Argentine tango: history of the dance and the best melodies written in its rhythms. In which country did tango dance originate: history of dance

Tango is a dance of Argentine origin that has become popular throughout the world. The dance partner and partner perform different steps. In tango, the man leads, creating a dance pattern, and the woman follows him, interpreting and decorating his steps. Tango is a sensual and dramatic dance. It is sometimes called “5-minute love.”

The tango dance originated in Argentina and Uruguay. Both the name and the dance itself have African roots. It was the dances of people from the hottest continent that later became what we call tango. At the end of the 19th century, immigrants flooded the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. And these were not only Africans: among them there were people from all over Europe.

Most often, these were young men from the lower strata of society who came to the New World in an attempt to find their place in life and feed their families. They often had to leave their loved ones and families behind. It is this unbearable feeling of loneliness, longing for the Motherland and the desire to feel human warmth that constitute the emotional core of tango. That is why tango is called “love for 5 minutes.”

During the dance, partners experience all stages of human relationships: a meeting, an attraction that has arisen, a thirst for intimacy, passion, a premonition of imminent separation and, finally, the inevitable separation at the end of the dance. Tango is a dance of embrace. The partner and partner press very closely against each other, the man's hand tightly clasping the woman's waist.

Varieties of tango

There are several varieties of tango. Considered classic Argentine tango. It is precisely this that most closely corresponds to the dance that appeared in the 19th century. In turn, Argentine tango itself is divided into 3 types: tango itself, tango waltz (dance with a waltz rhythm), and milonga (a more rhythmic, fast and playful dance.)

There is also a variety such as Finnish tango. It appeared in Finland after World War II. Its creator is considered to be the composer Toivo Kärki. The peculiarity of Finnish tango in terms of musical accompaniment is the presence in the music of elements of Russian romance, German march and Finnish folk song.

Finnish tango is always performed in a minor key. Finns' obsession with tango is so great that it is still very popular today. In the summer it can be danced right on city streets and squares.

When tango came to North America, it underwent some changes. The result of this process was the so-called ballroom tango. It, unlike other varieties, is not an improvisational dance. When performing this option, dancers are required to follow the developed standards.

They regulate both the permissible dance steps and the position of the head and body. This dance is included in the program of many sports competitions along with foxtrot, Viennese waltz, etc. In addition, the rhythm of ballroom tango, unlike Argentine tango, is created with the help of percussion instruments. This makes the sound clearer and more rhythmic, but to some extent deprives the musical accompaniment of smoothness and melody.

Tango is also divided into social(which can be performed by non-professional dancers at tango parties), salon And stage. There are many other varieties of this dance.

Tango movements

Tango movements are very expressive, sensual and allow you to express a whole range of feelings. Musical accompaniment gives the dance a special expressive and emotional mood. The rhythm of the melody is not constant; it does not repeat itself cyclically from beat to beat. Pauses, accelerations, or, conversely, decelerations are possible.

In this regard, smooth and slow movements in tango are often combined with sharp and rapid ones. The male and female partners perform different steps, but they must move as one unit. Therefore, dancers must learn to understand each other. Moreover, we are not talking about mutual understanding with one partner. In many schools, a condition for learning Argentine dance is to periodically change partners.

This allows you to learn how to interact with any person. A well-trained dancer can, after a few bars, perform a beautiful and emotional tango with anyone. Moreover, each performance is unique and inimitable. Steps in tango are made at every beat of the music. And it is precisely the setting of a beautiful step that is given great attention during training.

Tango is a beautiful and emotional dance, which always has a touch of sadness.

Natalia Zheleznaya

Tango- one of the most mysterious dances in the world. After all, it combines restraint of character, severity of lines and unbridled, undisguised passion at the same time. Modern tango has many varieties. Among them are the strict ballroom style, the passionate Argentinean and the unusual Finnish. But they all differ from other types of dances in their special, unique character. After all, only in tango can you combine such anatomical features as restraint and passion, severity and frivolity, tenderness and aggression. Maybe that’s why, despite its complexity, both in performance and in understanding, this dance has a huge number of fans around the world.

History of Tango
Tango is a unique fusion of traditions, folklore, feelings and experiences of many peoples, which has a history of more than a century. It appeared at the end of the 19th century in the poor emigrant quarters of Buenos Aires, where emigrants came in search of happiness, and here the cultural traditions of countries around the world met. There was not enough happiness for everyone; it was replaced by dance, accessible to everyone. In it, the Argentine milonga, the Havana habanera, the Spanish flamenco, the ritual dances of the Indians, the Polish mazurka, and the German waltz merged together in a dance of longing for the abandoned homeland, unhappy love, passion and loneliness. At first, tango was a man's dance. It was a confrontation, a duel, mainly, of course, over a woman. They say that a lady could choose from 10-15 men. Tango later became a dance between a man and a woman. In many ways, to this day, tango has retained its opposing force and rules of the game: the man leads, the lady follows his lead. Tango turned out to be so viable that it very quickly spread not only beyond the ports and streets of poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, but also beyond the borders of Argentina. At the beginning of the 20th century, tango and its music entered the life of European countries. This was the golden age of tango, the period of tangomania. Paris at the beginning of the century fell in love with tango at first sight. This illegitimate child of African rhythms, Italian songs and mazurka came to Paris thanks to several dancers from Argentina. A new word has emerged - tangomania, fashion for tango dancing and everything connected with it: tango parties, tango drinks, cigarettes, tango-style clothes and shoes. From Paris, tango spread throughout the world, to London, New York, Germany and Russia, although not unimpeded. Pope Pius X himself spoke out against the new dance, and the Austrian emperor forbade soldiers to dance it in military uniform. And the Queen of England said that she refuses to dance “this”. But in 1914, a couple of Romanians, students of the Argentinean Casimir Ain, danced “it” in the Vatican, and the Pope finally lifted his ban. We also had our own tango in Russia. Tango became very popular in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, although its dancing was officially prohibited. Thus, in 1914, a decree of the Minister of Public Education appeared, prohibiting the very mention of “the dance called tango, which has become widespread,” in Russian educational institutions. And if you remember, the fate of tango at one time was shared by the waltz, mazurka, and polka... And in the 20-30s it was also banned as a dance of bourgeois culture. It was forbidden to prohibit, but tango became more and more loved. Played gramophone records with Rodriguez's "Cumparsita", "Champagne Splashes", and "Burnt by the Sun" were passed from hand to hand. There were sweet melodies of Oscar Strok, soulful tango performed by Vadim Kozin, Pyotr Leshchenko, Konstantin Sokolsky, Alexander Vertinsky... And then wartime tango and tango from Russian films. This was our native Russian tango.
More recently, tango was treated as a retro dance, a culture and style that has long since outlived its golden age. But today tango is returning to us again at the beginning of the new century in the original style as it was and is danced in Argentina. This is a new wave of tangomania. This is a new direction of neo-romanticism, when a man and a woman rediscover the charm and pleasure of dancing together. Argentine tango is danced all over the world.

History of Argentine Tango
This story began in Argentina. They say that tango was first danced by blacks, former slaves who lived in Argentina. This dance was accompanied by drum rhythms. At the end of the 19th century, the Argentine port city of Buenos Aires became extremely popular among emigrants. People came here from different European countries in search of a better life. These people brought with them various musical instruments from their home countries: violins, guitars, flutes, and of course they carried the musical traditions of their countries. And here in Buenos Aires, as a mixture of different cultures and trends in music, a previously unknown dance - tango - is formed and developed. At first he was cheerful, easy-going, and at times even vulgar. For a long time it remained the music and dance of the lower classes. The middle and upper classes did not recognize him. In those days, tango was danced in taverns, in the courtyards of barracks, in brothels and simply on the streets in the poorest quarters of the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bandoneon, an instrument whose sound resembled an organ, appeared among the tango instruments. He added notes of drama to tango music. With his appearance, Tango became slower, new tones of intimacy appeared for him. In the 20s of our century, an economic crisis began in Argentina. A huge number of people lost their jobs and the people of Buenos Aires became very sad people. It should be noted that at that time the majority of the population of Buenos Aires were men. And so the men of Buenos Aires were very lonely. Tango lyrics will always be about a woman, sadness and longing for her. For a porteño man, there were only short moments of intimacy with a woman. This happened when he held her in his arms, dancing the tango. At these moments, the man was overcome by love, and this feeling somehow reconciled him with life. In 1955, a military regime begins in Argentina. Tango is still disliked by the upper and middle strata of society, since tango is the dance of the poor, the dance of the people, the dance of free feelings. When you dance Tango, don't get carried away with the steps, because the steps are the less important part of this dance. The most important part of Tango is the music and your feelings.

Reflections on the origins of tango
Tango is primarily a dance genre that has its own rhythm and structure that distinguishes it from other genres. The origins of tango were strongly influenced by the socio-cultural context of the late 19th century. The conditions that shaped tango between 1890 and 1920 were unique. They won't be around when new music genres start appearing to compete for the right to be popular.
The social conditions in which tango was born were Buenos Aires in the 1880s with an indigenous population of 210,000 people and the then large flow of emigrants from Europe. In 1910, the population reaches 1,200,000 people and this is when tango flourishes. These historical events are very important for our analysis. It was this mixture of European blood with Spanish and native Latin American populations that gave rise to a new way of expressing oneself through music. This unprecedented event of the fusion of different nations gives tango the character of a universal dance. Buenos Aires in 1880 was like a big village where you could dance or watch people dancing only in dance halls or theaters. These academies only hired women who had special permission to work. As a rule, dance halls were located on the outskirts of the city or in the suburbs. At dance evenings, the rhythms of habanera (Havanese dance), polka, corrido, waltz, Scottish song and other genres were mixed. From all these rhythms tango was born, which quickly became popular in the expanding Buenos Aires. At that time, it was common practice for actors to sing and dance on stage in comedies, operettas and other plays of the small genre. Even before the beginning of the 20th century, tango music began to be played at these shows. Street musicians spread the melody of tango throughout all corners and neighborhoods, and very often one could see people dancing tango on the street, especially men dancing with each other. At that time, women were rare, since emigrants, as a rule, left their wives and girlfriends at home and went alone in search of their fortune. Another misconception about tango is that it was rejected and banned in high society. Since 1902, Teatro Opera has organized balls where tango, along with other dances, was included in the repertoire. And it was unlikely that ordinary workers or people from the provinces went there. With development
technologies and the advent of gramophone records and players, tango began to be increasingly introduced into the life of the city. The price of one record then varied between 2 pesos and 50 cents 5 pesos. A gramophone then cost between 150-300 pesos. One sheet of music cost from 1 to 3 pesos. Who could buy these things for such prices? Of course, wealthy people who have a piano at home in addition to a record player to play notes. The average salary of a police officer at that time was 60 pesos. Between 1903 and 1910, more than a thousand records were released, 350 of which were dedicated to tango, and a huge number of sheet music. In the next decade, the volume of records increased to 5,500, of which half were tango recordings. Doesn't this indicate great demand? Could poor people buy a gramophone? Who could buy records?
In conclusion: Tango culture was born from a mixture of Spanish and Latin American culture with what European emigrants brought with them. Its origins were influenced, on the one hand, by the milonga, habanera, and Scottish dance, and on the other, by operetta and pop song. Tango was born on the outskirts of the city and in the provinces. Then it became popular in dance halls, which were then called academies. Street musicians spread tango throughout the neighborhoods, and theaters included it in their productions. It had to get along with other dances, but in the end it firmly won its place in the city center. Tango was accepted, to a greater or lesser extent, by all levels of society and was recognized first in Europe, later in the United States, and then in the rest of America.

The roots of tango - dance and music
The most fantastic theories, stretching all the way to the land of the rising sun, argue about the origin of dance, music and the very word “tango”. Eduardo S. Castillo believes that the word "tango" is Japanese, since the dance itself was allegedly invented by the Japanese living in Cuba. Even though we understand that this theory is too far from being real, and not so distant stories of the origin of tango cannot be considered more reliable and remain the subject of heated debate to this day. There is already a debate about where the word "tango" comes from. Some believe that it is based on the Latin verb "tangere" - to touch, others believe that it comes from the Spanish word "tambor" - drum - through the intermediate stage - "tambo" or "tango" to "tango". More likely is the theory published by Vincente Rossi in 1926 in his book "Cosas de negros" (The Affairs of the Blacks). Rossi was the first to point out that the word "tango" may come from one of the African dialects.
His assumption seems all the more likely since Buenos Aires and Montevideo were for many years important transit points for the slave trade. Ricardo Rodriguez Molas, another tango researcher, confirmed Rossi's thesis in his etymological studies, proving the African origin of the word "tango". The debate is actually about what served as the basis: the Congolese dance “Lango”, the god of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe “Shango” or the word of the Bantu people “tamgu”, meaning dance in general. According to Molas, "tango" comes from the Congo, where it means "closed place", "circle". Later, this catch began to be called the places where slaves were collected before loading onto the ship. When comparing tango with candombe, the music of the black population of Buenos Aires, it is clear from the instruments used how little these musical styles have in common.
None of the many percussion instruments that form the basis of candombe have ever been used in tango. Tango and candombe share a rhythmic formula that in principle underlies all African-influenced Latin American music, from Uruguay to Cuba. This rhythmic formula also influenced three musical styles considered the immediate predecessors of tango: Afro-Cuban habanera, Andalusian tango and milonga.
Habanera, which originated around 1825 in the suburbs of Havana, is both a couples dance and a form of song. Musically, it is a mixture of Spanish song traditions with the rhythmic heritage of black slaves. As a result of constant contacts between the colony and the metropolis, habanera penetrated into the Kingdom of Spain and around the 1850s it became popular throughout the country, mainly thanks to folk theaters. Habanera was distributed by Cuban sailors in the port taverns of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It instantly became competitive with the most fashionable dances of that era, with the mazurka, polka, and waltz. It was also very popular in folk theater in the form of song couplets. The basic rhythmic structure of the habanera consists of a two-quarter beat, which in turn is composed of one beaten eighth note, one sixteenth note, and two subsequent eighth notes. Tango Andaluz, which originated around 1850 in Cadiz, belongs to the classical forms of flamenco and is performed with guitar accompaniment. This is both a song form and a dance, which was performed at first only by the woman, later by one or more couples, and the partners did not touch each other. However, the Andalusian tango did not come to Argentina as a dance. Here it was used only as a song or folk theater verses.

Milonga, the Creole predecessor of tango, is in itself “part of cultural history,” and there is also no consensus on the original meaning of this word. Dieter Reichardt believes that this word is the plural of the Kimbundu word mulonga ("word"). While the black population of Brazil retained the original meaning of the word milonga - “words”, “conversation”, in Uruguay “milonga” meant “urban singing” (payada pueblera) in contrast to the songs of the rural population, simply payada. In Buenos Aires and its environs, milonga in the 1870s meant "festival" or "dancing", as well as the place where it was held, and at the same time a "promiscuous mixture". This is the sense in which the word is used in Martin Fierro's epic. Soon after this, this word began to be used to designate a special dance and song form, to which were added milonguera - a dancer in entertainment venues and milonguita - a woman working in a cabaret with a penchant for alcohol and drugs." At this time, the milonga was interesting as a dance-style song form. The rural milonga was very slow and served as musical accompaniment to the songs. The urban version was much faster, more mobile, it was played and, accordingly, danced more rhythmically. If we talk about rhythmic elements, then in the milonga only the elements of African candombe are most noticeable. The related one is more obvious. connection with the music of the Pampa folk singers.While tango is a more stylized urban music that left behind its folkloristic heritage no later than the 20s, the milonga bears many features of the folk music of Argentina.

Milonga, habanera and Andalusian tango featured prominently in the repertoire of the trio, which toured the Buenos Aires area in the 1880s. These musicians were almost entirely self-taught, playing flutes, violins and harps at dances in the working-class neighborhoods, diners and brothels of the suburbs. The harp was often replaced by a mandolin, accordion or simply a comb and was subsequently completely replaced by the guitar, which since the time of the Conquest has played a vital role, especially in rural areas, as the national instrument of gauchos and payadores. Soon the guitarist began to determine the harmonic basis on which the violinist and flautist improvised. Few of the musicians of that time could read music. Everyone played by ear and invented new melodies every evening. What they liked was often repeated until a unique piece of music emerged. But since these melodies were not recorded, today it is not known exactly how they sounded.
The repertoire of such groups was more than varied. They played waltzes, mazurkas, milongas, habaneras, Andalusian tango and at one point the first Argentine tango. Today it is impossible to say which trio played the first purest tango in which eatery in the city. The transitions between habanera, milonga and Andalusian tango were so subtle that they were often confused. The origins of tango can be more or less accurately traced to the moment when musicians playing for dancers could read music and thus write down the music they performed. These were primarily pianists, playing in elegant salons where there was a piano. The pianists played here most of the time alone. They tended to have a musical background, unlike their anonymous suburban trio counterparts. They exchanged notes, created their own style and - most importantly - recorded their compositions.
One of the most famous establishments of that time was a cafe-restaurant opened by the German Juan Hansen in 1877 in the city district of Palermo "Lo de Hansen" ("Hansen's") - a kind of hybrid of a restaurant and a brothel. Here you could taste delicacies in the open air overlooking the Rio de la Plata and then dance in secluded places hidden from prying eyes.
Tango played in a variety of places, on the streets, in the courtyards of working-class neighborhoods and in many establishments, from dance halls to brothels: Romerias, Karpas, Baylongs, Tringets, Academies, etc. More precisely, highlight places where tango was played is difficult - at best they differed from each other in their proximity to a brothel. José Gobello quotes a description of a certain “academy” from 1910: “The academy was just a cafe where women were served and where a barrel organ played. There you could have a drink and dance between two glasses with the serving women." The women in this establishment, as a contemporary writes further, were not prostitutes, but in general it was only a matter of time and - in more difficult cases - a larger amount of money - if the client there was such a desire. The barrel organ was at that time one of the most important tools for disseminating young tango music. Italians walked with it through the streets of the city center and the courtyards of working-class neighborhoods. Families of immigrants danced on Sundays at their holidays between a waltz and a mazurka once or twice and a tango, let without the complex figures customary among "decent people." The Italian barrel organ is mentioned in the Argentine national epic "Martin Fierro." The tango "El ultimo organito" and "Organito de la tarde" are mentioned as "The Voice of the Borders."
In all these places at that time you could hear tango. A classic early tango was, for example, "El entrerriano", written by Rosendo Mendizábal in 1897. Unfortunately, there are no surviving recordings of how Rosendo Mendizábal and his colleagues interpreted "Tangos para piano". However, the published scores give an idea of how joyful and energetic this music must have sounded.

The musical style that existed in Argentina gave rise to a new type of dance called milonga. Traveling musicians played cheerful songs, and the audience danced to the beat to the music. In the 19th century, emigrants, dancing the milonga, added dance movements from their country, forming the first elements of tango, the one that expresses the emotional intensity, inner anguish and experiences of people who left their homeland. In which country did tango dance originate? Let's talk about this in our article.

What is Argentine tango?

Louis Armstrong once said: “If you ask, no one will answer.” Also Argentine tango. It has a lot in common with jazz. in which there are no rules, but there are practices and methods. When studying dance, first of all, improvisation options are learned.

Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez (“Let's Dance”) or the charming Al Pacino (“Scent of a Woman”) dance tango spectacularly and passionately in films.

Tango professionals - Sebastian Arce, Javier Rodriguez - dance simply superbly. But this is a show, staged dances. Real Argentine tango is a simple dance of ordinary people. It is deep and sensual, not for spectators. It is for two, or rather for three: two dancers and music. in which hugs are more important than steps, we can say that this is the body language that partners speak.

The beauty of the dance is that the partners do not know each other. However, if you start dancing with one partner, you need to go with him through four blocks into which the milonga is divided. Doing one or two dances with a partner and then leaving is indecent. Here all events unfold as in life. In the first dance, the partners get to know each other, in the second they “get used to each other,” in the third, when they have already become sufficiently acquainted, the culmination of the relationship occurs, and the fourth dance is a farewell.

Birthplace of dance

The birthplace of tango is Buenos Aires. In the slums of this city, which became a haven for emigrants, a dance was born that combined elements and motifs of flamenco, African rhythms, Cuban habanera and milonga performed by traveling musicians. Thus, tango, which appeared between 1860 and 1880, became a complex interweaving of musical and dance traditions from different European countries, from where emigrants arrived in search of a better life.

It should be noted that the first wave of emigrants were mainly men. They came to earn money so that they could later move their families. Among them were singles who came to Buenos Aires to get rich. Work took up most of the day. In the evening it was time for entertainment and relaxation. Everyone chose for themselves what to do. Many went to clubs where there was alcohol, music, and dancing. It was there that there was fertile soil for the birth of tango - a symbiosis of many cultures and dance traditions. From this time the history of tango dance begins.

Initial reputation of the dance

The place where emigrants who came from all over the world lived was on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The area was called Arrabal (suburb). Here, right on the street, beggars lived, thieves and women of easy virtue - prostitutes - ply their trade. This audience danced tango both in gambling clubs and brothels, and simply on the street, or in cabarets and bars.

Over time, the idea of dance and its emotional background acquired a wide variety of shades: from unhappy love and longing to sarcasm. But dancing people have never conveyed their good mood or euphoria through tango.

Argentine tango was danced by men in entertainment venues with their friends. There was even an opinion that this was only a male dance. For them it was a way to show off themselves, demonstrate their talents and please a woman. But at the end of the 19th century, women first entered the world of tango. These were prostitutes from brothels. The dance of machos and prostitutes - this is how tango was called in the middle of the last century, and for this reason it was considered indecent.

How did the dance come to Paris?

To this day, some people find out in which country the tango dance originated: in Argentina or Uruguay. But no matter where it appeared, it was still brought to Europe. Their parents sent young people from wealthy Argentine families to study in European countries. Enterprising maestros, who did not hesitate to receive life lessons in brothels in their homeland, where they mastered tango, brought it to Paris, infecting local youth with tangomania. The Parisians liked the dance. It was performed at all city events. Soon, all of Europe became acquainted with this dance; in the homeland of tango, in Argentine society, the dance was accepted only after recognition in Paris.

Prohibitions and persecution

However, not everyone liked the closeness of dance partners. Not without persecution from the church. Pope Pius X was going to ban Christians from dancing indecent dances. The situation was saved by Romanian dancers who danced tango in the Vatican without emotion or passion. The trick and calculation worked, the ban was lifted.

In Russia, this amazing dance also became popular at the beginning of the 20th century. Although the decree of the Minister of Public Education officially banning tango was issued in 1914. The fate of tango was once shared by the Viennese waltz, mazurka and polka. Despite any prohibitions, the dance, as they say, went to the masses and people liked it. They listened to a languid and passionate melody from played gramophone records. “Splashes of Champagne” and “Burnt by the Sun”, soulful songs performed by Pyotr Leshchenko and Alexander Vertinsky, sounded in tango rhythm.

Popularization of dance

The unity of two elements of dance: the world of music and dance art was able to carry through his life the Argentine singer and composer Carlos Gardel, the son of an emigrant from Toulouse. He played a significant role in the popularization of tango. In what country did the dance originate? In Argentina, it was she who became the founder of tango. This is where the popularization of dance in the world began. Juan Darienzo created a rhythmic tango using modern arrangements. Carlos Di Sarli is a classic of melodic and lyrical dance. Stage tango was created by Osvaldo Pugliese. Since the 90s of the 20th century, a new wave of tangomania began. Tango schools began to open everywhere, inviting teachers from Argentina to work there.

Megalopolis phenomenon

The tango that spectators see at ballroom dance competitions is just a show. Real Argentine tango, as mentioned above, is improvisation, without spectacular steps. Dancers pass the music through themselves, it is a conversation between two bodies, a drama that ends with the last bars of music. This dance needs to be felt. The Russians can do it. They are considered the best dancers in European countries, and the Argentines recognized this. And it doesn’t matter in which country the tango dance originated, the main thing is that it lives and develops. He has fans and admirers.

Of course, Russia is not Argentina, where dozens of cafes are open to tango lovers every evening. Dance evenings (milongas) are held even during the day. During the lunch break, Argentines run to dance. In Russia, in particular in St. Petersburg, milongas are held several times a week. They are a real phenomenon of the metropolis; at such evenings you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Argentine streets, passion and love for several hours.

How to dance?

Argentine tango is very different from other dances. In his choreography, the sequence of steps is not memorized, it is born in the rhythm of the partner’s dance to the given music.

But if we talk about learning tango, then there are several basic movements in the dance: “eight”, “turn” and “carry”. Its beauty lies in the improvisation and momentary inspiration of partners. Each dancing couple interprets the sounding music in its own way and expresses this with movements. Once you practice a little, you can come to milongas - dance evenings organized by tango lovers around the world.

In tango lessons one learns to feel a partner, a sense of rhythm and space, and at the same time the ability to improvise. This dance, like no other, expresses feelings without words, shows the viewer unique stories and simply gives pleasure in perfect harmony. It is very problematic if a partner begins to control herself, her legs, tense her body, be afraid of mistakes, turning into a lump of muscles. In dance, details should fade into the background. We can say that this dance is comparable to a trance accompanied by music, during which a huge amount of energy is pumped in a few minutes.

Tango schools

As a rule, tango lessons in schools are taken by people for whom dancing is a necessity, not a pastime. Moreover, age does not matter. By learning to dance, people understand how to express the freedom of their emotions through movement. The idea of the dance is the interaction between partner and partner, which is transmitted through hands and the contact of bodies.

Partners are taught to “lead,” that is, to make movements so that the partner makes certain steps or figures. This is, of course, a very simplified approach to dance. In normal dance there is actually no such thing. It would be correct to say that there is a dependence of the partner’s movements on the partner’s movements. In a dance, a man does not think about steps, he thinks about the direction of movement, where he will move the woman in the next second.

When learning tango, the partner must understand that the partner may not go in the same direction or take the wrong steps. Sometimes women try to decorate the dance by making movements with their feet that they think their partner will not notice. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing stops him from going after her. In dance there is no predominant role of the leader and the follower; the main thing in it is to feel the partner, and this is manifested both in the ability to lead the partner and follow her.

How did Tango come about?

The history of the creation of Tango, where truth and beautiful fiction are closely intertwined, is so contradictory and vague that it is impossible to form a single idea about it.The first mention of Tango dates back to 1880. It is believed that it originated in the suburbs of the Argentine capital, presumably where the San Telmo district is now located.

In the last years of the 19th century, Europe was plagued by war, famine and economic uncertainty. Doubtful prospects and little hope for a stable life forced people to leave Europe and go to South America in search of a better life. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants settled in Argentina's new federal capital, the port of Buenos Aires. A huge number of people of different social status from completely different cultures, with their own orders and customs, suddenly found themselves in one place. Most of them were young men who had left their homeland, their families and lovers. Moreover, the ratio of men and women among them, according to various sources, ranged from 30:1 to 50:1. Despite the fairly high standard of living in Argentina at that time, the life of immigrants was by no means sweet. They were forced to live in squalid houses on the outskirts of the city, earning their bread through hard work. Difficult living conditions also left their mark on the culture they created. Despair, disappointment, sadness, nostalgia, longing, hope and longing tore at my soul and heart.

The main places of recreation at that time were taverns and brothels on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Young men were frequent visitors to "akademiyas" (from "dance academy") and "pregundines" - poor cafes where waitresses could be hired to dance.

It is impossible to say with certainty from which dance Tango takes its roots. Various sources list various Spanish, African, and Cuban dances as the ancestors of the dance... Not without the influence of the Negro candombe - after all, it is not for nothing that the word “tango” itself, according to many versions, comes from “tambo” - an African drum, to which Ritual dances were performed. From the habanera this dance took on the somnambulistic fusion of bodies, from the milonga - a whimsical interweaving of legs, from the fandango - dazzling dizziness, and, finally, from the candombe - a double stomp echoing the beats of the African drum.

In conditions of a severe shortage of women, it was important for men to become good dancers. A man who could dance Tango well acquired a "macho" image and had the opportunity to choose a woman. Residents of Orilla, the poor outskirts of Buenos Aires, learned Tango movements from a pimp. At first, men danced alone or with each other, thus killing time waiting for “their turn” in dating houses.

Later, women in taverns also became familiar with the Tango and began dancing it with clients, among whom townspeople began to appear more and more often, secretly sneaking into the coveted “orilla.”

At that time, Tango did not have strict rules; its rhythm and form were still very vague. The composition of the orchestra was also uncertain: in outlying cafes it most often consisted of a violin, flute and harp (which was later replaced by a guitar), sometimes the violin and flute were supplemented by a piano. As for the bandoneon type of accordion, named after the German Heinrich Band who invented it, this instrument, brought to Argentina by sailors, appears in tanga ensembles only at the beginning of the 20th century and immediately occupies a dominant position. The sound of this instrument is reminiscent of an organ. He added notes of drama to Tango music. Its cracked timbre perfectly conveys the essence of this dance. With his appearance, Tango became slower, new tones of intimacy appeared for him.

The Universal Suffrage Act of 1912 brought new freedom to the people and a driving force for Tango. From then on, not only the lower classes wanted to dance it. It became fashionable among high society to throw parties in honor of this dance, and tango salons were quickly founded in the upper-class areas of Buenos Aires. Word of him soon spread from South America to New York, London and Paris, where Tango tea parties became a craze.

The spread of Tango around the world brought certain changes to the nature of the dance. Tango made its first real leap in its development in the first years of the 20th century. It is associated with the first tours of tango orchestras and dancers to European countries and America.

The first Tango show in Europe took place in Paris, the trendsetter of world fashion, and soon after that in other European capitals. To say that the “early” Tango in Buenos Aires is an indecent dance is to say nothing. Very provocative, intimate, explicit, “physical”, he was a huge success in brothels and remained marginal, unacceptable to the upper strata of society. Once in Europe, Tango changed for the better. Now this is not a wild, animal passion, but a dance that is more restrained in appearance, but just as burning inside.

Not everyone liked this daring and sexy dance. In Paris, Cardinal Hamette declared: “Christians should not, in good conscience, take part in this.” The following year, Pope Benedict XV also expressed dissatisfaction: “It is outrageous that this obscene, pagan dance, which is the murder of family and social life, is already danced in the residence of the Pope.” But in 1914, a couple of Romanians, students of the Argentinean Casimir Ain, danced Tango in the Vatican, and the impressed Pope lifted his ban.

In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II banned his officers from dancing Tango in uniform, describing the dance as “lustful and offensive to public decency.” The Queen of England also stated that she refuses to dance this...

Russia also had its own Tango. It became very popular in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, although its performance was officially prohibited. Thus, in 1914, a decree of the Minister of Public Education appeared, prohibiting the very mention of “the dance called Tango, which has become widespread,” in Russian educational institutions.

However, nothing could stop the triumphant march of Tango. And in the early 20s it entered its golden era. In Buenos Aires, the popularity of Tango has reached unprecedented heights.

The years 1930-1950 became the "Golden Age" of Tango. This is a period of rapid development, the emergence of many new musical groups, which were the cradle of composers who later became classics of the style: Carlos Di Sarli, Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos Gardel, etc. Their work still inspires millions of people around the world.

The next surge in the popularity of Tango occurred in the 80s, when a number of shows were launched in America that revolutionized this dance throughout the world. "Forever Tango" - one of the most famous shows - began in New York in 1983. In Argentina, revival programs are being launched at the government level, documents related to the history of Tango are being restored.

At the beginning of the 21st century, UNESCO included Argentine tango on the list of World Heritage Sites.

December 11 - the birthday of the Argentine singer and actor, "King of Tango" Carlos Gardel - is celebrated throughout the world as International Tango Day.

When about a year had passed since the start of my tango lessons, I began to wonder where, in fact, the word itself came from. tango“What kind of hidden meaning does it carry, or is there no intrigue at all? Searches in various dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the Internet provided rich food for thought. From time to time, friends and acquaintances are also interested in the subject of my hobbies. So gradually the idea of an article was born, in which I wanted to put together all the information that I managed to find on this issue. Everything that you read in this text is by no means the ultimate truth and does not at all pretend to be the truth. This is just a short list of existing hypotheses, myths, legends, guesses mixed with historical facts and references.

One thing is absolutely certain: the word “tango” appeared much earlier than the dance under this name arose. The word is not of Argentine origin at all. As it turns out, traces of it can be found in African dialects. It was used in one form or another in the Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan, as well as in the Canary Islands and various parts of America. Thus, Vincente Rossi pointed out the possibility of the origin of the word “tango” from any of the African dialects. This theory is presented in his book Cosas de negros (Black Affairs) published in 1926.

Another tango researcher, Ricardo Rodriguez Molas, agrees with Rossi and cites a number of words that could become the progenitors of “tango”. For example, the Nigerian Yoruba tribe worships the god "Shango". In Congo there is a dance called "lango". The Bantu people use the word “tamgu” to mean dance as such.

Jose Gobelo, an authority on the subject of tango, adds to this that in Tanzania there is a "tanga" region and Lake Tanganyika. African-South Americans perform ritual dances called "tang" to drums, which are called "tango" or "tambo" (possibly from the Spanish word "tambor" - drum).

Molas points out that in the Congo the word "tango" means "circle", "closed place", "private space, entry into which must be asked." Gobelo adds that the word can be interpreted as “meeting place” and “special place.”

Slave traders under the word " tango" meant the places where slaves were collected before being loaded onto the ship. It also designated places where slaves were kept and sold in America. Perhaps this is how the word “tango” appeared and took root in the port cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, which for a long time were transit points for the slave trade.

Many researchers agree that the original meaning of the word “tango” was a closed space where Africans gathered to dance, and later this dance itself.

Some researchers have traced the interpretation of the word “tango” in different editions of the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy of Literature. The results are very interesting. For example, the 1899 edition defined "tango" as "the fun and dance of the negroes or lower classes in America." The second meaning of the word is “music for this dance.” IN in this case America should be understood as the Spanish part of the entire continent without Canada and the USA. A 1914 edition finds the origin of "tango" in Latin and attempts to connect it with the verb "tangir" ("to play instruments"). For example, the expression “ego tango” means “I play.” There you can also find a mention of the word “tangere” meaning “to touch”. These references were later removed from the dictionary, perhaps because their correctness was questioned. The 1925 edition of the Dictionary added the following interpretation of the word “tango”: “a dance of high society, imported from America at the beginning of the century.” This is how, on the pages of one book, “tango” went from the “lower” to the “higher” strata of society. It was only in the 1984 edition that the term “tango” acquired its current meaning - Argentine dance.

Here are some more interesting versions of the origin of the word “tango”. At various times, the Chinese Tang dynasty, the French verb tangier (to touch), a certain Mexican song “ancient tango” (a link to it was found in the archives of the Holy Inquisition in Mexico), and the unrestrained dances of black colonists called “ tanO" (with an emphasis on the "o") and even the Japanese who lived in Cuba (according to Eduardo S. Castillo).

There is probably no point in arguing which of the mentioned versions is closer to the truth. Most likely, there are other explanations, meanings and meanings of this word. Moreover, the dance itself, which is now referred to as “ tango"has undergone great changes and has been called differently in different periods of time. But that is another topic. If you know any other information related to the issue raised, share it in the comments, it’s interesting.