| Like personal engagements with many forms of | | | | history), it is generally understood that |
| art, deciding whether to learn about the | | | | dancing tango during this time was the most |
| history of Argentine Tango depends largely on | | | | common form of social expression; that is, |
| what type of relationship one wants with the | | | | going out to milongas is just what people |
| dance. One need not be an expert on the | | | | did. Various styles of dancing and music |
| difference in time signature or tempo between | | | | developed, accessible and specialized, and |
| valses and milongas or on the effects of the | | | | they were shared and mystified, but they |
| anti-Peronist political coup on the | | | | existed and drew people to dance and |
| popularity and accessibility of tango music | | | | socialize nightly. Although we are in a very |
| and social dancing, for example, to be | | | | different cultural moment now in the United |
| attracted to and enjoy taking tango classes | | | | States, understanding tango with this |
| or dancing socially or to spectating dance or | | | | frame--as one method to express |
| musical performances. And it would be | | | | sociality--takes the pressure off me to |
| reductive to argue that knowing this | | | | compete with other dancers and, most simply |
| information equates to more proficient | | | | and most importantly, makes dancing and |
| dancing. This does not mean, however, that | | | | learning more fun. |
| there is little value in historical and | | | | |
| contextual investigation. In fact, I argue | | | | Understanding this social context has also |
| that knowing about the historical and | | | | helped me better determine with what type of |
| rhetorical context of any part of our lives | | | | teacher I want to study. I want to learn with |
| better equips us to articulate the reasons | | | | instructors who emphasize physical technique |
| for our life choices. And this is exactly the | | | | and vocabulary that are useful in a social |
| point. Having access to knowledge can help us | | | | and improvised environment instead of those |
| establish, however tentatively, what kind of | | | | who load up students with memorized steps |
| relationship we want with the dance, what | | | | that ignore the pragmatics of dancing with |
| kind of students and teachers and dancers we | | | | different partners outside of that particular |
| are and want to be, and what tango adds to | | | | class. Although I may have been able to |
| our lives. This, of course, can change as our | | | | figure this out on my own, my formal |
| dancing experiences and dancing relationships | | | | knowledge has certainly complemented the |
| change, and it is within this adventure that | | | | inexpressible feelings I have in my gut about |
| the beauty of the art lies. | | | | what constitutes a "good" learning experience |
| | | | from a "weird" one, and it gives me a context |
| Creating a framework for how to think about | | | | for decisions based on those experiences. |
| my involvement with Argentine Tango has | | | | |
| become particularly useful to me as I | | | | I first wanted to learn to dance Argentine |
| continue to study and dance. For example, | | | | Tango out of curiosity. I became romantically |
| thinking about tango as social expression has | | | | involved with a dance teacher, and I wanted |
| helped me ground my study as | | | | to know more about what his life was like--as |
| anti-competitive. This may seem a bit | | | | much as I could as a beginning student. This |
| counterintuitive. One might think that | | | | wasn't very long ago, and I continue to study |
| emphasizing the social interactions--meeting | | | | as a beginning learner, having already |
| new people, connecting with friends and | | | | satiated my inquiry into my steady's line of |
| enemies, developing dancing and community | | | | work. I realize this story isn't very |
| relationships--encourages dancers to compare | | | | interesting, but what I think is worth |
| abilities and styles in a competitive manner. | | | | discussing are the reasons one continues to |
| And perhaps, for some, it does. But what is | | | | study Argentine Tango despite its physical |
| useful for me here is thinking about the way | | | | and sociocultural inaccessibility. |
| people danced in Argentina during what is | | | | Understanding a bit about our relationships |
| referred to as the Golden Age of Tango, | | | | with tango through learning about its history |
| roughly mid-1930's to mid-1950's. Although | | | | is perhaps one avenue into feeling encouraged |
| the cultural memory of Argentine Tango is at | | | | and motivated to continue learning and, |
| times uncertain (like many other discussions | | | | eventually, to finding our own voices. |
| of "what really happened" in any culture's | | | | |