Notable Differences Between Tango in Buenos Aires and Chicago

In Buenos Aires, a couple never starts dancing immediately when the music begins. They listen to it first, to recognize it, to sense the mood, to let their bodies absorb the feelings and emotions evoked and thereby to inform their dancing. In Chicago, many people start dancing on the first note without even considering these or other variables as if the bell had rung to commence the next round of boxing.

In Buenos Aires, the entire dance floor starts moving at the same time, when the prelude has concluded, like a well-rehearsed collective exhale. In Chicago, people begin without order, without a unifying effect and without even letting the song's introduction complete.

In Buenos Aires, people follow the line of dance and the etiquette of tango. In Chicago, people don't know how to follow or stay in the line of dance, and perhaps don't even understand the concept of the line of dance or tango etiquette and why they exist.

In Buenos Aires, the lesser experienced dancers with undeveloped navigation skills flock to the center of the floor, leaving the perimeter for the more experienced and careful dancers. In Chicago, some dancers prefer the limelight of the center presumably to showcase themselves, for acclaim or disdain.

In Buenos Aires, people do not constantly enter and exit the line of dance. In Chicago, people do so willy-nilly thereby making it dangerous and difficult for those who adhere to the line to navigate around or away from the zig-zaggers.

In Buenos Aires, people understand the difference between salon tango and performance tango and no one dances performance tango during a crowded milonga. In Chicago, many people only know how to dance some diluted form of performance tango without ever learning or attempting to learn, understand or appreciate salon tango or its fundamentals.

In Buenos Aires, even highly-experienced and trained professional dancers don't lift their partners off the ground or execute jumps or other dangerous stage moves at a milonga except when the salon floor is almost empty and there is plenty of room between the remaining couples. In Chicago, those who don't respect the other dancers on the salon floor grotesquely and inconsiderately perform such stunts as if the rules and etiquette of tango don't apply to them.

In Buenos Aires, people wait for sufficient space to merge into the line of dance after the song has begun. In Chicago, people enter the line of dance without even considering the effect and possible dangers on the other dancers already in motion.

In Buenos Aires, the greatest compliment a tango dancer can receive is that you walk well. In Chicago, people don't know how to walk to the music, and sadly for the most part they don't.

In Buenos Aires, they understand that the embrace is the foundation of connection between partners. In Chicago, a tango embrace barely resembles a resolute embrace between a man and a woman, let alone sufficient for dancing in close proximity together.

In Buenos Aires, the experienced dancers don't just dance for themselves; they dance for their partners and to present their partners in the best possible light. In Chicago, there is too much dancing for oneself, without enough emphasis on one's partner and the underlying connection between them.

In Buenos Aires, even those professionals who have heard and danced tango music since childhood, continue to practice and improve their skills and take lessons and instruction and constructive criticism from those with more or different experience and knowledge. In Chicago, too many dancers overestimate their skills and are unwilling or unable to critically analyze their abilities and shortcomings, let alone listen to or learn from those who have been through their same experiences before and who sincerely want the overall quality of tango dancing to improve in Chicago.

There are many other differences between tango in Buenos Aires and Chicago, too numerous to recount. But, the most important one, which is obvious to anyone who has ever visited there, is that the tango and its music, and the lineage of its patriarchs and disciples, are part of the Argentine culture and lore, a source of national pride. That, of course, will never be true in Chicago or anywhere else in the world. However, we can continually try to incorporate some of the knowledge and wisdom that the Argentines and their tango progeny have garnered over the past century living and breathing tango. Not only as a sign of glowing respect for the wonderment of tango, but also as a sign of our own maturity in the recognition that there is so much more to learn about tango by everyone in the Chicago tango community.