The Power of Queer Tango (2016)
I. Introduction
Tango’s evocation of sexual desire and passion is inextricably linked to its constant display of gender roles. Since its formative years and rise as a global genre in its various forms of dance, music, film, literature, and beyond, tango has been known widely to place an emphasis on the societal roles of the man and the woman. Tango’s canon of lyrics and prose feature heterosexual love and desire as central recurring themes, and the typical “tango” between a man and a woman is the centerpiece of popular imagery of tango dance. In tango’s sexist and gendered portrayal of the man and the woman, the man plays the role of dominator, and the woman’s role is to follow the man. This being said, any dancers, including those who are not heterosexual and cisgender, can find a home in tango through what has become known as Queer Tango. In its subversion of tango’s traditional heteronormativity, Queer Tango is not only a means of expression accessible to all regardless of sexuality or gender expression; it is also an effective tool in the deconstruction of gender roles at large.
II. Defining Queer Tango
The word “queer” is widely adopted from English for use in the Spanish language to convey the same meaning with regards to gender and sexuality. Mariana Docampo, a prominent pioneer of Queer Tango, states that “the term 'queer' literally means 'odd', 'weird', 'eccentric', 'outlandish' and 'suspicious'. It was first used to name the gay, lesbian, transsexual and intersexual gay community in a pejorative way.” Expanding on the notion of Queer as countercultural, she claims that “Queer is a confrontational movement, disobedient, subversive towards conservative institutions. It seeks to create a liberated environment where sensibility can be developed, a space in which people can express themselves the way they truly feel and thus overcome the shame projected onto them by reversing the social order.” The Queer Tango movement thus seeks to create a similar liberated environment through tango.
The Queer Tango Book is the most comprehensive resource available on its subject, which is not an academically oriented text nor a book with one or a small group of authors, rather “a community project, emerging from a global community, with materials collected via an open call” that aims to provide “a vivid sense of the diversity of the phenomenon that is Queer Tango” (Queer Tango Book). In doing so the project calls upon many contributors worldwide to provide their insights and stories about Queer Tango, and also features genuine works of art. The book is free for public access due to its creators’ desire to spread its information to the world, under the premise that “tango should be danced without pre-established roles attached to the gender of the dancers. From that point onwards there are new possibilities for dancing”. In addition to being the best and most comprehensive source on what is still a young movement, the Queer Tango Book compiles information on its website as pieces concerning Queer Tango are released, and maintains social media discussion groups where many primary contributors to the project are active and engaging in constant discussion about Queer Tango with all who take interest in it. It will thus be my source of primary importance in this paper.
III. Gender and Sexuality in Tango Dance
In addition to sexuality, “dance formulates and is formulated by gender. Gender is an element which must be considered in how the dance work is conceived, performed, and received” (Grover-Haskin), thus necessitating a definition of gender. Judith Butler claims in their work Gender Troubles that in the deconstruction and subversion of gender, “it has been necessary to question the construction of sex as binary, as a hierarchical binary”. An approach to tango that questions the notion of the hierarchical binary of sex necessarily welcomes a more diverse array of participants. In her analysis of the performative aspect of gender, Butler claims that “from the point of view of gender as enacted, questions have emerged over the fixity of gender identity as an interior depth that is said to be externalized in various forms of ‘expression’”. Gender is thus not tied to sex, nor is it limited to a choice between male and female. It is an enacted and socially constructed factor of one’s identity that is enacted through expression. One form of gender expression is traditional tango dance in which the societally fixed traditional gender identities of “male” and “female” are emphasized in performance. Other such forms are found in Queer Tango, in which these identities are not necessarily ignored, but certainly subverted, often pointedly, relative to the binary gendered world of tango at large. In order to see why this is, it is necessary to examine the heavily gendered roles of tango and dance at large.
Behaviors that are common to either gender in the traditional binary appear in a wide range of dance, particularly partnered dance in the Western world. “Stereotypic nonverbal gender behavior” for the male gender mirrors societal notions of male dominance and control. For example, the male typically “begins actions” and “does not wait” while the female “responds to actions” and plays a “women-in waiting (sic)” stereotypical role. The male is “allowed more movement and relaxed body comportment” while the female is subject to “more circumspect and constrained body comportment (clothing–skirts and heels–constrict action)”. The male “touch[es] nonfamilial women (sic) more often [and] encompass[es] women” while the female “touch[es] nonfamilial men (sic) less often”. The male movement is more “nonemotional” and “reserved” than the female “emotional” and “expressive” movement (Hanna). The male tends to move more “[horizontally]” while the female tends to move more “[vertically]”. Tango dance follows these typical gender conventions.
As a dance intended for couples and rooted in machismo, tango at its very core perpetuates the heteronormativity that runs so deeply in the society from which it originates. Though it is a global phenomenon, “tango is a popular dance and, like any other, it works as a mirror for the society from which it emerges and in which it is developed, in this case the society of Buenos Aires. But Tango is also a dance that has a strong sensual connotation. Hence this mirror reflects nothing but the way our society sees eroticism between its members” (Docampo). Heteronormativity is a similarly global phenomenon; it is obviously not only in Buenos Aires that eroticism is perceived as dominantly heterosexual. Yuko Artak claims that “el tango es reflejo de la sociedad, un código social donde el poder lo tiene el varón” (the tango is a reflection of society, a social code where the male holds all the power), thus pointing out a manner in which queer tango is empowering in its subversion of societal norms. In an article written for Western Standard Magazine titled, appropriating the commonly heard expression, “It Takes Two to Tango", Dina O’Meara interviews a Vancouverian tango instructor Susana Domingues, who states that “tango is fundamentally based on the strong male lead--and the woman's willingness to follow”, asserting that the very identity of tango is rooted in heteronormativity. It is not only that tango dance is performed with a “man” and a “woman”; the performance relies on societally traditionally gendered male and female roles in its concern with the male’s strength and the woman’s subservience. She goes on to say that “there is no sexual homogeny here; the "manlier" the man, the better.. The woman responds to the direction, then he responds to her, creating a tight balance of power that is the key to tango's sensual appeal.” The perceived appeal of the dance is not only related to gender roles; it is directly correlated with quantifiable societal notions of masculinity and femininity; “male-female relations is the central theme of what was a daringly suggestive dance. The man (sic) (active, powerful, and dominant) advances, slightly inclined over the woman (sic) (passive, docile, and submissive), who never escapes his embrace and overpowering control” (Hanna). Not only is heterosexuality the forefront of the appeal of tango, it is so in a way that pointedly subjugates women, placing them in a role of submissiveness and being controlled by men. Tracing tango back to its origins reveals its masculine roots; the dance itself is an act of enforcing masculine power structures. During the purported “Golden Age” of tango, despite purported gay and lesbian interest in tango in Paris, “the third sex, “garçonnes”, tomboys and transvestites were increasingly repressed. They did not go on to create anything resembling a political movement which we might recognise as such” (Aramo). Even though some parties that could be considered “queer” engaged with the tango in nightclubs, there was no damage to the heteronormative roles in tango; Aramo argues that to this effect, there could not have been a “golden age” of tango as long as queer people were still repressed.
In its earlier stages the tango evolved from the milonga, and “Immigrant experiences of a transient, isolated, and frustrated existence, life of migrants from the pampas, and the gaucho traditions, in addition to men’s fears of social, economic, and sexual failure, constitute the lore of the tango” (Hanna). Sexual themes in the tango have thus always been linked to male insecurities. Though this is not its only source of origin, “the tango was learned in brothels by ‘respectable’ wealthy men who later took the scandalous dance to Paris, from where it eventually spread to respectable society throughout the world, including Argentina.” The international craze surrounding tango was undeniably due in part to its open expression of sexuality, which excited people and dancers worldwide. Tango pervaded United States society when “in 1912 New York City cafés inaugurated afternoon dances called thé dansants or ‘tango teas’. For the price of a drink or a relatively small admission fee, single and married women could dance; management hired partners for the women” (Erenberg). From beginning in Argentinian brothels to being a gendered source of entertainment for women in the United States, this brief overview of the early history of tango is telling of its inextricable reliance on binary gender for entertainment. Even in the offering of “tango teas” to women, the notion of the woman’s need for a man in tango is reinforced.
The sexuality in the tango was the driving force in pushing the dance to the world at large, even attracting statements from the Vatican in response to its widespread proliferation; “the hot hip contact initially caused the pope to issue a judgment on the morality of the tango. The vicar-general of Rome condemned it as an ‘offense against God’ in a 1914 letter in Osservatore Romano, the Vatican paper. Cardinal Amette, archbishop of Paris, called the tango a sin” (Hanna) due to its overtly sexual nature; “tango makes much greater use of the pelvis and core—the sexual center” (Guillen). Though it is not the reason tango was scrutinized, the sexuality it portrays is harmful to women. An examination of the form of tango dance reveals several signs of this; for example when the hook step or gancho technique is performed, “the dancers’ feet and legs penetrate the space of the partners, suddenly, covertly and only occasionally with permission, adding to the sexual imagery of penetration or rape” (Guillen). This is to say that the gendered dynamic of tango dance permeates it through even particular movements and steps that are part of the dance.
It is worth mentioning the commonly held belief that the beginnings of the tango saw many men dancing with each other. Numerous theories are in circulation surrounding this idea, one being that the “early tango was mostly for men (sic) only, thus reflecting not a statement of homosexuality, but rather of sub-Saharan patterns prevalent throughout Sudanic and Bantu territories” (Megenney). A theory more self-contained in tango history is that “the men practicing together, looking for the best ways to please a woman when they danced with her” (Denniston), or rather that men danced with each other in order to learn how to dance with women. In any case, the early male-only tangos were not likely to be an expression of homoeroticism, at least not an open one.
IV. Subversion of Heteronormativity in Queer Tango
Tango has promoted heteronormativity since its inception over a century ago, a time during which alternatives to heterosexuality within the gender binary were given even less recognition than they are in the 21st century, which is when Queer Tango began to take shape as a movement, starting with “the International Queer Tango Festival in Hamburg which has been organised every year since 2000 in Germany. Its founders were the first to use the term 'Queer Tango'” (Docampo); the term “was perceived of by them as a riposte to “hetero-normative” leader-follower relationships in mainstream Argentinian tango, proposing instead women as leaders, men as followers, same sex couples and “active” rather than passive followers” (Batchelor). As is clearly seen in nearly any modern tango, the genre of tango continues to perpetuate sexism like it has with the prevalent archetypal submissive female dancer since its origin, despite the fact that “in the new tango styles women have begun to participate more and their active cooperation has even become necessary. Still, the symbolic burden of control which the roles bear is the same, and they are defined according to gender” (Docampo). The Queer Tango movement was and is naturally necessary to defy this convention.
A piece published by the Ecuadorean newspaper El Telégrafo claims in its headline that “en el tango queer no importa el género de los bailarines”, roughly translatable to “in queer tango the dancers’ gender does not matter”. The article concerns a tango with the two female-identifying dancers Yuko Artak and Liliana Chenlo, describing it as “una revolución en el rígido y masculino mundo tanguero” (a revolution in the rigid and masculine world of tango). Queer tango breaks through tango’s traditionally heteronormative atmosphere; “en Argentina el tango queer se baila sin importar el sexo (sic) con una audaz viceversa de roles por el placer de bailar” (in Argentina, queer tango is danced without regard for sex with an audacious vice versa of roles for dancing pleasure). The author of the article, and the dancers interviewed use terms for sex and gender interchangeably. Queer Tango does not place the same emphasis on sex and gender as other forms of tango and differentiates itself from it primarily in that sense. Liliana divorces the usual gendered roles of tango from the spirit of tango because “no importa el sexo de la persona con la que bailes sino cómo sientes el tango” (the sex of the person you dance with does not matter as long as you feel the tango). They do not deny the passionate and sexual nature of tango, but they show that one need not be confined to heterosexual passion and desire to feel this essence. The absence of adherence to the heteronormativity in the world of Queer Tango is as important as its historical presence in tango.
The defining feature of Queer Tango dance is at once the rejection of gendered roles and the reversal of traditional tango roles, and allowing dancers to choose the way in which they wish to participate; “everyone learns to lead and to follow. Dancers can choose either role when dancing or to exchange roles, depending on the person they are dancing with and the moment they decide to do so”, allowing for a less oppressive tango, no longer completely steeped in strictly gendered roles. Leading and following remains the essence of Queer Tango, but dancers of any gender are taught both; “this technique allows the dynamics to be explored in a more equal relationship. Here, the symbolic power, formerly ascribed to the leading role, vanishes when both people can take up either role” (Docampo), thus a form of tango manages to subvert the power structure reinforced by most tango, opening both roles to all genders without losing its patent leader-follower dynamic.
In breaking down harmful gendered conventions, Queer Tango provides a safer home for queer or questioning individuals who are already interested in the tango, and an outlet for queer people wishing to express their passion and desire through dance, and explore their own identities. Instead of promoting the gender binary and inequality amongst genders, Queer Tango acts as a positive force for queer individuals in its community building and artistic aspects. Particularly at a queer milonga or other queer tango event, dancers who do not wish to adhere to traditionally gendered roles in tango can more easily come together and enjoy themselves. In their piece in the Queer Tango Book, poignantly titled “How Queer Tango Changed My Life”, German dancer Alex Gastel says that “Tango is more than a dance. It’s a lifestyle, a philosophy and a state of mind. Tango literally changed my whole life - or, to be precise, one form of the dance did so. It all started when I visited a Queer Tango workshop... equality was suddenly a possibility in this dance”. These Queer Tango focused spaces represent more than just a place where queer people are welcome.
The act of tango dance is personal and deeply felt in a way that is typically reserved for heterosexual people in a manner exclusionary to queer people. For Alex, tango “was definitely the environment where I experienced the most sexism in my adult life”. After attending their first Queer Tango festival in Germany, Alex and their partner were so enchanted that they moved to Buenos Aires to devote their lives to tango within the Queer Tango community, which given the presence of tango at large in Buenos Aires, is constantly alive; “Everyone had warned me about the omnipresent machismo and sexism I would encounter there [but] Buenos Aires is... so big that it allows for subcultures [such as] the Queer Tango community. They showed me that there were others who had been fighting and questioning, too”. It was through Queer Tango that they were able to foster their new identity as genderqueer, identifying as neither a woman nor a man; “Dancing the lead was my first big break with gender norms on a more bodily level... I discovered that I like to mix traditionally 'male' and 'female' movements in both roles. This gave me the curiosity and the courage to start playing with gender norms on the physical level outside of dancing, too”. Alex identifies as a genderqueer, pansexual, gender equalist; Queer Tango has developed each of these aspects of their identity in addition to being a dance and a lifestyle component; “at queer milongas I could once again enjoy the eroticism that comes with dancing in general and Tango in particular”. Personal accounts to this effect are seen all throughout the Queer Tango Book; the power of Queer Tango as a means of expressing non-traditional gender and sexuality is an integral part of its existence.
Female-identified tango dancer Birthe Havmoeller tells of their experience of attending a milonga and wanting to dance in a leading role, claiming that “hardly any of the other tango dancers were dancing both roles at my local milonga, and I found myself invading one of the modern dance culture's heterosexual strongholds”. This is prior to their introduction to Queer Tango, after which they find “a mindset which enabled me to reflect on and contemplate my own practice”. They do not place importance on their own sexuality within their story, but instead advocate for the learning of Queer Tango, claiming that “the benefits of learning Queer Tango include a higher level of awareness and acceptance of your Queer Tango dance partners as diverse, strong dancers”. Regardless of one’s own gender or sexuality, even if one is heterosexual and cisgendered, learning Queer Tango is a step towards deconstructing the oppressive gender roles in tango at large; “it deconstructs the traditional (heteronormative gender) role play and division of labour of the Argentinian tango, where the man (sic) leads and the woman (sic) follows, by suggesting that both dancers may learn to dance both roles”. It is only in a queer milonga or Queer Tango oriented space however, in which dancing Queer Tango is normalized “a person who is actively blurring/queering the gender boundaries at a mainstream milonga by dancing Queer Tango is bound to stand out (as queer)” (Havmoeller). Thus even dancing the role opposite to the binary gender that most people may perceive a dancer as will draw attention under tango’s heteronormative power structure, despite the continuation of one of the two standard tango roles; one does not need to break any rules besides those of gender to perform an abnormal tango.
V. Queer Tango as a Means of Social Progressiveness
Queer Tango is an effective criticism of gendered roles outside of the world of tango. In Russia, dancer Natalia Merkulova comments on “the subversive nature of Queer Tango, as it breaks with the patriarchal system, attacking its main principle of control and domination”, calling it “an efficient tool to attack gender conventionalism and increase gender consciousness”. They claim that especially in Russian society, where “The idea of a ‘true’ feminine nature that is submissive and obedient is still quite popular”, that “the idea of an open role tango is crucial”. This is exactly what Queer Tango is. The traditional “illustration of control and submission” is actually reappropriated in the maintenance of the traditional roles in tango in Queer Tango. The existence of those roles allows them to be attacked and deconstructed as being gendered, mirroring the attacking of roles considered harmful in most feminist and queer movements.
The effectiveness of Queer Tango as a means for social progressiveness is seen through its integration with traditional tango. Edgardo Sesma and Doris Brennan, tango teachers who run queer Milongas at a Buenos Aires café and tango venue called Los Laureles, are confident in tango’s usefulness in combating heterosexism “the tango is not just a dance, but a cultural phenomenon which can be used to help improve the environment in the sense of fostering greater ‘integration’ and ‘activism’, where dancing can transcend the damage caused by sexism and homophobia, creating instead the freedom to love and to dance tango”. Their class is a labor of love, offered for free under the premise of “encouraging friendly, social interaction with the aim of generating common political ground against homophobia and sexism (Batchelor and Aramo)” rather than generating revenue. Although the milongas run with a Queer Tango based ideology, their aim is to have “Queer Tango naturally coexisting, like it should be, with traditional tango and all kinds of tango we can imagine” and as such the milongas are popular with straight and queer dancers alike. Queer Tango is thus not meant to be exclusionary of heterosexual and cisgendered people nor is it specifically queer; it is not in this sense the opposite of traditional tango which excludes queer people and is strictly heteronormative. It serves as an effective integration of queer and straight communities, empowering queer people by placing them on the same level as the dominant heterosexuals.
We may now return to Judith Butler’s analysis in which she posits that in order to defeat harmful social constructions of gender identity, “the critical task is, rather, to locate strategies of subversive repetition enabled by those constructions, to affirm the local possibilities of intervention through participating in precisely those practices of repetition that constitute identity and, therefore, present the immanent possibility of contesting them”; Queer Tango is one of these strategies of subversive repetition; in intervening with traditional tango it is in fact a prime example of such a strategy in its vocal rejection of heteronormativity and gender roles.
VI. Conclusion
An examination of traditional gender roles in tango reveals a heteronormative system that is at once exclusive and harmful to female-gendered and queer people. Queer Tango is thus not only useful in allowing any person, queer or otherwise, to participate in tango. By deconstructing gender roles in an art form that relies heavily on them, it transforms tango, a socially accepted means of subjugating women and queer people, into a form of empowerment for people of all gender identities and sexualities, as well as a driving force in the normalization of queer and unity amongst all tango dancers.
VII. Works Cited
Aramo, Olaya. “Was there a tango golden age? Lvr. Web. 09 Dec. 2016. http://lvr3.fr/was-there-a-tango-golden-age/
Batchelor, Ray. "Uncovering the Histories and Pre-Histories of Queer Tango: Contextualizing and Documenting an Innovative Form of Social Dancing." Academia.edu. 2015. Web.
Brennan, Doris. Docampo, Mariana. Gaster, Alex. Havmoeller, Birthe. Merkulova, Natalia. Sesma, Edgardo. Various authors. The Queer Tango Book – Ideas, Images and Inspiration in the 21st Century. Ed. Birthe Havmoeller, Ray Batchelor and Olaya Aramo. Queertangobook.org, March 2015.
Butler, Judith. Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge, 1999.
Denniston, Christine. "Clichés about Tango Origins of the Dance." History of Tango. Web. 09 Dec. 2016. http://www.history-of-tango.com/tango-origins.html
Docampo, Mariana. “What is Tango Queer?” Buenos Aires Tango Queer Blogspot. 2009. http://buenosairestangoqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/what-is-queer-tango.html
Erenberg, Lewis A. 1981. Steppin Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890-1930. Westport, Conn. Greenwood.
Grover-Haskin, Kim. Dance and Gender. Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998.
Guillen, Marissa. The Performance of Tango: Gender, Power and Role Playing. Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. Ohio University, 2008. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.
Hanna, Judith Lynne. Dance, Sex and Gender. University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Megenney, William W. “The River Plate ‘Tango’: Etymology and Origins.” Afro-Hispanic Review, vol. 22, no. 2, 2003, pp. 39–45. www.jstor.org/stable/23054732.
O'Meara, Dina. "It Takes Two To Tango." Western Standard Magazine 27 June 2005.
Polhemus, Ted. Dance, Gender and Culture. Ed. Helen Thomas. St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
"En El Tango Queer No Importa El Género De Los Bailarines." El Telégrafo. N.p., 12 Sept. 2016. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/sociedad/4/en-el-tango-queer-no-importa-el-genero-de-los-bailarines