[Tango-L] Tango Salon championship

[Joe Grohens]

Sergio said:
> In the finals of Tango Salon ( Social Tango), the couples are judged  
> on the basis of : continuous embrace, circulation on the dancing  
> floor, dancing low on the floor, cadence and beat; 54 couples were  
> selected in the semifinals yesterday.

Thanks, Sergio, for sharing this news about the championship.

When you say "cadence and beat" I imagine that you are translating  
from "cadencia" and "compas".

I wonder if you or others could elaborate on these particular values.

I don't think the word "cadence" is used in English in the way that  
"cadencia" is used by tango dancers from Buenos Aires. The English  
word cadence usually refers to an effect in speech relating to  
inflection or a rise and fall of pitch.

In tango dancing we often hear people talk about cadencia, but what  
are they referring to? Is it phrasing? Is it swaying/rocking? Is it  
related to a wave?

...

On "compas", there is a similar language problem. What does it mean to  
dance with compas? Or to have compas? If we say that "compas" means  
"beat" - does that mearly mean to dance in tempo, neither rushing nor  
dragging? Or does it mean to have a rhythmic style of dancing? Or does  
it mean that the dancers reflect the structural sections of the music,  
specifically the measures, but also the groupings of measures into  
sets of two or four (in other words, it relates again to phrasing).

I would like to hear some discussion about how these words are used in  
reference to tango, and what specifically they are referring to in  
terms of movement.


Thanks in advance for anything anyone can contribute to explicating  
the meanings of these words, compas and cadencia.

Joe