BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS AND METRIC INTERPRETATION OF ‘WALKING’ IN TANGO DANCE

Abstract

During the 20th century, tango dancers affirmed that their choreographic figures were an extension of the “spontaneous street walk” further adding that it was important to "walk with cadence” and know how to “keep the beat of the music”. In this paper we try to address the
material meaning of these valuable popular assertions that, to this date, have not merited sufficient substantiated research. We comparatively analyze the cycle of human walking and tango walking from a biomechanical and kinesthetic perspective. Preliminary results show that (i) the tango step has a particular internal rhythm and micro timing that can be characterized by the periodic
alternation of a series of dichotomous categories; (ii) there is a biomechanical foundation for a strong-weak hierarchy in the structure of the gait and its relation to the isochronous marking of its music. These findings have implications in the teaching and learning of tango, in that they contribute to improve the way in which we observe, analyze and metrically situate details of the tango walk. Finally, evidence is presented that reveals that walking structure was an antecedent of the isochronous marking of tango music.