Viva Tango, Inc. is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of New Jersey for the purpose of furthering public education, interest, and awareness of Argentine Tango, Argentine Music and Argentine Culture.

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What Happens On Thursday Nights At Viva Tango In Princeton

There has been Thursday night Tango in Princeton since 1998! Tango dancers now meet every Thursday in the Suzanne Patterson Building at 45 Stockton Street. The door of this building on Thursday nights makes magic happen. Outside the door people pass each other all day, with rarely making eye contact or exchange smiles. They spend a lot of time in front of screens and even walk around looking at the screen on their smart phones and talking into the air to someone miles away. When they walk through the Suzanne Patterson Building door Thursday night they escape that world and enter a transformed world where making eye contact with a stranger becomes an adventure. This is a world ruled by Argentine Tango traditions and is hosted by Viva Tango each Thursday.

The first tradition is the Tango music. This music is moving and passionate. A tango song has been called a 3 minute opera because it condenses the passion of an opera into a song. Traditionally, 3 or 4 Tangos are played with a short pause between them. This group of Tangos is musically related, and is called a tanda. At the end of the tanda, a very different type of music is played to announce the end of the tanda and allow the dancers to change partners. This musical break is called a cortina (Spanish for curtain). Each Tango has several measures of musical introduction which give the dancers a moment to communicate. A milonga is the name given to a dance where only Tango music and dancing is done. A milonga experience is the sum of Tango’s traditions. Dancers have been returning week after week since 1998 which is a testament to the value of this experience.

Tango is danced in pairs, with a leader and a follower. The dancers observe the dance floor to see who they know, who are new, and how well they dance. The traditional way a leader invites a follower to dance is by making eye contact with the follower. If the follower returns the eye contact, they give a subtle nod of the head and a social contract to spend the next 7 to 10 minutes dancing together is consummated. This process for initiating dancing is called a cabaceo. The follower may also make in invitation by the same process.

After the cabaceo, the leader escorts the follower to the dance floor, and they take a few seconds to introduce themselves and look at each other to appreciate their partner. Then, they engage in the traditional Tango embrace. A few more seconds are spent relaxing into the embrace and tuning in to the feel of the partner and the passion of the music.

The leader’s role is to make the follower look good, and protect her. The leader starts with simple steps and gradually increases the complexity in order to judge what the follower is capable of. Tango is a creative dance. It does not have a fixed step pattern. The leader’s role is to interpret the music and to lead steps that make the dance interesting while keeping the steps within the capability of the follower so that the follower is not stressed or embarrassed by not following well. One hundred percent of the leader’s attention is focused on the follower. The follower is the only person in his world during this tanda.

The follower’s role is to follow with graceful movements. The follower embellishes the lead by introducing style into the legwork, adding creative input to the interpretation of the music and the beauty of the steps. When followr is doing this embellishment, the leader needs to give the time needed. As the follower’s trust in the leader’s abilities grows, the follower may close their eyes. Closing one’s eyes is possible because all the input for following comes from the body contact so closing one’s eyes allows the follow to concentrate on the lead better.

At the end of the tanda, the leader escorts the follower back to the follower’s seat. The switching of partners between tandas ensures everyone gets to dance. The leader needs to include followers who are new to the group and followers who have been sitting without invites. Followers need to keep alert and scan their surroundings to detect a cabaceo.  Switching partners also helps improving Tango skills, since the dancers always learn something new from dancing with different partners. A leader may dance with 10 or more different followers during a milonga.

These Argentine Tango traditions make magic happen. The traditions are international. The cabaceo makes it possible to navigate asking nonverbally. Princeton dancers have gone around the world dancing in places like Moscow and Tokyo without any local language skills and have had great times at milongas. Thanks to the exponential growth of tango popularity, you can find Argentine Tango in almost every major city in the world. The traditions create a magic carpet on which to make friends around the world. There are no geographical, political, race, gender or religious boundaries separating the worldwide community of Tango dancers. Tango exemplifies true diversity. Wouldn’t it be nice if this harmony could extend beyond the Tango dance floor?

There is one more magical experience. Combining the total mental focus on the music and partner while moving rhythmically to the music in a darkened friendly atmosphere can lead to an altered state of mind. Just as these same activities can lead to an altered state of mind in meditation, the same can happen to a tango dancer. This has been called a “Tango Moment”. In this altered state of mind, the dancer loses the sense of time, space and self and becomes absorbed into the connections with the music and partner. 

Viva Tango meets every Thursday. On first, second and third Thursday of every month the evening begins with a short lesson to teach the basic skills of Argentine Tango. After the lesson, the lights are turned down and fabulous food is brought out and the dancing starts. On the 4^th Thursday of the month there is no lesson, the whole evening is devoted to dancing with live music and a DJ between sets.  Viva Tango features guest instructors, performers, DJs and musicians.  Guest instructors have included the principal dancers of the famous international traveling tango shows, performers from NYC and Buenos Aires clubs, dancers from Tango Movies. Guest musicians have included Grammy Award winners and musicians who have played at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and famous theaters in Buenos Aires. What is your Thursday evening like?

Details of events are available on the web page www.VivaTango.org

You can contact us at our weekly event, by leaving a comment on the website or by sending an email to info@vivatango.org