| If you don't know anything about Argentine Tango | | | | Tango in its beginning was (and still is) a social dance, |
| apart of the tons of cliches which many people have | | | | at that time danced mainly by the ordinary people, |
| in their minds, you really might ask yourself "What | | | | craftsmen, workers, small merchants... Tango was |
| the heck is that guy talking about?" Just give me a | | | | danced a little differently in the different quarters but |
| minute and I will explain. Maybe you know Tango only | | | | in order to dance together all the dancers had to |
| from movies where obscure figures on dim lighted | | | | agree upon one common code. One crucial part of |
| dance floors do strange movements, chewing wagon | | | | this code, which is still valid among real good Tango |
| loads of roses. Maybe you made up your judgment | | | | dancers, was the respect for each other. Though of |
| about Tango having seen ballroom dance | | | | course there have been always more and less |
| competitions, frozen smiles, rigid moves, heads | | | | talented dancers, the most important thing among |
| twisting unnaturally with every movement... Could be | | | | milongueros (the Argentine name for Tango dancers) |
| you went to a Tango Show, spectacular, technically | | | | was by no means showing off, demonstrating what |
| brilliant sensual and maybe most impressive. | | | | a hell of a dancer somebody was. More important by |
| Yet, what has all this to do with social competence? | | | | far was to dance in harmony in the "ronda" the round |
| To answer this questions we have to go back to the | | | | of all the dancers. No one would intentionally dare to |
| origins of Tango. Tango started in Buenos Aires and | | | | disturb the dance of the others, let alone kicking or |
| Montevideo at the end of the 19th century. | | | | pushing them. |
| Immigrants from all over the world came to the Rio | | | | If you wanted to be a great dancer you had to find |
| della Plata hoping for a better live. At the same time | | | | strategies to dance better while remaining in the |
| native Argentineans from the countryside came to | | | | harmony of the "ronda". Tango dancers had to |
| Buenos Aires and Montevideo as well. They had lost | | | | develop the mindset to move on with the flow of |
| their jobs on the big haciendas, the kingdom size | | | | the music, in harmony with everybody else, instead |
| cattle farms, and were trying to find work in the big | | | | of fighting each other for every little patch of the |
| city. As both groups competed for jobs, housing and | | | | dance floor. Given the fact that dancing Tango was |
| often mere survival tensions were inevitable. On the | | | | not simply a pastime but a complete lifestyle this |
| other hand the clash of the cultures was the cradle | | | | meant in consequence that they developed strong |
| of one of the most successful music styles and | | | | social competence. One aspect we certainly can learn |
| dances, the Tango. | | | | from. In this article I can not go more into detail. |