And so the story goes that they got thrown out of Paradise condemned to pay for their sin with the sweat of their foreheads. Da Man now had to work and be a provider. Eva stayed home barefoot and bearing children. This inequality and injustice prevailed throughout the centuries, until the roaring of fed up females sick of being called follows decided to do something about it. It takes two to Tango, you know, was their battle cry. Although we are still living in an imperfect world, when it comes to Tango, the roles of men and women have become less stereotypical, and progress towards equality continues at a steady pace.
For many, the Tango has become
a metaphor for higher levels of men/women relationships. Long gone are
the days of the early 1900's, when tough men killed each other to gain
the favors of mischievous women, who without missing a beat would turn
away from the bloody bodies laying outside the bar to focus their attention
on those inside eager to be the next ones to go out and fight.
The Roaring Twenties
imported from the Parisian halls an air of sophistication
and the elegant Buenos Aires cabarets where musicians had
to dress up in tails. Class warfare was responsible for so many broken
hearts and so many great Tango lyrics. However, the Golden Era of
Tango provided the blueprint for the codes and protocols associated
with the social appeal of Argentine Tango dancing. During a period that
roughly begun in the mid 1930's and lasted into the early 1950's, the relaxation
of social constraints allowed men and women to socialize publicly at social
clubs, night clubs and just about every other place where Tango dancing
took place.
Many marriages resulted from
the romances started on the dance floor because for as long as we can remember,
the main purpose of going to the milonga was for boys to meet girls and
vice versa. To be able to dance Tango well was a given, and the codes of
conduct at the milongas were strictly adhered to by those who wanted to
succeed. The entire body of activities, social interaction and behavior
at the milongas of Buenos Aires fall under what we would
like to call the tradition, myths and legends of Argentine Tango dancing.
For most Argentinos this is part of their idiosyncrasy and
most truly believe what George Dumesnil said on the subject:
A
country that no longer has legends, as the poet said, is condemned to freeze
to death. It is quite possible. But, people without myths would already
be dead.
Lead Thyself Not Into Temptation
Countless numbers of women have spent lots of time walking around a chair. That's how you learn your molinetes, they have been tempted to believe. The more they walked around the chairs, the more they kept pulling their partners off balance while they did their molinetes.More and more women are realizing that men don't have four legs like chairs. They are also learning that there is no such thing as molinete steps. They are beginning to acknowledge that they are dancing with men, not leads. They are beginning to assume responsibility for their balance so they can tell when the men they are dancing with stop, but keep them walking around them. They realize that going around the man makes their hips move their legs in a predictable and repetitive sequence, forward, to the side and back.
Many women have spent lots
of time leaning against a wall while practicing their ochos.
Knees bent and pressed hard against each other. Ankles locked into each
other. Collect, collect, said the voices of temptation.
The more they practiced,
the more they fell off their ochos regardless of how hard
they leaned against their partners. More and more women are now realizing
that men are not walls to lean onto and that there are no steps called
ochos.
They are learning that an
ocho,
is an invisible pattern resembling the number eight drawn on the floor
by their feet. It results from a motion created by their partners that
asked them to step forward with one leg, pivot on that leg maintaining
balance, and step forward again with the other leg back to where they came
from.
Their awareness of
the men they are dancing with affords them plenty of time to realize that
they are not walking along with them on a straight line. Rather, the men
are either stationary or moving in such a way to create the pivoting necessary
for the changes of direction after each forward step.
They know that bending and
pressing their knees together, locking their ankles against each other
and forcing the hip of the trailing leg to make the body turn, make them
heavy, throws them off balance and render their legs unable to respond
to the natural flow of the dance required to carry their bodies wherever
the men are taking them.
Many women have lined up
behind another woman, who repeated numerous times a sequence of steps asking
them to imitate her and memorize the steps. They have then proceeded to
demand that men lead them to recreate the steps. They have
been heard calling each step for the tentative leads who
went along with the game.
More and more women are
now realizing that real and skilled men don't lead. They
dance with a woman in their arms.
More and more women are
giving up memorizing steps and the unnerving anxiety that results from
wanting to be good follows. They are assuming the responsibility
for their posture and their balance. They are willing to put into the learning
process as much effort as they want to get out in terms of satisfaction.
They know that there is
a logical aspect of the learning process that addresses specifically the
techniques that allow them to be empowered to be a full fledged partner.
They seek those who are qualified to impart that important wealth of knowledge.
After all, Tango dancing
has always been done in wondrous ways in the city-country we call Buenos
Aires by very simple and humble men and women who considered
learning their roles a very important stage leading to the mutual enjoyment
of the dance.
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In Tango We TrustMany Tango communities are graced by the charming presence of women who manage to feel good and look the best in the realm of the embrace, knowing where they are at all times with relation to the men they are dancing with. They are the women who good dancers enjoy dancing with.They know that they only need to recognize which one of only three fundamental moves will make their bodies reach another space on the dance floor.They connect to their partners, friends, lovers, or total strangers, as these men navigate. They dance elegantly with their bodies fully connected to their partners, letting their legs be free to move forward, back, or to either side providing comfortable support for their bodies. |
The ones who impose themselves on any man to fulfill a quote on their self-centered agendas, trading cheap easy dances for cheap, easy frills for perverts disguised as milongueros.