Alright, there is a catch. The class is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but only on Thursdays do we get to practice the steps. Tuesday is a theory and history portion so it makes the class "valid" for something other than just learning how to dance.
As much as I would prefer to have only the practice portion, the history is quite interesting.
We learn about the lingo here, "lunfardo", which has roots in Italian, Caló, Portuguese, and French. Castellano (the Spanish language as is known here) has this lunfardo aspect coming from different languages, but also an aspect that makes it a bit trickier to learn: they sometimes cut the word in half, and invert the word. It's called "hablar al revés", or "speaking backwards".
For example: pagar = (pa + gar)^-1 -> GARPAR
(r is added at the end to make it a verb in the indicative form)tango = (tan + go)^-1 -> GOTAN
café = (ca + fé)^-1 -> FÉCA
calle = (ca + lle)^-1 -> LLECA
Now when we're talking with locals, we can try to learn the words that are used a lot of the time - typical lunfardo, but we'll probably always get caught up in their back-word words. That'll be the day when I can do that...
Tango is known to be a very sensual dance.
Naturally, the class revolves around that theme of sensuality. Pretty much everything is based off of prostitutes, sex, and brothels. There are many words in lunfardo and phrases; types of music and expressions that are metaphors for sexual acts, women, and anatomy.
The examination of the conception of the dance (to keep the theme going) is definitely interesting, and critical to the proper portrayal of the dance. In other words, it's nice to know what you're getting yourself into.
However. To dispel the overarching sexual nature of the dance, it's not so powerful. The closeness of the pair and the variations they move to from the eight basic steps can have nothing to do with a relation at all, it's simply where the pair feels comfortable dancing.
Here are the eight basic steps:
Within those eight steps, there are numerous variations (off step two, off step four --- those are the ones I know as of yet), and that is what gives the dance it's flair. What makes it so unique, is that the male is always the lead, and the woman has to read the man's signs (pressure on her back). The man chooses the tempo, each step does not have to be in the same time, so there is much freedom.
The title of this blog comes from my Tango side-kick (literally), Toshy. Toshy and I tear up the floor. I mean we're really getting good. (For having 4 classes... .) Last Thursday, we puffed out our chests in jest and joked that we needed everyone to get out of the way. Thus, on the variations - the Ocho Adelante and Ocho Atrás we joked that we would kick out our legs farther than what we have to, to simulate the "removal" of the pairs around us. What happened next was he said, "man, this has got to be called Tae-Kwon Tango!" And immediately the light bulb went off and I responded, "I'm going to use that, for sure." So there it is.
It takes two to Tae-Kwon Tango. And ONLY two.
Angela
ps. This is a group of musicians we saw in the city of Rosario last weekend - they were singing Tango songs, of which the following is one. (The photograph below is the singer belting CHE BANDONEÓN.)
Until the sun comes up, we Tango on.
Angela
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