Would you like to arrange to have private lessons for you, your group of friends or organization? Private one-on-one lessons are available on the weekends. Contact Kent for more information about how to incorporate Tango as a team-building exercise for your group or organization, or even at your next party!
Argentine Tango is both a genre of music and dance invented at the turn of the century in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the product of a cultural melting pot during a time of great historic change, involving immigrants from South America, Italy, Germany, Africa, and Eastern Europe. The Tango has a rich tradition that spans over a century. Since the mid-eighties is has been enjoying a huge revival around the world.
Argentine Tango is a social dance which should not be confused with Ballroom Tango. In Argentine Tango, there is no basic step; the couple relies on an intense awareness of each other’s movements and energy which allows them to move in unison to the music. The ability to improvise a dance with another person and move together with such strong connection is a fascinating and addictive experience for many people. Learning Tango is forever challenging and it inspires a life-long passion for those who pursue it as a hobby or a profession.
One of the joys of dancing Tango is the wonderful worldwide community of dancers. Since it is a social dance, it is not necessary to have a regular partner. You can travel around the world and have wonderful dances with people who you have never met before. Many cities have thriving Tango communities and opportunities to go dancing almost every night. Tango clubs are proliferating at universities as the younger generation catches on to the universal appeal of this dance. At a typical Tango dance or “Milonga”, you will see people of all ages, from all over the world dancing together.
Baila Tango has created tango communities in several cities around the world. Baila Tango instructors, based on Metin Yazir’s methodology, teach and promote Tango internationally in the same consistent manner that follows the codes of the Authentic Tango of Buenos Aires. Baila Tango considers tango as a dialogue (as opposed to monologues by the dominant men) between two independent and actively participating partners and follows the concept of invitation and acceptance. This heightened respect for women is the foundation of this vision. Our vision, is inclusive: everyone can dance Tango regardless of age, background, or body type. While the stage dancers bring their art to audiences, Tango still belongs to the people from which it came.
The original Argentine Tango is a “street dance,” in the same family as Bolero/Rumba or Salsa. It does not have a syllabus or a series of patterns to memorize and repeat. Partners improvise (invent their own steps) in order to express the music, rather than learning a routine and can be danced in either an open or closed position. Argentine dancers stay over the balls of their feet in order to react “in the moment.” There are no locked joints in Argentine Tango and partners do not lean away from each other as in Ballroom Tango. Once you learn Tango movement and the skills of leading and following, you can dance with any Tango dancer in the world, even if you have never met.
Salsa on 2 is a little harder than Argentine Tango, but is really fun once you get it!
Salsa is a dance for Salsa music created by Spanish-speaking people from the Caribbean. Salsa dancing mixes African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa: Son, Guaguancó, Rumba, Boogaloo, Pachanga, Guaracha, Plena, Bomba.
On 2 timing emphasizes the conga drum’s tumbao pattern, and encourages the dancer to listen to percussive elements of the music. Advocates of New York Style consider this to more accurately reflect the Afro-Caribbean ancestry of the music.
Many also refer to this style as “Mambo” since it breaks on beat 2 of the measure, though there are other dance forms with a more legitimate claim to that name. Mambo has been taught in ballroom schools throughout the world since the 1950s. For years ballroom competitions have featured Mambo as a competition dance. ["Salsa" on Wikipedia]
For beginning dancers, the best shoes to wear are socks; in fact for classes at Cameron Art Museum it is mandatory… stay on your feet. This is a progressive dance and we move counter-clockwise around the floor. Wear comfortable loose fitting clothing – clothes you could do yoga poses in. Dresses that cinch your knees together like a geisha girl are a big no-no.
Everyone learns at their own pace, dependent on movement background, previous experience, and general health. A rough estimate is 3 months to become comfortable with the Tango, and 6 months to become a confident Tango dancer.
It depends, if you sign up for a series and miss a class you can substitute a class from another series of the same level. You can take any regularly scheduled Tango class, at any time during the 3 months following your purchase. For consistency of learning, we encourage you to attend every week, but we understand that some scheduling conflicts cannot be changed. Normally, Kent is there 30 minutes early to catch couples up who have missed a class.
The way I teach Tango it is a “dance-with-the-one-that-brought-you” dance. We switch some when we start class, but 90% of the time you are with your partner. Otherwise how could you get “hot” for them like Heike says? 
For Salsa on 2, it doesn’t matter because you are more ballroom-partnered.
Don’t worry, but if you still have questions about partnering, feel free to contact me and we’ll talk about this more in-depth.
