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Buenos Aires, Argentina - UB - Elective - PEAL 260 - Tango Dance
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COURSE SYLLABUS: TANGO DANCE

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Partner Institution: University of Belgrano

Course Title (English): Tango Dance

Course Title (Spanish): Tango Danza

Sessions Offered: Fall Semester, Spring Semester

Instructed in: Spanish

Classroom Contact Hours: 30 contact hours

College Credit (Semester Credit Hours): 2 semester credits

College Credit (Quarter Units): 3 quarter units

Prerequisites: Intermediate Spanish II

Local Department: Programa de Estudios Argentinos y Latinoamericanos (PEAL)

Course Code: PEAL 260

Course Description

Students taking this course will learn the basics of tango, specific steps, turns, and figures (e.g. ocho, sentada, media luna, molinete, sandwich), and the roles of the lead and follower. Students will learn how to place and extend their legs elegantly, transfer their weight, keep their balance while moving, pivot and embellish their dancing. The dancing classes will be complemented with theory classes presenting the historical and social contexts in which tango developed: its origins as a low life dance in the late 19th century; its growing respectability in the 1920s with Carlos Gardel, who popularized the dance abroad in Hollywood films; the Golden Age of tango (1935-1952), and its current global phase. Students are also introduced to tango as concert music. They will listen to a selection of composers such as Francisco Canaro, Anibal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese and Astor Piazzolla, who incorporated elements of jazz and classical music. Students will analyse lyrics and become familiar with their lunfardo slang. By the end of the course, the student will be able to improvise and think in choreographic terms.

Program Schedule

Class 1:

Course introduction. Each student will share their interest in tango and any previous experience they may have with tango. Origins of tango: political and social context (1870). Buenos Aires as a center of internal and external immigration. Social and musical panorama. Origins of the word “ Tango”. Dance with Cortes and Quebrades. The musical and dance predecessors (Tango Andaluz, Tango Negro, Habanera, Milonga y Candombe). Exercises: “Paso básico”, "Ocho adelante").

Class 2:

Second period of Tango: choreography. Personalities: El gaucho (cowboy). El negro (blacks). El compadrito (friend). The European immigrants. Payadores. Brothels as a meeting place of cultures. El lunfardo. The use of the “organito”. Exercises: “ocho atrás”, “frenos”.

Class 3:

Third period of Tango: Choreographic space. “El Cachafaz”, “Turco” Aín, Carmecita Calderón. Founding of the old guard. Formation of the sextet as the first standard structure: the typical orchestra. The first more developed songs. Rhythmic transition from Milonga to Tango. Popularity of tango in Europe and the United States. Tango passes from brothels to cabarets. First movie with sound in Argentina: “Tango”

Exercises: “Doble cruzada”, “Caminata”.

Class 4:

Choreographic writing. Tango in Europe: “Las Poseídas”, papal prohibition.  Jean Richepin, organizer of tango competitions. First recordings of the Old Guard (Greco, Arolas, Firpo). Evolution and development of the dance, music, songs. Oral presentation about: Tango Orillero or “Canyengue” Exercises: “Sanguchito”, “Variación de doble cruzada”, Adornos femeninos (women’s adornment).

Class 5:

Carlos Gardel. His gaucho origins. His move to Tango. Rise of Tango-song. Mi noche triste”. His first recordings. The diffusion of songs through his movies. Paris, where the myth begins. Consolidation of the figure of the singer in Tango. Death of Gardel. Music and film: Carlos Gardel oral presentation about “El Cachafaz”. Listen to the bandoneonista Jorge Donadío. The instrument, sounds and possibilities. Bandoéon solos. Exercises: "Giro a la derecha ", "Giro a la izquierda".

Class 6:

Fourth period of Tango. Band formation. The directors as the figure of the “convocante” (D’Arienzo, De Angelis, Maffia, Di Sarli, Troilo, Pugliese, Caló). Rhythmic exercise: definitive separation of Milonga and Tango. The splendor of sung Tango. Oral presentation on: the neighborhood clubs and their dances (Milongas). Exercises: “Función social”, Silencio", "Ejercicios específicos”.

Class 7:

Golden age. Rivalry between neighborhoods or sympathizers of orchestras. The new songs and their reflection of the society. The return of the “milongueros.” D’Arienzo in the neighborhood clubs. Oral presentation on: Anibal Troilo, Juan D’arienzo and Osvaldo Pugliese. Excercises: “Milonga”, “Vals cruzado”.

Class 8:
The Golden Age. The 1940s. Codes of the dance halls (cabezeo (nod), pañuelo (hankerchief), etc.). Oral presentation on: Tango in the world. Exercises: “Vaiven”, “Ganchos directos”, “Ganchos indirectos”.

Class 9:

Fifth period of Tango: Juan Carlos Copes. Modernization and vanguard. Historical and social context. The cultural foreignization. New space: the “tanguerías”. Oral presentation on: Juan Carlos Copes. Exercises:  “Lápiz”, “Doble sacada” (derecha e izquierda).

Class 10:

Attend a Tango show with dance, music and singing. The students, in groups, will prepare a report describing their impressions and relate it with what they have studied thus far in class. The recommended shows are "Su Majestad… El Tango”, “Nuestro Embajador… El Tango”. Turn in the report on the performance and the oral presentations on: “Tango Argentino” (espectáculo musical). Exercises: “Voleos”, “Gancho masculino”.

Class 11:
Sixth period of Tango. Artistic projection. Modernization and vanguard. Astor Piazzolla: analysis of his process of change within Tango (1946-1970). Listen to Astor Piazzolla music. Oral presentation on: Tango Nuevo or Neo Tango, Tango Queer. Secrecies: Exercises: “Doble sacada” (izquierda y derecha), “Sandwich”

Class 12:

Seventh period: "Tango Argentino" in Paris, Japan, United States, etc. and the opening of the new period. The sharing of tanguero stiles of distinct periods interpreted by young people. The Tango shows and the milongas. Tango “Milonguero” and “Nuevo”. Oral presentation on: Physical benefits of dance (mind, body and spirit). Exercises: “Salida Milonguera”, “Sentada”

Class 13:

Exercise: final exam of dance

Class 14:

Multiple choice test and final dissertation. Discussion about the class.

Class 15:

Turn in final grades, mandatory attendance.

Course Evaluation

The student is expected to participate actively, practice the dance steps and complete the oral presentations. The student must attend a tango performance outside of class and write a report on the experience. In agreement with the policies of the University of Belgrano the student can only have a 25% absence rate. The percentage of attendance that is required in order to take the final exam is 75%. Any trip or excursion that is not planned in the calendar is part of the 25% absence.

Required Textbooks and Materials

Bibliography (Text and Materials)

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