish you may recognise some of them – although probably badly pronounced, but what do hooks, eights, turns, and ‘taking away’ have to do with anything? And why do different teachers seem to use them to refer to slightly different things? Most dances are based on a variety of steps that are strung together – or choreographed - into a sequence. The steps all have names, and there may be some sort of agreed standardisation of what a particular step must look like. This is particularly true for dances that have exams or grades, but even for less formal dances there are often commercial interests or agreed standards that teachers are expected [read more...]
The Tango Walk
27 Sep 2024 - by Graham (from Newsletter)
The tango walk is a notoriously difficult thing to get right and there are stories of tango masters not letting their students progress for years until they have perfected it. But what is so difficult about “the walk”? Don’t we walk everywhere all the time? In normal everyday walking our natural action is to sway gently in the direction we want to go, then as gravity starts to get involved our free leg moves roughly to where we want to end up. We don’t think about it of course as it is all instinctive, but normal walking is a largely passive activity. Tango walking however is far more active. Whether you are a leader or a follower your walk does not just have to move you from A to B but it also has to impart some energy to your partner. You are moving two people with every [read more...]
Leading and Following
20 Sep 2024 - by Graham (from newsletter)
Tango is usually described as a “led” dance, with the leader determining what happens next, and the follower just… well… following. This is certainly one way of thinking about it, although it implies that the follower’s role is passive and that the leader does all the work. The reality though should be very different with both roles active and involved in shaping the dance. But to get there may require a shift in perception as to what we mean by a “strong lead”. The simplified view of leading – and the one usually taught to beginners - is that the leader moves the follower from one position to another and the follower simply does what they are told. We teach this early on as it is easier and generates something that looks a lot like tango, but the resulting dance is very one-sided and lacks dynamism. Instead think [read more...]
