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Argentine Tango: My Passion
When you hear us on the radio I am sure you often think about what we are like, what we like, what we do when we are not on the radio. Well, I will tell you what I do...I dance. Dance is a wonderful way to connect with music, and music is a VERY important part of my life. I started doing all of the partner dances: Waltz, Foxtrot, American Tango, Swing, Hustle, Samba, Cha-Cha, Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata about eight years before Dancing with the Stars hit the air. The dance that has captured my head, heart and soul is Argentine tango. The fall of '06 I took my "pilgrimage" to the mother land, Buenos Aires , Argentina , where the dance was born in the mid 1850s to study with some of the master teachers of the dance. 
Most Americans don't know ANYTHING about Argentine tango and wonder how and why I'm so crazy about the dance, music and culture. When they hear some of the music they begin to get an idea. Argentine tango is considered by many to be the most beautiful dance ever. Wow, I wonder what tango would look like if Fred Astaire did it.
The most common comments I hear from many beginning dance students about tango are: “Argentine tango is so beautiful, but so hard to do.” “How do they do that?” “It is so sexy and looks so easy to do; I thought I could just start dancing right away without lessons.” “I can't do that, it is too difficult.” This is usually said by the student right after the teacher says, “Argentine tango is just a walk.” But the student did not hear that because they were too busy complaining and not listening to what the teacher was saying. Or they were too busy in their own minds telling themselves how difficult the dance is and that they can't do it.
Argentine tango is a walk. Not only that, but it is an “improvised” walk that is done on the beat of the music that the leader chooses. Tango is unlike salsa on two, now THAT is difficult (Where is that damn beat?). With most dances we step on the FIRST beat of the music, the strongest beat. With salsa on two, you step on the SECOND beat of the music. I think that is counter-intuitive. But of course, you still must dance on the beat; you just start on a different beat. In tango, you can step on the first, second, third, fourth beat of the music, or just wait until several beats go by without taking a step at all. Tango is a walk. How did you get to the computer to read this article? You walked, and have been walking for many, many years. So the logic follows: If you can walk to your computer, you can tango.
The common image that most Americans have of tango is a holdover from the classic 1921 black and white movie, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Dressed in a gaucho/flamenco type outfit, Rudolph Valentino grabs an unsuspecting damsel played by Helena Domingues, places a rose between his teeth, tosses her into the side-by-side promenade position, then begins to walk cheek to cheek from one side of the bar to the other. This is what most American people see in their minds when you tell them that you are studying tango. The tango music they are probably most familiar with is the music to which we dance the American or ballroom tango.
The music of the Argentine tango is quite strange to most American's ears. We don't really know this music for it is not part of the American culture. All of the other music that we dance to can be heard in many places. You can turn on the radio or television and hear the music of Hustle, Swing, West Coast Swing, Samba, Peabody , Foxtrot, American Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Jive, Jitterbug, Lindy Hop, Merengue, Cha-Cha, Bachata, Salsa, and Mambo, all of it. But, Argentine tango music? Never! You can't go home after a long hard day at work and turn on the Argentine tango radio station, or turn on the television and see the latest installment of “Tango Tonight” on BET, MTV or VH-1.
There are over eighty (80) radio signals in New York , not one of them plays Argentine tango music. There are two new satellite radio companies that broadcast one hundred channels each. That means that on one station fifty channels will be news, sports and talk, the other fifty will be music channels, several of which will be Latin but not one tango channel. Black Entertainment Television (BET) has an afternoon Latin video show…no tango. The cable channel, Latin Television (LTV) plays Latin music videos. You guessed it; you never see one tango video. My cable company offers something called DTV (Digital Television). This service has a total of forty-five (45) all music-no talk channels. Of these forty-five channels, five offer Latin music. They are Mexicana, Latin Love Songs, Rock en Español, Salsa Y Merengue and Musica Latina, once again, no tango.
Unfortunately, the tango dancer or tango music enthusiast only has a few outlets to satisfy their passion.
Every now and then you hear tango music on a television commercial. There are two that come to mind. One for Bounty Quilted Napkins that has a small boy eating barbecue chicken or some other messy food, getting it all over his face and hands. He wipes his mouth and throws the towels on the floor in a huge pile. The other TV commercial is for a floor wax or cleaner. Anyway, I have a fairly extensive background in music, meaning my ear is familiar with most music of the world and I don't think that I have heard tango music more than five times in my life before I walked into a dance studio in 1997 for my first dance lesson.
The point is, I don't think that Argentine tango is that difficult to dance. I think that what most Americans are reacting to is the music. They are not familiar with the music. If you only listen to Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna, you will never understand Argentine tango.
We should work to reeducate our ears. To become familiar with the music, I lie in bed with my Walkman on before going to sleep and I listen to tango music every night…every night. How can you NOT learn the music if you listen to it every night? Now, I know it, I feel it, I understand it. Most dance students don't listen to enough music, no, let me rephrase that. Many dance students don't listen to ANY music. If you are a student, you will never learn how to interpret tango music or any music with movement of your body if you don't listen to music at times other than when it is time to dance. In class when your teacher tells you to listen to the music, listen to the music, they mean a little more than that. Listening to music is a one way, non-interactive activity. What they mean is respond, reply, obey, act upon, abide by, compliment, accompany, escort, react, or be in companionship with the music. From one dance student to another, be smart-listen to music when you are NOT dancing. For music is our redeemer; it is what makes us want to dance.
Batt Johnson-Lover of Dance
Smooth Jazz, CD101.9
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