Did you also notice that Argentine Tango has spread all around Europe!?!
That' great because Dancing makes people better, on so many levels... from the top of my head: more beautiful, more open-minded, less stressed, less introverted, more communicative, more assertive, more sociable, thus, so much happier!
All the people that met and fell in love with <tango>, have grown into a very numerous and classy community of "tangueros" (tango dancers). Being a social (saloon) dance, people easily interact with each-other, not only during the tango-classes or seminars but also during the Milongas (the Parties focused on Argentine Tango music).
The dance is pretty much based on improvisation, based on the on-the-spot inspiration of the music.
Unlike Dancesport for example, where you rehearse the same choreography over and over, with the same partner, in order to achieve a high technical and musical performance (for competitions), in social dancing the goal is not to be technical and sportive, but to have a nice time, to interact with other people, to be able to dance "with everyone at the party".
However, improvisation does not mean that you don't need to know anything, just listen to the music. During the tango classes, people learn the musicality of the dance, various tango figures and rules on the tango dance-floor (e.g. moving direction, to avoid collision with other couples :)) - if you ever practiced any ballroom dance, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!).
The improvisation stands in the way the tango-figures are combined and lead by the leader (the man), according his inspiration and feeling of the music. The follower (the woman) knowing the "routines" is able to perform the figure that the leader expects, thus, creating an- every-time unique choreography.
This is the beauty of every social dance, the variety of people interaction and that's why it became very popular in a very short time. The tango society is not only local, but there's a strong connection between the tango schools and dancers, all around Europe. In almost all the weekends, you can find and least one Tango Event, somewhere in Europe.
Tango a like a natural communication language - anybody who attended tango-classes should be able to dance with other tango dancers even though he / she may have never even met before.
Two strangers that don't speak the same language, may dance together at a Milonga Party, because, they do speak the same language: Tango :)
If you ever attended of plan to attend Tango events, you know - or will find out - that anything connected to Tango Milongas is "language free" :-) I somehow find this very mysterious, but very attractive and exciting: the leader will invite the lady to dance - with a look - if she wants to dance, she will meet him on the dance floor; if she doesn't she will act like she didn't catch the look. During the dance itself, the tangueros don't make conversation, they just enjoy the dance and the music.
Even though we became familiar with Argentine Tango a few years ago, we did not attend so many tango classes and parties, because we were more focused on Sportdance and some other social dances. So I guess it's not fair to say that we are part of the local tango community, but what I can say for sure, is that I've truly enjoyed every Argentine Tango event, attended so far.
Below some picture we took, when we attended great tango show.
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What I loved most and what I still remember with great pleasure, is a show dance that I like to call "a special delivery from Argentina". An Argentine Tango show, performed by a couple of genuine Argentine Dancers, that were invited, as part of an international Tango Festival.
Their performance was so incredibly intense, that even when I look at the pictures, I can still feel the passion and intense emotions that were floating in the air, while they were performing: the vibrant colors of their dance; the strong passion they were able to deliver; the mixture of feelings and the authenticity of spirit.
That was not only the "cherry on top" of that event - but, for me personally - that was the "cherry on top" for my entire idea of Tango Dancing :-)
Here are some pictures we took, but I must say it once more, there was so much more going on in the atmosphere :) much, much more than the pictures can show:
It doesn't matter why you dance, where you dance, what you dance and whom you dance it with,
as long as it makes you happy, keep dancing! Dance with passion!
