I use this term a lot in my tangotopics discussion group, and this site, and while I have defined the term in my tangotopics glossary, I wanted to create a little more clarity for the group as well as for the lazy among you that don’t want to click a link and go down a rabbit hole.
What Is ‘Social Tango’ ?
In it’s simplest form, Social Tango is a range of ideas, vocabularies, and methodologies that conforms to one easy to grasp precept > everything that is done small, compact, contained, so as not to disrupt the line, lane, and ronda of dance. It should be noted that there are whole swaths of tango vocabulary (which is on tangotopics by the way > social volcadas, social colgadas, social boleos, etc) which adhere to this precept.
Notation #1: Social Tango is NOT A STYLE, or an EMBRACE format! Read that again. You can still invoke Social Tango principles if you’re dancing Open, Close, Vee, Open Vee, Closed Vee, Square, Berlin, Apilado, Orillero, Milonguero, Villa Urquiza, Salon, Finnish, and even Nuevo. But understand that style and/or embrace format DOES NOT matter in this definition of the phrase.
Notation #2: Do NOT commingle, confuse, or conflate these ideas into thinking that Social Tango is ONLY a Close Embrace construct. It’s not. Again > Social Tango is a range of ideas, vocabularies, and methodologies to create small, compact dancing so as not to disrupt the line, lane, and ronda of dance.
Notation #3: SOCIAL TANGO is NOT the same as SOCIAL DANCING. While these ideas are related, they’re not the same things. Social Tango is the experience of dancing tango in a Milonga environment which emulates ‘polite society’ principles and practices. The emphasis is on the phrase ‘polite society’. In that instance the activity is to engage with others socially, and there just happens to be dancing going on. The ‘dancing’ is, first and foremost, polite and respectful. But above all else the focus is on the social aspect, not the dancing, nor the teaching, nor the performance aspects of the dance. It’s about engaging others, in conversation off the dance floor, their lives and what they’re doing under the guise of Argentine Tango. Think of sitting with a friend talking about their day-to-day in a coffee shop. You wouldn’t jump up and start screaming to your friend. It would disrupt others and their coffee shop experience. Social Dancing is very similar to this experience, only now we add the dancing tango part with the focus on being social with your friends in polite society.
This post is a quick, short-hand, definition. It is NOT a replacement for the link above. It’s more of a point of clarity. If you want to fully inform yourself, go read the link above.
Part of the practice of Social Tango is the perception of your dance which YOU generate (As a Lead or a Follow). Meaning that if you’re using vocabulary that takes up space, or is quick, sharp, and loud in a crowded space, it’s really easy to see that this can create a disruption in the line of dance. Example: If you’re a Follower and you’re throwing a mid-range circular Boleo or a Gancho in the line of dance, that is going to have a ripple effect. As a result people become nervous that you will not be safe to dance near for fear of being hit! The same is true, regardless of the amount of space you have around you. The PERCEPTION is that a couple is dancing out of the compact nature of social tango and it is best to avoid them. Which means that you are now impacting someone else’s dance simply by dancing in a way that makes others feel unsafe. There’s an argument to be made that you can’t control what others do and how they will respond. True. But you can not even invoke it by being aware that your actions have an effect on others. There is also an argument to be made (not a very good one IMO) that others can adjust. The rebuttal to that is that they shouldn’t have to do that at all. This is in my understanding > dancing responsibly.
Side Note: When I was teaching full time, and near the beginning of my teaching life I had, and still have this rule, that if you absolutely MUST engage and want to invoke the flashy stuff: 1.) Pick a partner that you know really well. 2.) Wait until the last 2 or 3 tandas of the night. 3.) Engage the flashy stuff ONCE and then you let it go.
Ok…back on message:
Social Tango is the idea and practice that your dancing vocabulary, your musical dancing choices, your floorcraft engagement needs to be compact. No bigger than a small leg extension (or a ‘projection’ as some of my compatriots would call it).
Social Tango is also a mindset and practice which engages the principles of good floorcraft which is: (again for the lazy among you) moving down the line of dance; keeping to your lane of dance; engaging musical inflections; hyperawareness of spacing and your partner’s abilities; choosing vocabulary (see ?) that fits within the lane of dance, which also adheres to the music at that moment in time; as well as employing vocabulary (!!!) that your partner can invoke within their range of capabilities. If all that sounds boring to you, or too safe, then go play rugby. While tango is a contact dance, it is not tango acrobatics WITHIN THE LINE and/or LANE OF DANCE. Again, see above on the practice of affecting other’s experience. If you think that floorcraft is just a Lead thing, think again. Further still if you think that Floorcraft sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is. And good floorcraft skills take YEARS to develop. While it is something that can be taught in a 4 or 5 hour seminar on the subject ( I teach this as well ), it will still take repeated reminders to stop making choices that affect someone’s SOCIAL DANCING experience.
If it sounds like Social Tango, Floorcraft, Social Dancing are all commingled. You are correct. They are. They’re all affected by each other. At the core is Social Tango, which does affect the floorcraft of the room, which will have a direct effect on the Social Tango experience of others and the Milonga in general.