About Tango

A lot of people in Australia associate tango with ballroom dancing or Hollywood movies portraying couples doing overt gestures with rose between the teeth. This popular misconception probably comes from the tango having been often taken very much out of its rich cultural context. (Read more about it in this article by Daniel Trenner, a renowned tango teacher. More about the roots of tango can be found at this National Geographic Tango page.)

In reality the tango as a social dance works as a way of communicating to another person through the music. It's not a competition and there are no defined levels to attain. It's danced not for an audience but for oneself and the partner. Hence it's an activity based very much on participation, just as conversations are. And just as the best conversations allow us to relate to another person, and it is a feeling not just a collection of words, tango dancing works this way with our bodies. It asks us not to be performers, but to be ourselves.

In this sense, the tango as the dance becomes a way of expression and tango as a participatory form becomes a way of living. One becomes a part of a community through participating, and this is in contrast to going to the movies for example where one plays the role of a passive consumer. Because it is so easy to live in the modern Australian society without participating in an artistic and cultural endeavour, tango remains an activity not easily seen and understood by the public at large.

Links about tango music and videos

ToTango: great articles about the essential tango sound and more
Guide to Tango Music for Social Dancing: provides guides for developing a collection of tango music and using it for social dancing

Tango portals

These website provide many links including where to dance in a particular city in the world.
Cyber-Tango: has links to just about everything to do with tango
Ernesto's Tango Page: learn and read more about tango, and where to dance
Tangodata: Portal for tango in Buenos Aires