Tango y Cultura Popular ® English Edition TyCP Special | Page 29

-When I came back from
Buenos Aires, I got so
depressed, I couldn’t find a
tango lesson I liked, so...
It is not an exaggerated joy.
You don’t exaggerate what
you enjoy, on the contrary
(always say less, never say
more):
-I went to three milongas this
week, but I don’t usually go
that much, I really don’t know
how much...
-I go when I can, it’s not I
cannot miss any milonga, I
like it but, you know, tango
isn’t everything...
It is a transgression:
-I’m not sure if I’ll go today,
I’ve been going a lot lately, I
know I don’t have much to do,
but I could be studying, then I
feel guilty about it...
-Come, guilt makes it more
exciting...
In this parallel world, being
“responsible” with family
life, work (everything else
apart from Tango) is a great
irresponsibility, you’re too lazy
for Tango, won’t work your
body, won’t make yourself
conscious, won’t incorporate
movements, if you don’t
repeat them a thousand times
without complaining, just as
a Zen disciple who follows his
master humbly without caring
about time.
Hide your butt, stand straight,
head up, keep your center,
your legs and ankles together,
do not lift your feet, tango
is danced on ground, as if
digging with a shovel, hold the
floor with your feet, listen to
the music, don’t get ahead of
your partner, breathe, don’t
let your arm loose, don’t hang
from your partner, relax your
fingers, let your movements
be feminine, give your partner
time to make adornments,
don’t rush, don’t squeeze her,
don’t break her waist, don’t
look down, head up straight,
your head is also a part of
your body, don’t pull your
partner, shorter steps, longer
steps, project, relax...
We are ruined by tango,
spoiled for social life, for
capitalist production, for
accumulation, but we are
recovered for desire, for the
enjoyment of the useless, for
art. Like poetry, Tango is art
for everyone.
There’s a certain pleasure
in physical dexterity, in that
transformation the body
undergoes as one learns
to dance, this pleasure has
nothing to do with capitalist
pleasure of consuming objects
to reach happiness; it refers
to enjoy while dancing but, to
get to that free pleasure, you
have to work hard, it’s a skill
you acquire arduously: hours
on classes, hours on the dance
floor. Pleasure on one’s body,
but it is only accomplished
with the partner’s body:
Tango is the embrace. We
come back, once and again in
search of that bodily fullness,
that satisfaction that fills us up
after a good milonga evening
or night. And it is something
new each time: every dance is
unique.
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