This
handbook is the reference for the Argentinean Tango
course
created and
developed by Luis Castro and Claudia Mendoza.
The
idea for this handbook was conceived from thirty
years of careful study, work and a career that has
taken them to the most prestigious stages in the
world. This manual stems from the drive to explain
what the structure of the dance is and how it has
developed through time.
It
has essential concepts and theoretical references
necessary for understanding what is being conveyed
so that learning this dance is not just a mere mechanical
performance but represents the acquisition of an
authentic mastery of this dance form. Obtaining
a working knowledge of the history of tango will
complement and facilitate the speed of learning
the practical aspects of this dance form. Castro
and Mendoza have found it essential to analyze
the structure of tango
in
depth
through thorough research of its origins
by consulting historical documents. The
material collected for this textbook contains theory
essential for teaching and pays homage to what tango
has become in over a century of existence. Argentinean
Tango is a true cultural phenomenon that, over time,
has absorbed the social, economic and political
milieus of the periods it spanned.
The intention of this website is to provide information
about Argentinean Tango and its fundamental components
to deliver a better understanding to the tango enthusiast.
The content in this website is a small sample of
what is explained and illustrated in the actual
handbook. For more information about Castro and
Mendoza visit their official website,
An
excerpt
about the origins and evolutions of the Tango is a great start: back
to top
Tango
was
born
on
"...
the shores of the Río de la Plata, between
Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Actually, it is precisely
in the outskirts of Buenos Aires that it found the
ideal conditions to develop, almost as a game, among
men in a suburban reality of immigration, poverty
and courage. Over a century ago, an entire community
of immigrants and locals from the interior of the
country was looking for a new identity, and this
dance, in which they challenged one another with
extraordinary skills, allowed them to reassert their
strength and daring they saw repressed daily."
"...such
a movement was also caused by the type of irregular paving
that existed at the time in the streets of Buenos Aires.
In 1829, the streets of the city had been paved for the
first time with a cobblestone pavement, called adoquinado.
With this irregular, broken surface, the compadrito had
problems of balance in high heel shoes, which were almost
obligatory if one wanted to belong to the élite
of the tough guys. The way of walking that would later
be imprinted in the dance comes from that footwear and
that particular pavement. Physiologically, the weight
of the body would load onto the metatarsusas an effect
of these heels, which forced the person to walk on the
front half of the foot in order not to get the heel stuck
between stones. This
produced a loss of balance that was worsened by the irregularity
of the pavement we mentioned before. That is why the walk
occurred, before tango was born, on the front half of
the foot, crossing one foot in front of the other and
accompanying every step with a twist of the body in order
to compensate for the imbalance."
"...the
one thing that truly makes tango unique in the world
is the miracle of introducing figures in the embrace.
This explains how greatly important the embrace
is with respect to the
figures.
Starting from the embrace, tango moves by following
the rhythm of the music with a vibrating feeling
that makes of the two bodies something that becomes
immediately expressive. In the embrace, one contains
and the other is contained. It is an encounter that
gives life to an intimate dialogue and a creative
relationship through which two bodies become complementary
in harmony and spontaneity. It becomes a sort of
compromise in which, within the couple, one needs
the other to move together in space as one single
body."
Musicality
"...
capacity to feel and communicate music with the
body. Tango dancers build movements according to
their own interpretation of the rhythmic and/or
melodic structure of the music, and
are
inspired by the stimulus that the music offers them. Music
is made up by the units of time that define its rhythm.
Rhythm is the marking of time that regulates a dance.
It is the repetition at regular intervals of the strong
and weak beats in a musical phrase. The musical phrase
is made of bars. A bar is obtained by accenting its first
beat. The same applies for any rhythm (2/4, 3/4, 4/4,
4/8 etc.). Each division is made up of strong beats and
weak beats. The so-called strong beats are the first beat
(the most important because it is the beginning of a bar)
and the third beat. The weak ones are the second and fourth."
"...
is not verbal, but courses through the entire body
where words become gestures and gestures become
its instruments, much like in the narration of a
story. Sharing a
common space and destiny in the adventure of an
improvised tango must involve an in-depth knowledge
of a communication code mediated through the embrace
that silently allows the couple using it to identify
meaning and mutual understanding. The main form
of communicating consists in exercising pressure
with the right hand on the shoulder of the follower
in order to have two possible options of command:
the first using the palm of the right hand on the
left side of the woman’s back, the second using
the fingertips on the right side of the back, directing
the movement in the dance floor space with the rhythm
of the music and pushing the body in spontaneous
and unique performances. Each dancer would create
his own code in order to communicate to the partner
his intention of movement in a game of improvisation."
Improvisation
& Choreography
"...
before the compadrito’s way of dancing became
recognized as tango, improvisation was total and
resulted from unceasing experimentation on the dance
floor. This way of
dancing
did not have a pre-set choreography, but rather a “potential”
form built-in by two elements: the steps and the figures
that the dancer would creatively compose into the embrace.
The steps are the basic units of the movement, and the
sum of the steps determines the walk that can occur in
different directions: forward, backward, in a circle,
to the right or to the left. The figures are like designs
created by the mechanics of the movements that also give
them their names. At the end of the piece, all these elements
assembled together give life to what is known as the “concrete”
form of choreography."
TESTIMONIALS
see what our readers are saying about
the book
"This
book has very interesting facts about the origins of tango.
I didn't realized that the "toe, heel" lead was
created based on necessity by the early tango dancers - just
amazing! I would recommend this book to everyone interested
in learning this dance." ~
David, San Francisco, Ca
"This book was great reading especially since I'm just
beginning to learn to dance tango."
~ Victor, San Mateo, Ca
"The book is very easy to read and understand. The information
about musicality confirmed my understanding about the rhythm.
This is a great book to read especially if you're interested
in improving." ~ Nancy, San Francisco, Ca.
ARGENTINEAN
TANG
THE
DANCE IN DEPTH
O
Luis
Castro and Claudia
Edited
by Letizia Pini
Mendoza
A
handbook for the Argentinean tango dance course
Castro
y Mendoza Method
Luis
Castro is Professor of Native Argentinean Dances
at the Academia Tardio. He won the Primera Bienal
de Arte Joven in Buenos Aires.
He studied the structure of tango with maestro
Rodolfo Dinzel. The Academia Nacional del Tango
has appointed him as a member and elected him
as its representative in Italy on the merits of
his research into and promotion of argentinean
tango.
Luis Castro and CLAUDIA MENDOZA have performed
all over the world with the company
of the Tango Pasión and Forever Tango shows.
With Forever Tango, they were nominated for
best choreography for the three prestigious Broadway
awards: the Tony, the Drama Desk,
and the Outer Critics Circle. Together, they have
published “Vivir abrazados. Tre saggi
sul tango” (Living in the Embrace:
Three Essays on Tango), Greco Editore. Aside
from performing, they
teach in Europe, Japan and the United States
to much acclaim.