5 Signs You Need Argentine Tango in Your Life…and 5 Signs You Don’t
Wondering why you should try Argentine tango?
The embrace.
The croon of the bandoneon.
The backless dresses and suits and four-inch heels.
If these images dance in your head, your prognosis doesn’t look good.
Because you’ve caught Argentine tango-fever, a chronic ailment that can only be cured via lessons at your nearest dance studio.
Read on to decide whether Argentine tango is right for you.
You need tango in your life if…
1. …You Enjoy a Good Challenge.
In a Latin dance world filled with swaying hips, up-tempo tunes, and macho lyrical tales, Argentine tango is a bit of a black sheep.
Its beat is slower. Its atmosphere, more introverted and somber. And its learning curve, chock full of steep, ever-present challenges.
There’s the never-ending task of refining your technique, and that’s just when you’re by yourself. There’s the Spanish-language vocabulary, required if one wishes to progress as a social dancer. And finally, there’s the music, home to dozens of composers, each with their own compositional style, styles that take years to understand and dance proficiently to.
Feeling reluctant about starting Argentine Tango?
2. …You Long for an Alternative Career Path.
400-person dance festivals and stiletto-laden dancefloor fashions have to come from somewhere, and they’re brought to you by legions of hard-working small business owners, clothing designers, DJs, and composers, legions who found alternative career paths through tango.
Besides the music and learning process, my favorite thing about the tango community is that it grants numerous career avenues, especially for those who don’t mesh well with standard corporate environments.
3. …You’re Curious About a Rich History and Culture.
The desire to expand my cultural horizons beyond familiar American shores drove my decision to take up Argentine tango in 2017; if you feel the same way, boy, have I got news for you!
Home to over 100 years of history, Argentine tango is famous for more than its dramatic looks. Distinct social traditions abound, as does a storied music history and an inter-cultural blend of Latin and Congolese influences.
Arrive to your first lesson ready to plunge head-first into Argentine culture, and leave ready to impress loved ones with your newfound knowledge.
4. …You Want to Whip Yourself into Shape.
Longing to serve some body-ody-ody of your own?
Argentine tango, with its low-impact combination of cardio, muscle toning, and strength exercises, is tailormade for whipping yourself into the best physical shape of your life. And unlike other forms of exercise, which require monotonous and exhausting regimens, you’ll never get bored or age out of tango.
5. …You’re on the Autism Spectrum.
As an autist myself, I believe Argentine tango is a great match for Aspies. This is because, aside from initial eye-contact required to initiate a dance, tango doesn’t require sustained gaze. Or sustained verbal conversation, for that matter. It also has the makings of a new special interest, thanks to its unique aesthetic, history, and hyper-focus-inducing figures.
Based on my travels as an autistic dancer, Argentine tango appears to love Aspies back as well; neurodivergents who struggle in unstructured, mainstream social environments seem to thrive in dance communities, and many go on to become skilled, highly sought-after dancers and DJs.
Argentine tango is great Aspies and the culturally-curious.
You don’t need tango in your life if…
1. …You’re Trying to Save a Relationship.
Over and over again, I’ve seen it. Visibly tense couples who tried to resuscitate their dying relationship through Argentine tango. Over and over again, new pairs would show up to class, only to openly bicker and subsequently drop out after three weeks.
Know that while tango can take stable, healthy relationships to the next level, tango alone cannot save a flailing one. If anything, tango, with its intimate embrace and required two-way sensitivity, holds a mirror up to entrenched toxic relationship dynamics and magnifies them.
2. …You’re impatient.
Passion. Sensuality. Meditative bliss.
These are the things all tango dancers crave.
These are also the things tango gives out sparingly, only to those with the patience, fortitude, and empathy required to grow as a social dancer.
Though followers and those with yogic or martial arts backgrounds tend to advance faster, understand that Argentine tango is the antithesis to instant gratification. It takes years of consistent study to advance, and years more to access tango’s legendary meditative trance.
3. …You’re a Fuckboy or Red Piller.
Though tango tends to self-select for empathetic, progressive, and agreeable people, bad apples, usually in the form of predatory men, occasionally show up.
If you’re someone who harbors ill-will to women, consider this your first warning to stay the hell away from Argentine tango, or any partner dancing scene, for that matter.
Sure, many tango events have a glut of single women. And sure, sex absolutely does happen between tango dancers. These variables, however, are not an invitation to exploit others. Partner dancing is not a pick-up scene, and many communities have wizened up to abusive dynamics and the kinds of people who perpetuate them.
4. …You harbor and facilitate prejudice.
As a Black tanguera, I’ve unfortunately encountered more than my fair share of race-based prejudice and have seen other prejudices, such as ageism and fatphobia, play out on the dancefloor more often than I would like.
And though prejudice is often unconscious, know that partner dancing is no place for -isms of any kind.
Because as a way to express shared love of music and movement, Argentine tango should be a respite from the world’s cruelty, not a continuation of it.
5. …You’re Trying to Replace Therapy.
Like doomed couples, I’ve sadly encountered fellow trauma survivors on the Argentine tango scene as well. Also like doomed couples, said trauma survivors often arrived with the belief that dance would magically heal their wounds, only to leave with new ones, or worse, transfer their wounds to others.
Though multiple academic studies have verified the effectiveness of partner dancing against post-traumatic stress symptoms, tango is not a replacement for mental health treatment. And though hobby communities can facilitate corrective emotional experiences, only you, not other people, can heal you.
Are you considering Argentine tango classes? If so, what’s your motivation?
