The Accidental Choreographer: Part 1

When asked the question “Why do you want to learn Argentine tango?”, I would guess that the day-one leader will not answer “because I want to be a choreographer.”

Well, guess what, muchacho? That is the job you just took.

While not a novel viewpoint, I will suggest that there are two roles that are unique to the leader: navigation and choreography.

The responsibility for navigating the couple on the dance floor is clear. That skill is developed by learning mechanics allowing you to make turns and to stop. The rest comes from experience.

Actually, I sometimes tell people that most of the apparent spontaneity and improvisation of tango is mostly avoiding everyone else on the floor as in time to the music as possible.

Of course, there is much more to it than that.

It is often said that followers prefer a leader who “dances musically” rather than one who is simply “dancing steps”.

What makes the difference?

Choreography.

The idea of choreography is often frowned upon within the social circles of Argentine tango. Choreography is often thought of as a memorized series of movements, or steps, that are simply being performed to music.

Many active Argentine tango dancers will recoil against this idea: “There are no set steps in tango!!!”

I will ask you to think about it a little more broadly. In a general way, a choreographer’s job is to plan out a series of movements to a specific piece of music.

This meshing of one or more bodies and music requires (at least) two resources:

1) a vocabulary of movements and

2) knowledge of the music.

With these two elements, the choreographer maps out movements that they feel make sense to the music. Once the routine is set, the dancers learn the movement sequence and then set out to practice it until it is as perfect as it can be.

In social tango, this process is nearly impossible. You often have no idea in advance which songs will be played in a given evening. Likewise, you don’t really know who will go to the milonga or with whom you will dance during a particular tanda.

How then does this situation play out for the leader as choreographer?

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First, of course, the leader has to improve his own technique and expand his vocabulary as widely as he is comfortable. Once on the dance floor, he needs to understand the intersection of the vocabulary with which he can best execute on a crowded social dance floor and the vocabulary of his partner. After all, if tango is a non-verbal conversation, you first need to determine how you will converse.

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Secondly, he has to attend to the music. While it is not possible to memorize every tango song, it is possible to get familiar with many songs. Thankfully, memorizing all of the tango orchestras is not required, either. Thankfully, it is easier to study the overall structure of tango music, as well as vals and milonga songs.

The main idea is that you have to listen to the music – really listen to it. The music will whisper ideas in your ear. Heed those voices.

If the music is slow and flowing, keep your steps smooth and flowing. If the music is fast and accented, Adjust your steps accordingly. Pick an instrument your hear and play it with your feet. The voice is an instrument.

When the music pauses, well, that is an invitation for you to do the same thing.

If you can simply build in those ideas and make those contrasts apparent in your dance, you take the first step towards becoming a musical dancer and begin to build your choreography muscles.