TANGO

It has been called “a sad thought to be danced” and in thousand other ways, but tango was born as a dance and it will die as a dance!  In the second half of 1800, Buenos Aires was an incredible mix of cultures where immigrants all had misery and hunger in common, yet they created something new and absolutely unique: tango.

Its origin is still unclear yet each culture has given its influence so that each one of us finds in tango music his/her passions, a sense of home-sickness, sadness, emotions and rememberings.

In Argentina they say “a tango, a life”.  In fact, the couple is meant as two bodies, expressing the need of holding themselves, the need not to be alone, running away from war and misery.

Juan C. Copes, excellent choreographer and dancer, father of modern tango, describes a couple dancing tango as follows:  “it is one body, composed by one head and four legs, embracing themselves with only one hope:  that the orchestra will never end”.

During the years tango has evolved becoming more personalized, losing its character as poor boroughs macho style and it has become a perfect balance of the couple:  it looks like love in real life, it’s her and me … or me and her … or, to better say it, the two of us, only the two of us …

In the Argentinian tango, the couple exists respecting and listening to the other body and his/her needs; tango demands abandoning oneself to the other and having faith in our partner, it demands creative acceptance of one’s role; the role man guides and the woman is “seguidora”.

The essential qualification of a student, no matter his/her age, is to “feel” tango and to strongly wish dancing it; the teacher will be a measure and a guide assisting him/her in his/her first steps.  The teacher will help translating the different tango codes and its first easy figure so he will teach inner silence in order to listen to both the music and to the partner’s body.  It isn’t easy to give a definition to tango:  it is sensual, not erotic; it insinuates, yet not being aggressive;  it is weak, strong, genious, brusk, sweet, feline, arrogant, hypocrite, sensitive, in the end … it is human!  Moreover, it is one of the most complete physical exercises in the world since all parts of the body participate, as well as the feelings of the couple.

And now they go … yes, a man and a woman one in front of the other, a tango is playing, they look into each other’s eyes, they lift their arms … a love story starts … it will last three minutes …

Through an analytical methods the teachers will translate movements into  magical and mysterious signs, everyone will be able to learn this fascinating dance.

Responsible teacher:  Mitzi Barbacini – she has been amongst the first who have studied and spread this dance in Rome.

In colaboration with “Más que tango” by Andrea Lopez de Recalde (facebook MAS QUE TANGO)