Tango

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesTangoAmber: Hello! Today, we meet Christine Denniston who’sbeen to Argentina to learnabout one of the world’s most passionate 2 dances, theTango.
　　So find a partner and get your dancing shoes on because we’ll be having a Tango lesson later in the programme! Butfirst, we find out what makes the Argentine Tango sospecial.
　　The dance began in the 19th century among the poor peoplein Buenos Aires, and, as we’ll hear, it developed into thecity’s ‘mass culture’ during the1930s, ’40s and ’50s - it was ‘enormously popular’ atthis time; it was the entertainment of ‘the masses’. (Themasses are the ordinary people who form the largest groupin a society.)Christine calls this period ‘The Golden Age’. (This is abeautiful expression to describe a period of time when aparticular art was very successful. For example, we cantalk about ‘the golden age of cinema’.) We’ll listen acouple of times to Christine describing the ArgentineTango. The first time, try to catch the three things shesays go together with ‘the dance’ to make Argentine Tangoso special.
　　Christine DennisonWe tend to think of Tango as just the dance, but inArgentina it’s much bigger than that. As well as thedance, there’s the music (which is a very rich and complextradition, really as broad as Jazz), and also a lot ofemphasis on the poetry of the lyrics 3 and on the art ofsingingTango, and The Golden Age is the period when the music hadgone through a transition where it had become much moresophisticated and complex. At the same time, the dancinghadbecome enormously popular, so it was really the massculture of Buenos Aires specifically (which is the largestcity in Argentina), and singers within bands were singingfor dancers as an instrument within the orchestra ratherthan as soloists 5.
　　Amber 1: So Christine says Argentine Tango is not made up ofjust the dance, it’s also the music, ‘the poetry of thelyrics’ – the beautiful and emotional words of the songs– and ‘the art of singing’ – the skill of the singers.
　　Listen again and try to catch how the singers would singwhen people wereTango dancing in The Golden Age.
　　Christine DennisonWe tend to think of Tango as just the dance, but inArgentina it’s much bigger than that. As well as thedance, there’s the music (which is a very rich and complextradition, really as broad as Jazz), and also a lot ofemphasis on the poetry of the lyrics and on the art ofsingingTango, and The Golden Age is the period when the music hadgone through a transition whereit had become much more sophisticated and complex. At thesame time, the dancing had become enormously popular, so itwas really the mass culture of Buenos Aires specifically(which is the largest city in Argentina), and singerswithin bands were singing for dancers as an instrumentwithin the orchestra rather than as soloists.
　　Amber: So the Tango dancers were the most important peoplein the room! Even the singers would sing as if they werepart of the band or the orchestra, rather than as‘soloists’. A soloist 4 in a musical performance is someonewho is given a chance to perform on their own and so isgiven special attention.
　　Next, as promised, we have an Argentine Tango lesson!
　　Christine will show us how the dance should be done.
　　As you’ll hear, it’s a ‘couple dance’, a dance for twopeople. As you listen, try to work out what position thetwo dancers should always be in. Here’s a tip – she saysit’s really like ‘a hug’, an embrace!
　　Christine Dennison and Jenni MurrayThe most important thing to remember about Tango is that it’s not a dance that happens onthe level of the feet, it’s a dance that happens on thelevel of the hearts. So the thing that needs to beremembered is that we need to keep our two hearts directlyin front of each other all thetime.
　　(Go on. You lead!)OK, here we go! There we are! And it’s actually quitepossible for me to turn you around barely moving my feet atall, because it’s the movement of the hearts that matters.
　　So long as your heart stays directly in front of mine, it’
　　s easy for you to know where to go.
　　(But what is it with the heartbeat then? Why is that soimportant in it?)One of the really interesting differences between Tango andthe other couple dances is that the hold is slightlydifferent, that we hold directly in front of each other, it’s really a hug, wherewe hold hands on one side, just so the neighbours don’tgossip - so that they know that we’re dancing! But reallyit’s about taking somebody lovely and taking them in yourarms, and the moving around is just an excuse!
　　Amber: How did you do? Christine says the dancers have tokeep their hearts ‘directly in front of each other’ allthe time. Then, it’s easy to Tango!