Monday 17 March 2014

Between tangos

A partner who's danced in Buenos Aires most summers for many years describes as best she can the feeling of dancing with the older/more experienced dancers there: 'Soft energy'.

& another partner tells me she thinks of tango as 'consolation', not a word I'd associated before with tango. (All those Practimilonguero interviewees, who grandly and unanimously describe tango in a single word as 'pasión'.) But 'consolation' makes sense. Consolation is what gets you through a sense of loss, which accords with the nostalgia perceived in golden-age tango. Sur, that great anthem of golden-age tango, looks back at the wonderful times of trembling with love in youth, the waiting, the peaceful walks under starry skies... '...and it's all died, I know'. The place has changed, the experiences are only a memory, the dream has faded, leaving bitterness. & at the same time it's a wonderful song with great music. That's consolation.

(Words and a recent translation of Sur here.)

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