Marcelo Solis dancing Argentine Tango at a milonga in Buenos Aires.

Embarking on the Journey to Mastering Argentine Tango

What is Argentine Tango?

Given that Argentine Tango is not easily described in abstract terms, I find it challenging to convey its essence through mere words or generalizations.

Thus, I resort to sharing my personal experiences with you.

Here you can see me dancing:

Living Tango: Embracing the Essence Beyond Profession

Tango isn’t my profession in the way your work is for you. For you, it’s effort; for me, it’s effortless. You work all day, longing for it to end, but I can’t wait to dance more. You may call in sick, but I strive to stay healthy and dance my best every day. I’ve molded my life this way, akin to Sisyphus rolling his rock, but my task brings joy, not torment.

Teaching is a part of this process. With my students, we aim to enhance our dancing. Our growth benefits everyone, as we share the same dance floor at the milonga. My students’ progress improves my dancing, and my improvement helps them in return. It’s a perpetual spiral of betterment.

Does this mean I don’t deserve payment for what I do, given that your work is a source of pain while mine brings joy?

Think of the money you give as an investment in your Tango. What benefits me also benefits the whole Tango community and, ultimately, you. I’ve devoted myself to Tango, which includes you if you’re part of Tango.

If you’re a new student, joining us means being part of a beautiful group striving to become better Tango dancers and milongueros.

You don’t haggle over gas prices as you deal with a massive corporation. In contrast, I rely on your collaboration, besides the support of those who love me. If you can live without Tango, do so.

I offer deals, discounts, and generosity from my dance and life, not from an external source. To be generous is to live fully. I see dance as life’s unstoppable productivity.

Don’t trivialize Tango. It’s not mere entertainment; it’s a profound connection. Tango is not an “addiction” but a way of being.

Your path in life depends on what you desire. If you want nothing, you’ll get nothing. If you seek a fulfilling life, it demands your all.

The Transformative Essence of Argentine Tango: A Lifelong Journey

If you don’t dance, being able to dance will demand from you a transformation.

If you do not dance, you are not a dancer. To dance, you will need to be a dancer, that means to become a dancer. To dance and not be a dancer is a contradiction. Observe that the most important word here is the verb “to be”. Now you can understand that if you do not dance now, to be able to dance, eventually, a transformation of yourself is needed. If you are unsure about it, or you are satisfied with yourself and your life and do not want to change anything, then you don’t want to dance, and if you don’t want to dance, you won’t dance.

Let’s define a dancer: someone who continuously pursues improvement as a whole, becoming stronger, more versatile, aware, sensitive, responsive, skillful, sympathetic, ethical, beautiful, charming, witty, and fun to be with; who doesn’t need anything else other than to be present to make everyone with good feelings sense that the lights of life have been turned on, making everything look beautiful (Disclaimer: if you don’t have good feelings you most likely sense the opposite). In sum, a dancer is a wonderful example of a human being. I cannot think of anyone better than a milonguero and a milonguera. If an intelligent alien from outer space comes to our planet, I would like the alien’s first impression of intelligent life on Earth to be a milonga in Buenos Aires, one I regularly visit. I will take you there, not before educating you -as needed- about what Tango is if you want to find out the complete meaning of my words.

A dancer is not a specialist, someone who knows all about a narrow segment of life, in this case, dance. On the contrary, a dancer is the most complete of all examples of human existence. A true dancer is a Renaissance person.

At the beginning of human existence, is dancing. A baby in the womb perceives the voice of its mother as music, without separating the sounds from their meaning, responding to it with the interpretation of its whole body and existence. The baby is dancing.

Beyond Therapy: Tango as an Integrated Way of Being

There are countless ways to pass the time without evolving, without exertion, without passion, and without any endeavor.

Given the current inclinations of many individuals, I understand the appeal of such activities. Yet, if there’s a dancer’s seed within you, you might experience a sense of discomfort when engaging in these leisure pursuits. You may resort to self-medication, alcohol, substance abuse, or even addiction.

Alternatively, you could choose to detach from your body, gravitating toward extreme religious or intellectual pursuits, effectively becoming a living statue or a consciously impaired individual.

Another option is to maintain a fragmented relationship with your body, compartmentalizing it like a puzzle, focusing on different muscle groups each day, eventually creating a disjointed physique struggling for coherence.

This partitioning of the body mirrors the segmentation evident in various facets of life.

Hence, Tango shouldn’t be seen as a therapeutic remedy. Therapy and Tango don’t align. In Tango, as a way of being, you need not compartmentalize yourself into distinct physical, psychological, and spiritual categories. From the Tango perspective, these realms aren’t separate entities. Therefore, psychology, religion, or regular gym sessions might not hold the same relevance for a milonguero.

Embrace Tango: The Full Monty Game

To embrace Tango fully, you must embody Tango itself.

There’s no halfway point; it’s an all-or-nothing pursuit.

Becoming an Exceptional Milonguero/a: A Comprehensive Guide

Firstly, replace “Tango dancer” with “milonguero/a” in your vocabulary. Secondly, in Tango, nothing less than greatness suffices.

Commence with classes, alternating between group and private lessons regularly, more than once a week.

How can you identify a good teacher?

You don’t learn Tango from an “instructor”; you learn Tango solely from a “Maestro.” First, appreciate your teacher’s dance. Research is simple now; you can find videos of your teacher’s performance.

Your instructors should demonstrate their dance in class, but the test is in Buenos Aires’s milongas. Some excel onstage but struggle in milongas, unaware of or ignoring the basic codes of conduct. An authentic teacher is part of the milonga community.

Choose a teacher not just for their amiability. Consider it like this: Tango is my family and my world. By joining, you imply a desire to belong. Will you cherish my world when I’m gone? Will you love my family? Will you strive to better Tango for everyone? Will you collaborate with Tango or merely seek temporary enjoyment, leaving your trash behind, indifferent to nature’s beauty?

My regular students and assistants enrich my life beyond measure. Don’t miss the chance to welcome them into your life.

During a recent trip to Buenos Aires, one of my senior students conversed with his wife in a foreign language at a milonga. Another lady, also fluent in that language, engaged with them, leading to a dance. After one song, she asked him, “Why did you wait so long?”

You’ll grasp Tango’s worth through your teachers in group and private lessons.

Exploring the Essence of Tango Melodies

Explore the melodies of the Golden Era in Tango music.

Consult your instructor for guidance and build your collection of Tango classics from the period when Tango thrived in Buenos Aires and other major cities in Argentina. This music resonates in our classes.

I am curating an Argentine Tango music library on my website.

Listen to Argentine Tango music

The Crucial Role of Milongas in Your Tango Journey

You need to attend to milongas.

It doesn’t matter how many group classes and private lessons you have taken. Tango is not a private and closed relationship with your teachers. If you’re a new student and feel like you know too little compared to others, then being at a milonga will significantly increase your knowledge about Tango.

Perhaps you’ve taken many group classes and private lessons, then being at a milonga will present Tango to you contextualized, similar to learning a language and visiting a country where that language is spoken. The sooner you start going to milongas, the better. Your Tango needs to grow there.

You will be able to understand the reasons for many elements and details in Tango that in classes may seem arbitrary to you. It all makes perfect sense when you dance at milongas. Besides, your teacher needs to see you attending and dancing at milongas to fully assess what you need to work on to improve your dance. If you do not feel confident dancing yet, you do not need to dance; going to milongas is beneficial even if you do not dance there yet.

I recommend starting by going to the milongas your teacher goes to and going to the milongas your teacher organizes if they do. It would be best if you were introduced to the milonga community by someone who belongs to it.

I want to note that although a dance party may be labeled a “milonga,” it is not necessarily so. If your teacher is a great dancer (you do not want less from your teacher’s quality of dance), he belongs to the community of the milongas and Tango. He will know where to go and will organize authentic milongas.

I am blessed by belonging to the community of milongueros who go to the most wonderful milongas in Buenos Aires, and by the group of my students and regulars who come to the milongas that I go. Don’t miss joining us at the next milonga.

Becoming Tango in Buenos Aires: A Journey of Culture and Passion

You must come to Buenos Aires.

If you learn the French language, it makes sense to go to France and speak the language there. That is where you will feel the multi-dimensionality of the language with your whole being. You may love French culture so much that you decide to move there or travel there often, any time you have the chance, and in this process, you make many friends in France, which makes you want to travel there even more often.

That is how you will become Tango yourself: by going to Buenos Aires often. Learning a language and culture only to visit it once is incongruent, at best.

I will be honored to introduce you to the community of milongueros in Buenos Aires, to which I am humbled to belong. I currently go twice a year, in the spring and fall, accompanied by a group of my students. I show them the city of Buenos Aires, take them to classes with my teachers and colleagues, and bring them to the milongas, where I am a regular.

I continue the tradition of passing the torch of Tango in the same way that my teachers got introduced to Tango in their times, by taking my students to where I regularly go and sharing my knowledge and passion for Tango with them.

Conclusion

Dancing Tango demands genuine style and personality.

You won’t dance Tango because you know a piece of choreography. You will dance Tango if you put yourself as a link in the chain of the Art of Tango through time, meeting and learning from the best dancers that Tango has produced, from the milongueros.

You must realize the responsibility of caring and passing along this Art in the future, not necessarily teaching it, but fundamentally being a great dancer yourself, teaching it with your example.

Leé este artículo en castellano

More about Argentine Tango:

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Argentine Tango music

Music to learn to dance

Listen and dance!

History of Argentine Tango

Tango is a culture

Learn more about Tango

Dance Argentine Tango in Buenos Aires

Travel to Buenos Aires and dance Argentine Tango

To understand the full meaning of a phrase you need to know its context.

You need to know this about Argentine Tango: Buenos Aires is where Tango is at home.

We are going to Buenos Aires to see what Tango really is, how Tango looks in its home.

Come and see it by yourself

You will visit Buenos Aires guided by a milonguero.

If your goal is to master the Art of Argentine Tango, you will achieve a complete comprehension of Tango if you are met by the community of best dancers there, which we call “milongueros” in a general way, but who are individuals, with names and reputations as great dancers. Not everyone who calls themselves a “milonguero” is one. That is why you will need to be introduced by a member of this community.

In Buenos Aires, we will go to the milongas where Tango is still lived as a culture, and also, fundamentally, to take classes with excellent milonguero teachers,

many of whom do not travel abroad, from whom you can receive important insights into the dance, its recent history, its philosophy and way of life.

We are at the edge of missing these milongueras and milongueros forever. It is perhaps our last chance. If you care, seize your opportunity to come to Buenos Aires and meet them, take lessons from them, go to the milongas they go to, watch them dance and the way they behave, talk to them.

Come and see Tango in Buenos Aires

Perhaps one day you will pass all these insights onto a future generation of milongueros. This is the ultimate goal of this tour.

We will also visit places of cultural relevance to Tango, to Argentina and to the world, highlighting how this beautiful City, Porteños (the people who live in Buenos Aires), architecture, art, history, cuisine, and way of life are intimately connected to Tango music and dance.

The format of this tour seamlessly integrates you into the life of a Porteño/a, allowing you the opportunity to experience all of the components of Tango from the passionate point of view of a milonguero/a.

A typical day in Buenos Aires on my tour:

Late morning – because nothing starts before a little coffee and facturas… We meet for a City tour and to enjoy a leisurely lunch.
Afternoon/Early evening – Classes and practicas with excellent milonguero teachers.
Evening – Milongas every night.

*Early mornings and some afternoons are free for private lessons. I highly recommend you take private lessons with a milonguero/a teacher while in Buenos Aires.
Each day we will enjoy lunch at a different location, leaving most of the evenings for snacks and being light to dance. You will be able to purchase food at milongas.

Let’s go!

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Learn to dance Argentine Tango at Escuela de Tango de Buenos Aires.

How to best take advantage of our classes?

We recommend that you become a regular student.

We need to educate ourselves with a set of good habits, which in turn will allow us to flow through the dance floor in a comfortable manner.

The more of our classes you take, the sooner you will feel comfortable and incorporate what you are learning to be able to dance.

The best way to advantage of our classes is to take all of them, and the second best is to take as many as possible.

Asking us which one of our classes we recommend is like asking a father which one of his children he loves the most: we love all our classes. We fully engage ourselves, making each of them one-of-a-kind. In this sense, the best way to advantage of our classes is to take all of them, and the second best is to take as many as possible.

Our pricing options include class cards, which will allow you to take any of our classes with a single payment. See more information pricing options…

Private lessons:

Private lessons are a must!!!

Another advantage of becoming a regular student is that we will be able to personalize our instruction to you. In order to better personalize our instruction to you, private lessons are a must. More information about private lessons…

When making your decision, please keep in mind that learning how to dance is comparable to learning how to live:

How much of your life are you willing to give to the goal of living better?

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to learn to dance Tango, you can:

Eight tips to accelerate your learning of Argentine Tango

Here are my recommendations to help you reach your goal of dancing Argentine Tango:

Open your mind. While developing the dancer in yourself, you will often be wrong in your valuations. Wait, be patient, pay attention, listen, and watch. That is why you need to trust your teachers. If you like the way they dance, then study with them.

Tip 1: Take classes regularly, and especially private lessons.

Human beings are social. Nothing happens in isolation. The “internet era” may make us believe we can do anything without addressing another human being. It is a false assumption. Behind the virtual walls of the .com enterprises, there are people.

Any activity that you engage in requires interactions with other people. The unique tools that the World Wide Web and technology, in general, provide us only work when they enhance our relationships with other humans: you need someone you care for and who at the same time cares for you.

This is what classes are: your teacher cares for you, and you care for your teacher with respect, affection, good intentions, mutual generosity, friendship, and the common shared passion for the art of Argentine Tango.

Sometimes, when you come to your first class, you may still not have developed a passion for Tango. In that case, your teacher also teaches you to appreciate and give the correct valuation to this amazing art. Argentine Tango connects you and your teacher and both of you to other students and dancers. It connects you to a culture.

In group classes, you meet others interested in learning about Argentine Tango. They are there for different reasons. What is yours? If your goal is to become a dancer, to integrate yourself and the art of Argentine Tango in a new version of yourself, to be transformed, to make of yourself a work of art, to become a better you, in sum: to be a milonguera or milonguero, you will need to take private lessons. The sooner you take this step, the better.

Group classes are very useful as long as you also combine them with private lessons.

Group classes are beneficial if you combine them with private lessons. In the group class, you will learn about the social aspects of Argentine Tango; you will develop relationships that may help you to experience your first milongas and find friendship, sympathy, and understanding from other people in the same situation.

During private lessons, you can have direct input from an expert on the details that will improve you as a dancer. You are on the right path if you can dance with your teacher during most of the class. The best way, and maybe the only way, to incorporate the many nuanced layers of Argentine Tango is to dance with an experienced milonguero in a private lesson and do it regularly for an extended period. It would be best if you were consistent and constant in your development as a dancer. Avoid gaps and interruptions in your private lessons. Once a week is a minimum you will need to engage in to see results, but two sessions of two hours each every week is optimal.

Words are sometimes not only unnecessary but could also get in the way. As well as the best way to learn a language is to talk in this language with a native speaker who is your teacher and who reveals to you the sparks of culture and everyday life present in the words and the grammar of that language, Argentine Tango, which could be partially compared to a language, will be best revealed to you by dancing with an expert dancer in a private lesson setting, where there is time and space to stop when necessary and direct your and your teacher’s attention to what needs it the most.

In a private lesson, words and explanations will appear when necessary to answer your questions and learn to see Argentine Tango from the point of view of your teacher, who has been involved in it much longer than you, has been dancing at milongas for a long time, and is recognized among his peers from Buenos Aires.

Dancing with your teacher is priceless.

Dancing with your teacher, if he is knowledgeable, reliable, and recognized among his milonguero peers, is priceless and the only way to become an authentic Argentine Tango dancer, a milonguera or milonguero.

Explore more:

Tip 2: Think about Tango. Review details in your mind that are important and make a difference.

You need to integrate movements, attitudes, ideas and emotions into your whole life. That is the way of Argentine Tango.

In every class and private lesson, there will be elements learned: posture, walking to the cadence of Argentine Tango music, connection to your partner through the couple’s axis, pivots, ochos, turns, etc.; details pointed out by your teacher: not leaning back, gazing forward and parallel to the floor, touching the floor with the inside edge of your shoe, maintaining your weight on one or both feet, etc.; remarks regarding Argentine Tango music: instrumentation, rhythm, nomenclature, etc.; social aspects of Argentine Tango: line of dance, cabeceo, entering the dance floor, tandas, etc.; the embrace, the way you hold your partner, and many other pieces of information that your teacher shares with you regarding what Argentine Tango is and what dancing means in general.

Review all this in your mind. Integrating these movements, attitudes, ideas, and emotions into your life would be best. That is the way of Argentine Tango.

Explore more:

Tip 3: Practice every day. You do not need to set a time or commit to long practice sessions. Even a little is good. Anytime, all the time: Tango is Life.

Argentine Tango, when danced well, looks spontaneous.

Argentine Tango, when danced well, looks spontaneous. Such a characteristic is achieved only after lots of practice integrated into your life in a way that does not need to be separated from your everyday activities, from the life that you live every day: your work and profession, your family, your friends, your outings, your workout, etc.

In Buenos Aires, I practiced my moves while waiting for the bus. A student who went to the same gym I used to go to used to practice all her tango moves on the treadmill. My grandparents danced in the kitchen when my grandma cooked dinner and the radio played a tango they liked. You have infinite opportunities to practice Argentine Tango.

Explore more:

Find some videos to review what you worked on in class…

Tip 4: Listen to music from orchestras of the Golden Era. Those recordings have the cadence that you need to incorporate into your moves. Get to know the songs and become familiar with them.

If you know the music very well, you will be at home in Argentine Tango.

Your goal with learning to dance Argentine Tango is to become a milonguero or milonguero, a person to which dancing Argentine Tango is the spinal cord of their life.

You will regularly go to milongas, preferably in Buenos Aires, to the milongas that care about the “codigos”, the nuances in the social aspects of Argentine Tango, which enhance and promote the excellence of the dance.

In the milongas, where quality dancing is the standard, a common element among all the participants is the knowledge of the music. If you know the music very well, you will be at home.

Develop your library of Argentine Tango music and create your playlists, ordering the songs by orchestras, by date of recording, by musicians integrated into these orchestras, by singers, by rhythm, etc. A good exercise is to create a playlist for a milonga. This will challenge you to listen, acquire, and research each song.

Explore more:

Learn more about and listen to Argentine Tango music…

Tip 5: You are passionate about Tango. This passion is what fuels your growth as a dancer. Focus and direct this passion efficiently.

You dance Argentine Tango to become a better example of a human being.

Sometimes, dancing Argentine Tango is regarded as an addiction. That’s not correct. Argentine Tango, as art, as wisdom, is a way for you to become stronger, wiser, more aware, and more present. You dance Argentine Tango to become a better example of a human being.

Like a tool, the results depend on how you handle it. Take care of yourself, as well as take care of Argentine Tango, its past, and its future. You can consider Argentine Tango your home. Be conscious of the way you dispose of it and of the people who share their love for Argentine Tango with you.

Explore more:

Tip 6: Choose your teachers wisely. Search for the roots of this art.

Keep in mind that you come to class to be educated about Argentine Tango, and not to learn steps.

First, you will need to gather information about Argentine Tango and the instructors in your area.

You may need to go and take some classes with them. Do not ask to observe the class for free. If you watch the class and do not participate, you will still learn, so be respectful and appreciative and at least pay for that class. But also, you won’t know much about this teacher in one class, and less if you do not risk putting yourself in there. Remember: what do you know about Argentine Tango? Tango takes many years, even decades, to be understood.

Choose your teacher based on whether you like how they dance because it awakens indescribable emotions that say: “I want to dance like that!”

Always remember that you come to class to be educated about Argentine Tango, not to learn steps. This should shape your attitude towards the class and what you demand from your teacher.

Explore more:

Watch my teachers dancing…

Tip 7: Go to milongas. You do not need to dance. Start going as soon as possible. Become part of the milonga and then dance.

When the time comes, you will feel ready to dance.

Milongas are a wonderful place, full of positive emotions and attitudes when the crowd is committed to good dancing. Listening to beautiful music, having pleasant conversations, and watching inspiring dancing are all excellent reasons to be at milongas, even if you don’t dance.

When the time comes, you will feel ready to dance. You should not feel any pressure. You are at a party surrounded by good friends. It’s not the same experience if you go to milongas and force yourself to dance surrounded by strangers.

Explore more:

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, enjoy our milongas…

Tip 8: Go to Buenos Aires. See what Tango is. You only will know it in its context.

Visit Buenos Aires guided by a milonguero.

Visit Buenos Aires guided by a milonguero. If your goal is to master the art of Argentine Tango, you will achieve a complete comprehension of Tango only if you become recognized by the community of best dancers there, which we call “milongueros” in a general way, but who are individuals, with a name and a reputation of great dancers. Not anyone who calls himself “milonguero” is a milonguero. That is why you will need to be introduced by a member of this community.

You do not need to move to Buenos Aires. You can visit Buenos Aires often and go to the milongas where Tango is still lived as a culture, and also, fundamentally, take classes with excellent milonguero teachers, many of whom do not travel abroad, from whom you can receive essential insights into the dance, its history, its philosophy and way of life.

We are missing more and more of these milongueras and milongueros forever due to the natural course of life. It is our last chance. If you care, come to Buenos Aires, seize your opportunity to meet them and take lessons from them, go to the milongas they go to, watch them dance and how they behave, and talk to them. Perhaps one day, you will pass all these insights on to a future generation of milongueros.

Explore more:

Come to Buenos Aires…

Conclusion

Argentine Tango is a way of life by which you make a work of art of yourself and your life, sharing the beauty you create with other like-minded people in a community that cares about you but does not demand anything from you other than being a good dancer.

Tango is a manifestation of what human kind can achieve.

Authentic milongueros, those who love Tango and have dedicated their lives to this art in such an integrated way that Tango is a synonym for life, will look at you with sadness if you take Tango superficially, as mere entertainment, as a distraction because Tango is, in essence, a way to take hold of your life, to be responsible for yourself and for your peers, and for Tango itself, as a manifestation of what humankind can achieve.

TANGO IS A WAY OF LIFE.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to learn to dance Tango, you can:

Argentine Tango dancing by Marcelo Solis and Mimi at Yountville, California

Exploring the Essence of Milonga

In contemporary language, the term “milonga” unfolds into two distinct dimensions:

A specific rhythm and musical genre.
A vibrant Tango dance gathering.

The roots of this intriguing word delve into the West African Bantu language, where “malonga” translates to “word.” “Milonga” emerges as the plural of “malonga,” signifying a collection of words.

Historical insights propose that the African community in Rio de La Plata initially employed this term in reference to the “payada,” a musical competition featuring two participants engaging in guitar play and improvised verse exchanges. The rhythm of these expressions eventually evolved into what we now recognize as the milonga rhythm.

As Tango dance emerged onto the scene, it began as a versatile partner dance adaptable to various rhythmic styles.

While the Waltz held sway during its inception, the milonga rhythm seamlessly integrated into Tango’s dance technique, proving an ideal match. Over time, “milonga” not only encapsulated the rhythm but also became synonymous with the gathering and venue where this distinctive dance form flourished. The word “Tango” was initially a synonym of “milonga”, and they later became the name of two differentiated rhythms. Tango dance parties and the location where it is danced kept the name “milonga”, as well as its crowd of participants, “milongueros”.

For over 130 years, milongas, meaning Tango dance parties, have thrived. Throughout this enduring legacy, milongas have crafted a unique set of codes, fostering efficiency and creating an environment conducive to the emergence of exceptional dancers. This cultural phenomenon remains a cherished gem, weaving its narrative through time.