The elusive and esoteric concept of Cadence
For a long time I have wanted to delve into this concept that seems to me to be of cardinal importance when facing the Tango dance as an exploration and appropriation carried out by the practitioner.
Although in moments of approach to Tango, the idea of having a structural guide to the essential notions of technique or even modeling the style based on other dancers is very important, I consider that more or less soon, one should look for their own tendency , its imprint, despite the fact that this may be a process that takes years to refine and define since it involves the consideration and conquest of many technicalities which are fundamental tools to model your own dance.
Although in moments of approach to Tango, the idea of having a structural guide to the essential notions of technique or even modeling the style based on other dancers is very important, I consider that more or less soon, one should look for their own tendency , its imprint, despite the fact that this may be a process that takes years to refine and define since it involves the consideration and conquest of many technicalities which are fundamental tools to model your own dance.
What is the process or where does the journey begin to meet oneself in Tango?
This is where the mysterious, elusive and esoteric concept of Cadence makes itself present …
To understand this concept it is necessary to realize that Cadence in Tango dance is essentially a creative formula, therefore its process lacks a predetermined methodology; This implies that it is very difficult to find a consensus when defining or refining it.
One of the most accomplished milongueros on the Buenos Aires tango scene, Teté Pedro Rusconi, said this about cadence in interviews.
S – If you had to define cadence for someone who never saw it, what would you say?
T – I would tell you to start by understanding what the body speaks when it is with another body, what it gives to its partner when it dances. There is a very special movement that the body produces with music. That movement is called cadence. It is from the shoulders to the waist where the body is experiencing something. And when you don’t dance like this it is clear that the body does not move, the dance has no life. And that has to be there even if another style is danced.
T- Without music, cadence, posture, balance, steps are useless and for that we need authentic teachers and teachers.
T- Although it may be that some special fantasy appears. And here it goes for the young people, based on what they are doing, this dance continues, so why not put all the beauty that tango has to their tango. Cadence is an essential thing. And why not with music? D’Arienzo is not the same as Di Sarli.
T- In the cadence there is a relationship with the floor. The earth is a magnet that gives energy at the same time and makes the man close to the floor begin to move his feet with a very special sensuality, that energy should not be lost. It is not necessary to hurry, it is only to slide; at the same time, that makes when you step on the ground you feel a lot of things, you are sure of your balance; there is a special issue between the two people who dance, two dance as if they were one. It shows what it is like to step on the ground, how safely one slides. In that is balance and emotions.
T- Whatever tango it is, it cannot be learned in four days. And even knowing a million steps, if you don’t have the music it is useless. If there is no cadence or emotion or that which we call feeling, it is like nothing.
The vagueness and mystery when it comes to talking about Cadencia is a constant in the vast majority of the old girlfriends and milongueros of the strain. It is a more or less stripped-down concept, with a very basic structure and which one can access by assigning it its own meaning, filling it with content and making it one’s own. However, there are a couple of things that can be seen from what the milongueros say. Firstly, although Cadence is related to rhythm, music, technique and style, it is not defined by any of these parameters, but Cadence uses them to develop sensations in movement. On the other hand, the cadence is strongly marked by the footfall and the way of walking, the old milongueros see a man dance and seem to intuitively identify the cadence in his footprint more than anywhere else in the body, it is like the emotions that flow in the arms, they swirl around the torsos and hips, projecting towards the feet as a final destination looking for the floor.
Some often say that it is like acting music, that two different orchestras would not dance in the same Cadence, for example, a Biagi piece would dance in a very different Cadence than a Pugliese piece. But not only that, but also the Cadence has its own spirit for each person. This is how I teach this strange concept to my students. For me, Cadence is like you are acting and you become someone or something else in the space of time while you are dancing. It has a lot to do with technical things like rhythm, pause, footfall, posture and style, but it also has to do with something more “metaphysical” like creating an atmosphere, allowing yourself to go and flow, connecting with your inner self already. that Cadence comes to fill a space in that creative and expressive component of dance, that which makes dance an art and not simply a routine of movements. It is about connecting with oneself and with the rest in order to express in motion what lives in our soul.
Some often say that it is like acting music, that two different orchestras would not dance in the same Cadence, for example, a Biagi piece would dance in a very different Cadence than a Pugliese piece. But not only that, but also the Cadence has its own spirit for each person. This is how I teach this strange concept to my students. For me, Cadence is like you are acting and you become someone or something else in the space of time while you are dancing. It has a lot to do with technical things like rhythm, pause, footfall, posture and style, but it also has to do with something more “metaphysical” like creating an atmosphere, allowing yourself to go and flow, connecting with your inner self already. that Cadence comes to fill a space in that creative and expressive component of dance, that which makes dance an art and not simply a routine of movements. It is about connecting with oneself and with the rest in order to express in motion what lives in our soul.
Entrevista a Virulazo.
La Cadencia es uno de los poderes ocultos del tango es la capacidad de hacer una pausa, pero aún conservar la sensación y el movimiento de la danza y la conexión con tu pareja y la música. Puede parecer que el hombre deja de bailar para permitir que la mujer se exprese con adornos, pero sabemos que el hombre todavía está bailando, sigue interpretando la música, sigue navegando. Para mí, durante estos momentos, la conexión de la asociación a menudo se intensifica dramáticamente. La tensión se puede acumular, lo que permite la oportunidad de versiones explosivas.
Esto es difícil de explicar en palabras, pero en realidad es un concepto clave en el tango. No puedes tener tango sin cadencia, de lo contrario sería como caminar normalmente como lo haces en la calle. No tiene nada que ver con los rebotes, que son solo pasos.
Article by Oscar Prada Domenec
And when we went to the dances and we found someone who had gone to one of the few academies that there was (Gaeta) we joked about it. We recognized them because they all danced the same. And if he had gone to the academy, it was because he was very “stubborn” or very shy.
There are many people who have memories of tango from those times before the great crisis, but they have not dedicated themselves to teaching.
And when we went to the dances and we found someone who had gone to one of the few academies that there was (Gaeta) we joked about it. We recognized them because they all danced the same. And if he had gone to the academy, it was because he was very “stubborn” or very shy.
There are many people who have memories of tango from those times before the great crisis, but they have not dedicated themselves to teaching.
Interview with Petroleo
Tango is a contained emotion that later explodes. You cannot say that is how you dance tango, you dance it as you feel it, it is a creation.
Tango is a contained emotion that later explodes. You cannot say that is how you dance tango, you dance it as you feel it, it is a creation.
There can be no transformation from darkness to light and from apathy to emotionless movement. Art is a kind of innate unity that takes hold of a human being and makes him or her instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own benefit, but an art that allows his purpose to come true through him
Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Gustav Jung
