Tango Quotes

Maria Nieves | Eduardo Arquimbau | Miguel Zotto | Pablo Veron | Tete

All excerpts are from the book: "Paul Pellicoro on Tango"

Maria Nieves "Nobody really taught me tango. I learned by watching. But today I believe young people should find a good teacher to have a base and then the best they can do is to go dancing. Step on someone’s feet, and have your feet stepped on. Dance with everybody and not simply with one partner."

Maria Nieves

Eduardo Arquimbau "When someone begins he can be dazzled by things that are external, but things of tango are internal (points to his heart as he says it). A dancer arrives to the roots of tango when he falls in love."

"People talk about styles of tango, but there is only one tango. It accommodates itself to every place and every era. When the tango was growing it took shape from location to location. For instance when it first reached the outskirts of the city (Buenos Aires) it was danced one way, In the clubs they danced a different way. In the city salons is was forbidden to dance it the way they danced in those other places."

Eduardo Arquimbau

Miquel Zotto "Tango is a social dance, a dance of the people. What would be the point of having lessons with teachers if we all taught the same? That is the charm of tango: with each person you find a different character and style."

"The most important talent a milonguero must have is the ability to make the woman shine. It means nothing to execute a lot of steps with the woman just following you. The tango is just any action in real life. Tango is about the character in each one of us."

"However an excellent dancer you are as a man, even if you are able to dance with every woman, when you dance with a woman who can’t follow you have more responsibility. You must dance perfectly, which means you can’t relax, you can’t think about your posture, and you can’t rattle off a fine step: what is the use of being able to do everything if the woman can’t follow you?"

"Tango is about feeling and sensitivity, otherwise you are just doing gymnastics. You can do all the steps but it has to have the feeling and sensitivity of authentic tango."

"Tango is like writing a letter, it has a beginning, periods, commas, stops and an end. If you are doing figures and gyros (turns) all the time, people don’t see anything and that is why there is the walk- the invention of the people. In this dance of the people, which is what tango is, all the famous couples have used the walk, and they use it constantly.
The tango is on the ground, It is caressing the floor. It is the ball of the foot supporting the weight of the body, right on the axis and each person on his/her own axis. If you make pupils walk at the beginning, they get bored and want to learn steps and more steps - to show off at the dance hall. So you need to have the luck of meeting a teacher who tells you: No. Look. You must walk. First walk."

"The woman must know how to wait for the man. Waiting means she is on her axis and the man can take her from it wherever he likes, like a feather.Carlos GavitoThere should never be a rush to do a step. One should enjoy it, make it last, dwell on it. I think it is more interesting to do one step and stop – not really stop but take a pause and just do nothing for a while. Just enjoy the moment first. I think most people rush because they don’t know how to do nothing, doing ‘nothing’ is the most difficult."

"In social tango you move with your partner and with the music. The relationship between you and your partner is not personal. What is personal between the two of you is that you both are trying to caress the music with your feet. A good tango dancer is one who listens to the music. We dance the music, not steps. You see, we are painters. We paint the music with our feet."

"Trust is also important. When you dance with a partner you are close and the dance is very suggestive. But it is not personal. Close is what the music inspires your to become. The embrace looks personal, but what you are really embracing is the music.Tango is improvised. It is improvised all the way. There are no combinations. In tango you can’t be preoccupied with steps You need to express your feelings while listening to the music."

Miguel Zotto

Pablo Veron "A good tango dancer is someone who has rhythm and who has a good musical ear. He also has respect for the woman; to know what to do at the right time with the right partner. He adapts himself to the woman. He makes her feel that she is the best dancer. He dances for her."

Pablo Veron

"Tete" (Pedro Rusconi) "Tango can be danced in a thousand different ways, but lets step on the ground first, because that is where the energy comes from. Therefore this is where we ought to dance to the music. Without the music there is no dance, no tango, no teacher, no student. A true teacher can only transmit the teaching the music has left him."

"Tete" (Pedro Rusconi)

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