Improve your social competence by learning how to dance Argentine Tango

If you don´t know anything about Argentine Tango apart of the tons of clichés which many people have in their minds, you really might ask yourself “What the heck is that guy talking about?”

Just give me a minute and I will explain.

Maybe you know Tango only from movies where obscure figures on dim lighted dance floors do strange movements, chewing wagon loads of roses. Maybe you made up your judgement about Tango having seen ballroom dance competitions, frozen smiles, rigid moves, heads twisting unnaturally with every movement…

Could be you went to a Tango Show, spectacular, technically brillant sensual and maybe most impressive.

Yet, what has all this to do with social competence?

To answer this questions we have to go back to the origins of Tango.

Tango started in Buenos Aires and Montevideo at the end of the 19^th century. Immigrants from all over the world came to the Rio della Plata hoping for a better live. At the same time native Argentineans from the countryside came to Buenos Aires and Montevideo as well. They had lost their jobs on the big haciendas, the kingdom size cattle farms, and were trying to find work in the big city. As both groups competed for jobs, housing and often mere survival tensions were inevitable. On the other hand the clash of the cultures was the cradle of one of the most successful music styles and dances, the Tango.

Tango in its beginning was (and still is) a social dance, at that time danced mainly by the ordinary people, craftsmen, workers, small merchants…

Tango was danced a little differently in the different quarters but in order to dance together all the dancers had to agree upon one common code.

One crucial part of this code, which is still valid among real good Tango dancers, was the respect for each other.

Though of course there have been always more and less talented dancers, the most important thing among milongueros (the Argentine name for Tango dancers) was by no means showing off, demonstrating what a hell of a dancer somebody was.

More important by far was to dance in harmony in the “ronda” the round of all the dancers. No one would intentionally dare to disturb the dance of the others, let alone kicking or pushing them. If you wanted to be a great dancer you had to find strategies to dance better while remaining in the harmony of the “ronda”.

Tango dancers had to develop the mindset to move on with the flow of the music, in harmony with everybody else, instead of fighting each other for every little patch of the dance floor.  Given the fact that dancing Tango was not simply a pastime but a complete lifestyle this meant in consequence that they developed strong social competence. One aspect we certainly can learn from.

In this article I can not go more into detail. Yet I have to say that I myself experienced that the mindset I have developed dancing Tango helps me a lot, be it in business or everyday life. I strongly recommend everybody to give it a try.

Improve your ability to make right decisions quickly by learning how to dance Argentine Tango

If you think of Argentine Tango as a dance where latino guys with greased hair drag sexy woman in tight dresses over the dance floor, performing all kinds of weird rigid steps (things you never would consider to do in your life) you´re  probably asking yourself “How can this improve my ability to make decisions?”

You´ll see in a moment. First however I need to give you some background information about the real Argentine Tango.

Unlike what you might have seen in Tango Shows or on TV, where dancers do spectacular things on stage (And I have to admit I like it if it has got true emotion in addition to technical brillance), Argentine Tango is a social dance, where a lot of people are dancing together and the dancefloors often are fairly crowded.

For real Tango dancers this means they have to go along respecting each other. For them it is unthinkable to disturb the dance of the others, let alone kicking or pushing them.

If you want to be a great dancer you have to find strategies to dance better while remaining in the harmony of the “ronda”, the round of all dancers.

This is a permanent challenge as you will understand in a moment.

In contrast to the so called latin dances like Rumba, Cha Cha, Jive or Salsa (to mention just a few) where you dancing on the place claiming and defending your little patch of the dance floor, when dancing Tango you move around the room (counter clockwise to be exact).

This means you are changing your position every moment, and so do all the other dancers. Therefore you have to adapt permanently to new situations and you have to focus on solutions to go on dancing nicely with your partner and the other couples. You certainly can not successfully do this if you are relying on prefabricated sequences of steps. Yet you have to dance planning some steps ahead (that means if you have the leading or let´s better say the inviting part). You have to control over your moves and to know what you want to do next. You have to know where to invite your partner to go, how to move in the line of dance following the music. You have to know when to walk, when to pause, accellerate, slow down, and, and, and…

On the other hand you have to be prepared to drop every plan if it doesn´t fit into the everchanging reality on the dancefloor (Just like in real life, isn´t it?)

To make it short you have to make a lot of decisions, a new decision with every new step, and you get feedback for errors immediately.

Well, now you might say, what has the dance floor to do with my business?

The answer is simple. While you are dancing you are involved with your whole personality. Everything, your brain and your body are trained to make right decisions, interacting with other people and you are trained to make these decisions quickly.

What do you think, is this an ability that will help you doing business? You can bet it is.

And even better, you train this in a playful way, more relaxed, so learning is easier and faster.

I certainly became better at making decisions since I´ve been dancing Argentine Tango. I can focus better on solutions and do not get trapped mentally, being unable to make up my mind. It might be a possibility for you as well. And last not least, it´s real fun.