Tango y Cultura Popular ® English Edition TyCP Special | Page 19

Tango and emotions
The increasing presence of Tango
around the world has, as I perceive,
its dance as the central point, although
Tango is conformed by music and lyrics
as a whole.
It seems that there are some gestures
that express primarily emotions, such
as laughter, sadness, fear, disgust, and
they are universal: they are the same
in absolutely every civilization. Some
face muscles, which we cannot manage
at will, are involved in them, they can
only be moved by the ANS. This is
the reason why we can recognize a
fake smile. And we feel empathy or
understand and share someone else’s
feelings by only staring at them...
I must say, my point of view is that
of an amateur dancer, who does not
follow much the technical guidelines,
and milonga rules, especially when
their use is imposed or exaggerated.
I believe it is the dance the one thing
that draws the line with other types of
music, and it is what most attracts and
conquers people from different places.
And I mean social dance, not what
is now called “Tango de escenario”
(stage Tango). This is explained by the
possibility Tango provides to express
our emotions, to magnify what music
transmits. And above all, the possibility
of sharing those emotions.
When we were kids, we used to
express ourselves spontaneously,
but while growing up, we start to
incorporate social rules that repress
this kind of expressions and push us to
fake. These limitations harm us deeply,
to different degrees, according to our
personality, and our conscious level.
What makes Tango dancing so
attractive, is that it allows us the
freedom to exhibit ourselves just the
way we are, as long as we understand,
it cannot be learned in a mechanical
way. It is not about a collection of steps
or choreographies. It is mandatory to
enjoy music and be carried away by it.
And whatever we do, it’ll be different
each time, it will depend on our mood,
the connection with our partner, and
his/her own mood, the place we are in,
the people surrounding us... All these
feelings cannot be choreographed, that
is why, many times we are amused by
some dancer skills, but we don’t feel
excited.
Here the word share has several
meanings, in the sense that not only
there’s sharing with the partner, in
various ways of intensity according
to the connection between them, but
also it is possible to transmit what they
both feel to those who are watching the
dance, particularly in a performance.
Lately, cognitive neurosciences have
been studying how the brain processes
emotions, the impact of how we
perceive other people’s feelings, and
how everything is expressed in social
life. Many of our emotional responses
are triggered by the brain through the
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS),
which means, we are not conscious of
them.
I have tried here to explain what I
personally experience. Some may
probably agree, some others may not,
but so is Tango and everything that
moves under its influx.
Ricardo Schoua
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