The Argentine tango: Two bodies in synergy
My mother always celebrates her birthday with a dance party. She invites all her ballroom-dancing classmates and their dance instructors and they dance the night away. During her 2009 birthday party, I noticed that the younger members of her dance group were dancing a new dance: the Argentine tango. I noticed that they were having so much fun dancing it and some couples were in total synergy with one another.
I took an interest in this dance after having watched “Tango! Tango!” in New York many years back, but I did not think that it would ever catch the fancy of our ballroom-dancing aficionados. Well, it seems that the tango Argentine is the hottest dance in the circuit these days and there is one man who should take the credit for it: Jun Borja, the Philippine representative to the World Asia Tango Championship in Tokyo, Japan, who is currently the president of Philippine Argentine Tango Association (PATA).
Jun Borja started his obsession with the Argentine tango in 1992 when an Argentine lady, Gladys Fernandez, came to Manila to teach it. She came on a yearly basis and taught for a few months and Borja would faithfully attend her classes. However, he noticed that the dance did not have enough of a following, so he stuck to teaching and dancing Latin dances like the samba and cha-cha, which were very popular among ballroom dancers then.
In 2000, Filipino ballroom dancers became more sophisticated after watching several shows abroad. The international method of ballroom dancing became the norm rather than the exception and slowly but surely, the Argentine tango was developing a lot of followers.
Three years ago, Jun Borja decided to put up a studio for Argentine tango enthusiasts. He also took refresher courses in Buenos Aires and Tokyo, where there are a lot of Argentine tango masters. The yearly competition for Argentine tango is held in Tokyo and in 2007, he hit the semifinals. In 2009, he was a finalist with his partner, Yuki Serrat. Among 63 contestants, he and his partner placed 11th. He is hoping to be in the top three this year when they join the competition again in Tokyo on July 3 and 4.
Last year, my sister got so infatuated with the Argentine tango after watching it in a show that she decided to enroll in Jun Borja’s class. After seeing her perform during a family gathering, I decided to take it up myself.
How does one dance the Argentine tango, anyway?
Someone described it as simply as, “Stand up straight, embrace your partner, and walk.”
It is not as simple as that, but finding a comfortable position in your partner’s embrace is the first step to a good partnership. Before I proceed to describe this dance, heed this warning: if you are the jealous type, do not allow your partner to study this dance. There is a complete intimate involvement in learning this dance and as Alberto Toledano writes, “Each partner must be willing to become vulnerable in order to exchange energies: a physical and emotional transaction takes place.”
Of course one can be robotic and still enjoy dancing the Argentine tango, but lucky are the dance partners who are “together” in real life, as they can dance it with abandon and passion. It is a very intimate dance with a lot of walking in close contact, chests pressing against each other. Simply put, there are only three steps in the Argentine tango: The side step, front step and back step. The man always leads and the lady should be aware of the direction of the man’s upper body. His upper body indicates the nature and direction of the movement. For example, for a forward step, the man thrusts his chest forward, and the lady takes her cue from this. In a secada, his leg comes into contact with the woman’s. (A secada is when the man inserts his foot between his partner’s feet without disturbing her steps.)
“In particular, touch, smell, heat from the other’s body, and the feel of the breath all contribute to signal the strong, powerful involvement between the dancers,” continues Toledano. “During maximum physical contact, muscles and skin start to communicate. Heads, chests, thighs are brought into play; arms encircle.”
If it is difficult for you to visualize this dance, watch it on YouTube. It is such a powerful and dynamic dance that if dancing is your sport, you will get tempted to learn it. And for couples who are into dance, you can learn this dance for life!
As Jun Borja put it, “Once you try the Argentine tango, you will never stop dancing it. Because it is like wine: The more you age with this dance, the better you become.”
As for me, I am still so focused on learning the steps that I can’t feel any passion or emotional attachment with my dance partner yet. I guess that will come in time-if I get lucky enough to find my soul mate in the Argentine tango. If not, I will be content to dance it well enough for fun!
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For inquiries, call Jun Borja at 0928-983-8864 or 0926-659-2424; land line 496-2424, or visit 88 Studio Room 204, Jovan Condominium, Shaw Blvd. corner Samat St., Mandaluyong.
