27th May 2008
To: LUTSF,
RE: Report 2007/2008
Please find enclosed my final report from my recent trip to
I stayed in
Sebastian la Vallena, Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la
Rosa, Staff at Estudio DNI and Gaston Torelli & Mariela Sametband from
TangoBrujo. I am grateful to all of these people for their expertise. Once a
week I went to the Tango Classes at
As you will see from my article this was a fantastic
experience and I am hugely grateful to everyone who made it possible.
Sincerely,
Ruth Pethybridge
REPORT
Un Abrazo sin Tiempo
Last year I travelled to
Background & Personal
Context
One of the things that fascinates me about the Tango is how
it is represented, and in my opinion, often misrepresented. To use Saviglianos
word the Tango is a dance that has become ‘exoticised’ as a cultural product,
closely linked to the Argentine national identity and ideas about Latin
sexuality and its almost brutal nature. The stereotypes that surround it as the
most passionate of dances are at once true and yet somehow miss so much of the
softness and tenderness that can be found in the intimate embrace of a
strangers arms, that has little to do with sex, and everything to do with
connection. This is not to deny the Tango as an expression of an archetypal
male/female relationship and an embodying of sexuality, however it is my
feeling that this view of Tango limits it’s potential as an art form.
When I first started
learning Tango, it was a surprise to me that the dance is so much an
improvisation, an interpretation of touch and weight; as Taylor points out:
”you don’t remember the steps themselves, you must try to remember how the
steps feel. “ (Taylor, 36,
1998,) In Tango there is a point of
connection with your partner that does not change. The chests, and therefore
the hearts, remain connected 
(or with the
intention to stay connected) throughout, while the decoration and detail occurs
from the waist down. The lead however is through the centre; the whole body is
involved in reading the movements of your partner and listening, conversing.
Tango brings up many
questions about gender roles. Simply the fact that the man always leads is a
loaded issue. Sometimes my body screams ‘resist
resist’ but this stops the flow of the dance and so I have no choice but to
surrender, and as such actively discover my role as the passive partner,
choosing my moments to hint at my resistance with my own decorations
(adornos).I do not intend to discuss here the different interpretations of
gender roles in tango, this is a huge area of debate that cannot be covered
here. (for a full discussion see Savgliano, 1995) but for me Tango is a way to
embody my feminity in a specific context where it is allowed and appropriate to
be in a more passive role, as such it serves a function for me and yet I refuse
to accept that I am no more than an adornment to the mans dance as “in many
feminist interpretations (where) the Tango woman is a victim”(Savigliano, 50,
1995). Plebs illustrates the woman’s advantage, and skill, here:
…each encounter has its own DNA. During the
night we have various possibilities to have diverse encounters. And therein
lies the advantage of being a woman. Given the fact that our role is to adapt
to the diverse proposals of the men, for us each time is absolutely
different.
(Plebs, 16,
2007)
As society evolves however, so does Tango, and at almost
every Milonga you will find women in trainers (haven’t seen any men in high
heels though….yet!), and as tango is a partner dance of course it can be danced
by two men or two women, and more and more frequently it is (though this is not
approved of by everyone in traditional tango circles).
As a European woman
learning this Latin American dance I found myself claiming my Colombian
ancestry[1] in
a plea to somehow make it more ‘authentic’ that I was so drawn to this dance,
this part of the world, these people. But somehow it was my body that
authenticised my experiences. The form itself provided me with a way to escape
my Englishness, an escape route I didn’t even now I was looking for. This led
me to the question of embodying a dance which has so much to do with a place
and a history I have very little to do with. As Savigilano points out about
Tango’s beginnings: “the Europeans didn’t understand the words and thought
these ‘natives’ and their dances were ‘charming’” (Savigliano, 29, 1995). I was dancing to songs that I didn’t
understand, my body as close as it had been to any lover and very much enjoying
the anonymous intimacy it provided. The embrace is the significant and powerful
distinguishing feature of Tango as opposed to other forms of partner dancing.
Alejandra Mantinan, a professional tango dancer states, “I believe that the great success of Tango everywhere happened because
of the embrace”. Being held, the way
I was held in this dance became a significant source of healing and fascination
for me as I explored the
This is an easily accepted
image of tango, dark argentine nights and broken hearts, passion, displacement.
The Lonely Planet Argentina begins
its description of Tango thus: “the air hangs heavy, smoky and dark” and goes
on to say it is “a strong blend of machismo, passion and longing, with almost a
fighting edge to it” thus buying into the stereotypes mentioned at the
beginning of this article. So how does this fit with the bright sunshine of
daylight in Enrique Tornu hospital where I danced with patients, doctors and
families from the palliative care unit? As my Tango teacher Sebastian Vallena
said to me once: “Tango has many faces”, these are but two.
Tango in Palliative Care
Enrique Tornu is a small hospital which dates from October
1904 and provides the only four beds that exist solely for the use of
palliative care patients in
It is well documented that
babies and children need physical affection and touch for their healthy growth
and development and so it stands to reason that people at the end of life or
with a dehabilitating illness, need the same; “touch is as important as
breathing” says Dr Field from the Touch Research Institute. In fact we need
touch throughout our lives but I believe that illness, and particularly
terminal illness induces a sense of vulnerability that requires a different
level of care and affection. In the last months of his life I had more physical
contact with my grandfather than I had had throughout my life. Yet being close
to death is something many people fear or at least find uncomfortable. The
Tango embrace becomes a way to overcome this by giving and receiving intimate
touch in a context where it is ‘allowed’ and specific. The intention maybe just
to dance, an activity for fun and distraction or in this context it can be
construed as something more, Arthur Frank, in his book ‘The renewal of
generosity’ explores issues around illness and medicine. He states:
“Care is enacted in
gestures that can console beyond what they accomplish as practical components
of treatment. For touch to console and thus to heal it must be more than
efficient. Touch must be generous, seeking contact with a person as much as it
seeks to effect some task. Generosity is the resonance of touch, endowing the
act with a capacity to give beyond its practical significance”
(Frank, 63,
2004)
This illustrates how touch functions as an important tool in
palliative care. The functional touch of someone preparing you for bed or bath
can be very different depending on the person giving it. Likewise, the
intention of the people dancing is as important as how they dance. In Tornu
no-one is watching to see if you are good enough to dance with, no one minds if
you don’t have the right shoes, or if you make a mistake on every step, the
intention is different and the attitude is generous. Of course any dance
activity for such a group would raise levels of serotonin through exercise,
perhaps provide an atmosphere of community and sharing but I believe it is this
close contact that gives Tango its particular strength in this context. When asked,
Carmen the class co-ordinator also sites this as the reason for using Tango in
the hospital, “Tango is an important part of our culture but it also provides
communication through the embrace”. The physiological effects of Tango as
opposed to other forms of dance is not something my research could cover but
for example, researchers from Washington university compared Tango to other
forms of exercise for patients with Parkinsons and found that the tango
patients showed more notably increased balance and mobility than the other
group. As well as the fact that tango “has several aspects of movement that may
be especially relevant for these patients including dynamic balance, turning,
initiation of movement, moving at a variety of speeds” (Uni of Washington,
2005) the researchers also mention the social element as a strong advocate for
the dance.
At Tornu, those
that cannot dance listen and watch (and sometimes sing), drink mate[2]
and eat biscuits, it is a social occasion as much as a class. Many people I came
into contact with in
“Mi Buenos Aires querido,
cuando yo te volver a ver, no habra mas penas ni olvido. El farolito de la
calle en que naci fue centinela de mis promises de amor….Mi
My beloved
Thus this dance is more than its physical manifestation,
tango songs are often about memories, full of nostalgia and a longing for times
that have passed. Far from being negative for people at the end of their lives
this provides a way to frame and channel their own experiences, as Lavalle
states in his proposal for the classes:
Las intervenciones desde la
música y la danza
(Lavalle, no date)
Working with tango music
and dance intervenes in the different states that are generated in relationship
to illness and ailments. Allowing the silences to have a sense, a sound, and a
movement as a way to transcend time and death; recapturing moments and loved
ones through a melody, a lyric or a dance step. The intention is to re-direct
the energy of stories and memories loaded with pain and suffering through the
dance, the music, the bonding…
I was lucky enough to experience this bonding as a
participant in the classes at Tornu and was warmly welcomed and accepted by the
group who taught me a lot more than just Tango. The current teacher Alfredo
when asked why he taught in this context said that to him the time at Tornu is
sacred, everything else is work but this, he says, is a reminder about life…he
is giving his time to do this, but actually feels he receives so much through
coming here where he meets people who may be in terrible situations but facing
life with joy and optimism. Everyone I spoke to cites the class as an
opportunity to share a moment of happiness, to be together as a group and to
communicate with each other at another level through the music and the embrace
of Tango.
To explain further the
significance of the embrace, for me the connection allows me to be completely
present in the moment as it unfolds, if I think ahead or in the past, I loose
that connection and therefore the flow of the dance, Plebs articulates this
experience well here:
Each couple enters
necessarily in a trance while improvising, since it is like a meditation.
Meditating means simply to concentrate on something, In somebodies arms or
embracing someone we concentrate on pleasing and complimenting each other and
flowing through the dance floor. The mind becomes quiet and as a consequence,
the outside world disappears.
(Plebs,
16, 2007)
To anyone who has danced Tango this will sound familiar, and
it is this transcending of time that Lavalle was referring to. In the moment of
the dance if there is no outside world then there is no illness, no death, no
other work to be done, no past and no future: ‘un abrazo sin tiempo’. This has
been referred to by some psychologists as a state of ‘flow’ where “being
immersed in what we’re doing counts for more than the end result, being
completely involved in an activity for its own sake…with a sense of
transcending the ego and time” (Ricard,234,2006). Again, this can be found in
many activities but in my opinion the Tango encourages it due to the necessary
level of attention required to follow your partners lead and the fact that what
you are focusing on is another human being. I have had similar experiences when
dancing contact improvisation which also requires an immediacy of focus and a
complete presence in the activity and the body of another. What could be more
significant and important for someone facing a serious illness, or the end of
his or her life, than to transcend time and live in the moment?
The team at Enrique Tornu
are dedicated, skilled and humble about what they do and it was an honour to be
a small part of it for the months I was there. The attitude of the Tango
classes is embodied in this statement from Carmen, the class co-ordinator:
“All the work done here
comes from love, anything worth doing has to be done with love and dedication,
done without love it means nothing”
So the Tango is a dance about love, but not necessarily
always the passionate or violent romantic love it is associated with: love in
the moment of the dance, for the form itself, lost love, love for a city, a
homeland, a song…love that lasts a lifetime and beyond.
Pasts & Futures
Now back in
I continue to practice and
learn my own tangos and feel there will always be more to learn, another level
to go to, I am consistently surprised by it and it nearly always brings me back
to my body in the most immediate way. I
would love to experiment and play with it more, marry it with my training in
contact improvisation to explore this intimacy and generosity of touch; while
also recognising and valuing its original form. Thus my own love affair
continues…
As a dancer and a teacher
this trip gave me a chance to engage with a new form and feel what it was like
to be a student again in an intensive way: humbling, frustrating, exciting,
stimulating, boring, exhausting, thrilling. The souvenirs I bring into the dance
studio from
Thank
you to everyone in the
Footnotes
1. My great grandfather was Colombian
2. A traditional herbal beverage
drunk throughout
Bibliography:
Frank, A The
Renewal of Generosity, Illness, Medicine and How to Live,
Lavalle, I.C. Tango,
una Danza Interior , evolucion
psicologica
Ricard, M. Happiness: A guide to
developing life’s most important skill, Little, Brown &
Savigiano, M. Tango and the Poltical Economy of
Passion Westview Press, 1995
Taylor, J. Paper
Tangos, Duke University Press, 1998
Journals/Magazines
Lavalle, I. Taller
de Tango en Cuidados Palliativos,
(Info. Leaflet)
Plebs, M. Abrazados en espiral, La
Tanguata, December 2007
Issue
Websites
http://www.hon.ch/news/HSN/6122516.html
(Journal of neurologic physical therapy)
Touch Research Institute
http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/index.htm