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Music & Tango


So sad they've split up! Would have learnt a wealth of information from them about music, musicality, steps and really listening to the structure of Tango on another level. Time to find Erdemsel somewhere in this world then!

This brought me back to a concept that I think is really relevant for Tango though, in order to understand Tango beyond dance steps, it's the realisation that the evolution of this dance is so much a combination of lifestyle, of music and of tradition.

For me, the Universe of Truths in Tango consists of :

- Embrace
- Music
- Movement

What is real Tango? Is it the lost years of the 30's? Where we only play 'Golden Age' stuff and conform to a notion of 'tradition'.Where we look at old recordings and find confusion in the boxy, non-disassociated steps of the past maestros. Where up to now I look at the elderly women who have more meat, who have seen more, and wonder why the maestros call them '80 kg of Tango'. How does this embodiment come about? Do you only achieve that when you've lived through heartbreak and done your miles on the floor?

I am thankful that I began my journey with MTango. I am thankful I then discovered and paired it with MATC. One provided me the range, the other provided me the basics and technique drilling that I still use today. I often think that my learning of Tango is so much like my learning of English, diving into the deep end of books without knowing quite the 'why' or the 'how'. Up to this day I still don't understand Grammatical Structure but who needs that when you can write a full analysis and score 6/6 for 2 units of A level English Literature right ;).

Back to this. I've always loved it when maestros do demos at the end, that connection, musicality and demonstration is far and beyond what they end up performing to at 11pm dressed in their finery's. No, here they are stripped down, raw, having fun, and it shows in the ease of the movement, the seeming flow of it.

Once upon time in a Mexican restaurant, someone by the name of Cikgu told me that - he wasn't feeling the music, halfway through dancing, he realised that, the fleeting sentiment was lost. I didn't quite get him then, but I think I do now.

Tango is NOTHING without the music, without the bandoneon sounds, without the violin wavering on it's top note. It's like a great curry missing the curry leaves. Or Assam Laksa without the prawn sauce. Which is why I need to learn more about the phrasing, about the music and the origins. How to read a score is akin to how to move to it.



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