Each week on Tuesday nights we practice Lidija`s tangos dance techniques and choreography with teacher Ilvija at flamenco dance studio "Duende". It is not as easy as it initially seems when you only observe Spanish dancing. Many sharp, rhythmic, fast taps.
Of course - researching the etymology of this dance, I found out that the root "tang" means a loud, definite sound that is produced by percussion. Not without a reason tangos is often accompanied by a percussionist. Another origin of this word could be the Latin "tangere" - "to touch". Words "tango, tangos" for describing the dance was used on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but the connection of tangos with Argentine tango has not been proven.
Tangos began in Cadiz - a harbour city in SW, which is a part of the autonomous region of Andalusia. One of the developers of tangos music, flamenco singer Enrique Jiménez Fernández (1848-1906), known as Enrique el Mellizo.
The performance of tangos has a lively and distinct rhythm and its meter is in four beats, where the first is a silence and the next three are marked. If we use a flamenco metronome, then it sounds as follows:
If we look at the family tree of flamenco, tangos originates mainly from the branch of the Gypsy musical tree (see chart below). This explains the sharp, emphasized movements, a shrill sound and the focus of the performance on the rhythm, not on the melodiousness of the sound. Singing or dancing usually begins with clapping hands according to the rhythm mentioned above and lasts the entire performance, emphasizing the moments of the culmination and anticlimax.
Marina Heredia - flamenco singer (photo Maque Falgas) Flamenco dancers and Argentine origin of painter Fabian Perezjobs.
At the moment we practice tangos music to the song "Tangos de la Penca" of flamenco singer Marina Heredia ( listen here ).In order to understand the emotional background of the dance, I asked Aija - a dance teacher at "Duende" - to help me with the lyrics` translation from Spanish.
Sources used:
http://www.esflamenco.com/scripts/news/ennews.asp?frmIdPagina=212
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_el_Mellizo
http://www.flamencoriga.lv/2010/06/marina-heredia-tangos-de-la-penca-zambra/
http://fabianperez.com/gallery.html
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