— from a recent issue of Dance Notes.
 
Communication In Tango
By Elena Pankey

Tango was born at the end of 19th century in Buenos Aires and Montevideo from combinations of many dance elements from different cultures. At that time many men from all over the world came to Argentina looking for work and new opportunities. They were strong, adventurous and courageous people; some of them were criminals escaping from justice in their homelands.

In the beginning Tango was communication for people experiencing the lonely life of immigrants. It still is a way of silent dance communication.

Men (portenos) would work hard at the docks on the Rio de la Plata, save some money, and then go to a dance hall or brothel to buy some time or a dance with a woman. For some men at that time two minutes of a dance could cost a fortune. This dance was around a woman and for her. It was expensive, and it was a challenge. Competition between the men often led to fights. While dancing, they held their woman tight with the right arm, protecting her. The left arm was always available for handling a knife. This left arm was not important for the dance, and a woman never relied on it.

Since women danced with many different men without set patterns (like we have now) they were led by watching the chest of their partner. Women would look over the man's left shoulder giving him a signal if somebody was approaching from behind. This still is the etiquette of Milonga!

All men were looking for consolation, comfort, and excitement… for a woman. There were not enough available women; some were pricey and spoiled. Men practiced with each other the moves from their national dances in order to improve their skills. For example, Europeans brought from fencing the most common movements in tango: "corte" and "parada." These two positions every Tanguero still needs to recognize in many steps because they are crucial for authentic expression.

Much later the dance took a specific form and became more elegant. Tango became more acceptable to the middle class, and men could take their own wives to dance on Wednesdays at a dance hall.

At the beginning of this new dance, a little orchestra tried to accommodate, please and help people to move with the music. Two or three musicians would be very skilled and fast to improvise, and their improvisation was dictated by what a dancer did with the legs. This is why tango music is changing all the time. It is a life story in sounds. Unfortunately, this first "Tango music" was not written down, but there might have been some masterpieces. Later the record companies brought some echoes of the original versions of that music to our days.