Improvisation in the tango

Improvisation is an integral and fundamental part of this dance.
It is quite simple to a trained eye to recognize the beginner dancers from the advanced ones, in fact, while the former focus on the steps, on the complicated sequences learned by trying them day and night neglecting both the dame and the music on which it dances, the seconds create on the music . Often they stop as if in a pause for reflection, other times they give space to the creation of the lady, in a couple game in which harmony creativity reign.
Follow the music and get carried away, but to do this it is essential to possess the technique. It is said that using more steps makes our tango better. The technique is linked to the way of interacting with the partner, to be understood without speaking, to use the agreement to play with improvisation.
Improvisation is used, in tango as in many other forms of art, to move to experiment to amaze. The conventional departure of the waltz leaves room for continuous invention: this is the tango. A splendid game among the dancers in which both live in a perennial state of alert, waiting to guess how the dance will develop makes them light, free ready for any possibility.
The spectator lives the expectation in the same way as the lady who does not know what the man will do and eagerly awaits a signal. Tango is improvisation but it is also listening.

Listening: communicating without words

Tango is a language with which to express oneself. In tango it communicates with the body, not with words. If it is true that communicating means “sharing or transmitting thoughts, feelings and the like, on a deep and sincere level (N. Zingarelli, Vocabulary of the Italian language), then tango is truly an extraordinary way of communicating. His is a type of bodily and direct communication, which makes him much more sincere and reliable than words. For those who dance waltz or polka music is a rhythmic support, the melody is an accompaniment and the dancers always perform the same movements.
In Tango the melodies are so rich in different musical colors, the interpretative styles and the instrumental mixes so different, the poetic of the texts so changeable, that passing from one piece to another (or even from one performer to another of the same piece) it means entering into a new emotional condition, inspiring a bearing and a style that is never the same. In the tango schools of Buenos Aires, the teacher often assigns each student an inner condition: cheerful, in love, indifferent, bored, angry … so he makes everyone dance, then invites everyone to guess the mood of the partner with whom he has just danced. If the emotion of the other is perceived, it means that, beyond the technical correctness of the steps, we have learned that fascinating language that is the tango, defined by the old masters “el idioma del brazo” (the language of the embrace) ). The exchange starts from the embrace, a gesture so simple and yet it is so difficult for us Europeans that we have lost almost all latinity. The embrace lasts for the entire duration of the dance through touch, with the maracas the man touches the back of the woman to indicate the direction, and more subtly through small gestures, meaningless to us profane of the Tango. It is a bit ‘like two lovers, the understanding given by love causes the two without talking can communicate very deep feelings. The magic of dance takes the place of love and the two dancers whether they are dancing for the first time or dancing together for years, who do not know each other at all or who love each other to madness communicate love for dancing and the joy of living .
During the dance hardly a hug breaks up; embraced is easier to hear the other, even in the almost imperceptible movements of man. It is possible that there is a need for the embrace of closeness, at the origin of the rediscovery and success of Tango. This should make us reflect on how we are underestimating the importance of contact, which is so scary, but which is a sign of humanity and as such we can not allow it to be lost.

Moment tango

Unpredictable, modular, interpretable, the tango is invented every time with a game of combinations.
The alternation of cortes and quebradas is fundamental in Tango; the gaze compared to that of the trance state; the posture consists of an upright bust, forefoot forefoot, slipped step and concentration on the execution with the man who guides chooses and creates. What characterizes the moment of Tango is the need of dancers to change partners often because every person with whom you dance can teach something. A combination of dancers can give rise to a particular alchemy resulting in a unique experience. Changing partners must adapt to the needs of the other, understand what are its limits and its virtues. For man, it is possible to perceive the different distribution of the weight of the woman’s body with respect to the usual dancer. For the woman she is able to collect small, always different signals that the man gives her.
The tango groups, the time, the experience, the hours spent dancing on the track, the different places of Tango visited, the people with whom we dance the different teachers with whom we learn to dance, are gradually enriching the own knowledge. With this progressive knowledge of the world of tango, we begin to appreciate differences and variations that were not noticed before; we begin to recognize diversity in styles. Today there is a great discussion about the styles of Tango even if the theme is not of vital importance for those who are just starting out. There should be no confusion between the styles of Tango, understood as those ways of dancing tango that have gradually stabilized, with the personal style that everyone acquires in the dance.
The teachers indicate a path, but there are many variables that influence the way you dance: personality skills, a musical sense, attitudes, physical characteristics, sensitivity, tastes, affinity, aesthetic culture. It is difficult to reach one’s own personal style without having gone through an experience rich in practice, milongas frequenting learning. It is one thing to imitate a master’s style, another thing is to acquire a personal style that is built with time and experience.
When discussing styles or codified ways of dancing tango (milonguero, fantasia, da salon) we tend to consider them as something static, as if from the time the Tango was invented, they had already been clearly defined. Styles mix, change, grow, consolidate and then what we believe to be an authentic style from its origins, in reality is nothing but a transformation in time and in people.
Just as every dancer, over the years, builds his way of dancing in the same way the styles, the result of laborious constructions of collective folk art, have changed over time.
In an age in which the Tango da spettacolo prevails, the great masters can come from there; then when the milongas begin to blossom, some masters are born in these spaces.
In general the styles are born from the modifications originating from the cultural values and from the social conditions of the environments where one dances.

Tango-milonga or fantasy tango?

Tango-milonga and fantasy are the two types of tango in which the rioplatense tango is divided. The Tango-milonga or “de salon” is the least known in Italy and in general abroad but more danced in the platense reality, from the old milongueros is simpler, does not use exaggerated figures from show like the fantasy tango. The fantasy Tango was born for the stage for the performance and for this reason it is more known abroad where it is seen more often in the shows. To dance the fantasy tango it is almost impossible to use improvisation, the complex figures require physical preparation and space, for this reason in the milongas the dance halls where you can dance exclusively the Tango you can not dance. In the milongas it is better to dedicate oneself to the Tango where it counts more a hug than the complex figures and where one dances for oneself not for the public.
The dancer milonguero dances the Tango because for him it is a need, a need as well as a pleasure. Driven by passion, each time he tries to improve himself with the conviction that every time he could be the most beautiful of all his life, but not from the choreographic point of view, but from the point of view of the emotion that can be lived. The milonga is a very special place in which there is a code of behavior to be respected. The rule is that the man invites the woman, but not with words, but with a game of glances and signs. On the track you have to move counterclockwise and respect the tandas intervals, changing partners.
The milonga is a magical place where every dancer can live their intimacy and their Tango even in the midst of so many people is the opposite of the shimmering stage where the tango becomes public and the pleasure of the dancers comes after duty. The particular socio-economic situation that Argentina is experiencing has meant that many milongas have been closed, this has allowed the return of the dancers in the streets, both because there are no milongas, and because there is no money. But the return of the dancers in the streets is very probably also a way of the Argentines to try to encourage tourism with the most genuine and original weapon: the tradition of their country, the expression of their culture.

The dancers

Dancing Tango requires learning, a code.
It is necessary to learn how to keep the feet well supported on the ground, especially at the level of the forefoot; keep the torso straight with your shoulders open (especially women); the position of the whole body must be slightly inclined forward but without unbalance, therefore in perpetual muscular tension; the right cheeks in the milonguero tango are in contact. Fundamental is the role of man, he must listen to music, hear signals of women, control the space available to move and based on it create the sequence always in accordance with the music.
The woman must interpret the thought of man to try to follow him in the right way, plus he must understand when man grants her the space to create and exploit it. For this reason, often in the praticas, dance schools, the main purpose is to improve their technique, their style and learn during the performance. Women are made to dance with men, men and men. The woman in the role of the man understands and makes the signs of the maracas his own, and then follow them more easily. The man learns to follow and therefore to understand the expectation of the woman and her difficulties.
Among the fundamental qualities of a Tango dancer there must be elegance, class, posture because the Tango is elegance and definitely wants to live and joy.

At the historical level there are many names of the famous dancers who made history and exported the Tango throughout the world; men and women among them: Tito Lusiardo with Beba Bidart and the copy Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nives who in 1951 founded a sort of school at the Atlanta club where the Tango was danced and taught. Copes still performs with his 21-year-old daughter Johana, with whom he founded the company of dancers and musicians: “Copes Tango Copes”.
Many of today’s esteemed and respected dancers are in the world.