Tango Blog: April 2007

El Tangauta 2007 Subject: "Improvisation in tango", by Milena Plebs

We usually watch dance exhibitions at milongas when, at times dancers improvise, and other times they dance a pre-set choreography.
Improvisation in tango has a great mystery. There is certain laziness in the response of the movement to the ineffably beautiful music. I am not saying that they arrive late. The mechanism of on-the-spot creation takes time and that is translated in a dynamic of movement with more cadence to it. Something intangible ensues, trickles, as the dancers travel along the dance-floor.

I usually stop to observe the expressions of the dancers who are improvising. That "not knowing" what is going to happen generates some true and unique expressions. The man has several tasks to do almost at once: to listen the music, to imagine the sequence, to transmit it to the woman with enough time so that she reacts in coordination. There are parts of these that happen automatically and masterfully in couples that are great at improvising. Knowing the musical structure and listening to the tangos an infinite number of times gives them the capacity of pre-designing mentally some sequences or at least what type of combination they are going to do in a certain musical phrasing. But the surprise factor is always there. Letting themselves be taken over by the music allows some things to emerge that surprise even the performers themselves. For me this is tango, the spontaneous revelation, this is how it was born, it is eternally in the present. The challenge for the dancers is to do improvised exhibitions that are true creations with respect to the message, style, linking of sequences, use of the music, etc.

This can be developed and requires a special kind of work. On the other hand, choreography has the advantage of the dancers being able to imprint the desired intention and attitude in each instance of the sequences, since the dancers know them beforehand. It allows them to handle effect better, to put more or less energy into a movement, to prepare it, to seek orientation and directions. This benefits exhibition in a theater, where it is more complicated to give oneself to the risk of improvisation. Now I ask myself: is tango choreography tango? It is not in the present, it has already been created, thought out, put together and it looks always the same. It is in the past. It is like a representation of tango, a recreation.

Neither one of these options is better or worse, they are very different and each one offers its benefits. It would be good if the gap between them were smaller. How can one manage to maintain the freshness of improvisation in choreography? I value dancers who improvise their exhibitions. I recently saw Julio and Corina masterfully improvise at Parakultural. The way they gave themselves to the dance, their playing, allowing us to witness what they were discovering together, was a magical moment to remember. The audience is very grateful..

El Tangauta 2007