[Tango-L] Social-ethical behaviors and protocols

[Ruben Malan]

 Re: [Tango-L] Social-ethical behaviors and protocols

Why tango? by Artem Maloratsky  - Copyright ©2007 (with special permission 
of the author)

Most tango "addicts" do not ask themselves such a question - they know they 
love it, and that is why they do it. I myself have had an urge to keep 
dancing tango for close to 13 years now, and it is not getting any weaker. 
But, such irrational sentiments aside, I am also interested in understanding 
the underlying qualities which make this dance so appealing. In my 
experience, tango has been a positive force in the following three ways:

as pleasurable recreation and a comfortable social scene;

as a therapeutic activity;

as a culturally significant art form, an instrument of conscious evolution 
of a human being.

 Taken in the lightest manner, tango, as any other social dance, is a great 
alternative to leisure activities which center around food and drink. I 
personally had always been somewhat socially uncomfortable, and did not 
enjoy spending long hours in bars, restaurants or cocktail parties. The 
tango scene instantly felt to me like a more natural way to come together 
with others. It was easier for me to dance with people for hours than to 
talk with them for 5 minutes. But even talking became easier, for tango also 
provided an inexhaustible topic of meaningful conversation. To me it also 
seems more natural to meet people in an environment that involved dancing - 
one often expresses oneself more eloquently and more inevitably through a 
dance than through hours of small talk. Before I even began to consciously 
realize the cultural significance of tango, I felt like I belonged in the 
milonga, though I was born and grew up in Russia. It made much more sense to 
me to come together with people on the basis of music and dance which we 
loved, rather than on the basis of more circumstantial workplace or school 
acquaintances. Another unique feature of tango is that it is a sensual, yet 
non-sexual interaction with the opposite sex. It allows one to viscerally 
experience the other person's psycho-physical being without getting too 
personal. It is a great way for people to express themselves as men and 
women without entering into a sexual relationship.

 Another reason to dance tango is that it can function as a therapeutic 
activity on many levels. First of all, it is a light aerobic activity, 
relatively safe and accessible to any age. As such, it can already make one 
feel better, and it is more fun than many other workouts. Tango is also 
automatically therapeutic due to the physical connection with another human 
being that it involves. In modern culture, more and more people feel 
isolated and lack physical contact, especially if they are single. Being 
hugged by another person for the duration of a dance can make a big 
difference in one's mood. But a much greater therapeutic power of tango lies 
in how metaphorical it is of all our relationships, and especially of the 
ways we relate to the opposite sex. Tango has been justly called a 
three-minute love affair. Because the tango embrace is so close and because 
the dance is improvised, one inevitably expresses one's character and 
relationship patterns through one's dancing. Such things are not always easy 
to see from the outside, but they are perceived very clearly by one's 
partner. With a little effort, one can also begin to notice one's own 
habitual attitudes and how they affect the experience of both partners. Just 
becoming more aware of that can teach one a lot about one's relationship 
patterns in general, and can thus be greatly therapeutic (it has been for 
me). But even more can be gained by learning how to transform one's patterns 
creatively. Tango is a model relationship in which one can experiment and 
learn more safely, for failing to dance a good tango is not as terrifying as 
failing in a real-life love affair. Another therapeutic value of tango is 
that it is inevitably a creative act - every dance is a spontaneous, 
unpremeditated interaction. As such, it develops our creative potential, 
puts us more in touch with our instincts and intuition. In today's world, 
where many people do not find enough room for creativity in the workplace, 
having a more creative hobby, where one expresses oneself more freely, can 
make a big difference in one's well-being.

 The greatest reason to dance tango, in my opinion, is that it can be 
practiced as an evolutionary art form - the concept that I discuss in detail 
in the Tango and Conscious Evolution section. Tango is an interaction that 
involves our senses, our motor skills, our instincts, our feelings, our 
intuition - our whole psycho-physical totality - to such a degree that it 
can be used as a tool for a general development of a human being (especially 
if "being" is used as a verb). Tango is a creative interaction which can 
teach us deeper principles of interacting in general. In this way, like the 
best of Eastern martial arts, tango can act as an instrument of positive 
transformation of an individual's mind, body and spirit. When practiced with 
this goal in mind, tango becomes a culturally significant art form of a rare 
kind, improving the well-being of individuals and of culture as a whole. But 
in order for this potential of tango to manifest fully, a correct approach 
to it is necessary. It started for me with the realization that the biggest 
key to progress in this dance was improving such fundamental abilities as 
standing, walking and controlling one's mind. After that I started trying to 
understand how to practice this art form in such a way that it most directly 
connected to a general self-improvement. This is, in my opinion, what it 
means to purify an artistic practice. It is through this approach that I 
ended up experiencing the biggest improvement in both my dancing and my 
general well-being. Developing such an approach is the main motivation 
behind this website.