Dance Skills Come In Time

Tango musician, dancer and music professor, Joaquín Amenabar has taught his musicality workshops around the world. He returned to Australia in July 2010 after imparting his message to the dancers at the New Zealand Tango Festival in Wellington. Carol Fallows reports

When you hum to the music it is very difficult to dance out of time, this is so obvious yet it is one of the things that I remember clearly from the workshops I did with Joaquín Amenábar in Wellington in 2009.

Dancing out of time to the music is as difficult as deliberately singing out of tune, yet when a woman is dancing tango with a man who she knows is not in time to the music, she must choose - to dance to the music or dance with the man. "Tango" writes Professor Amenábar in his book Tango. Let's dance to the music! "is a music with considerable rhythmic variation, understanding the way it functions... is an essential element [for] any tango dancer".

Teacher, trainer, dancer, musician

Joaquín studied bandoneón with Rodolfo Daluisio in the Buenos Aires Superior Conservatory "Manuel de Falla" where he graduated as Bandoneón Professor. Currently he teaches Bandoneón in the National Conservatory "Lopez Buchardo" ( National University of Buenos Aires), in the Superior Conservatory of Music of Buenos Aires "Manuel de Falla" and in the Folk Music School of Avellaneda. He trains tango groups and solo tango musicians on tango interpretation and arrangements as well as teaching composers how to write for Bandoneón in Argentina and abroad. He is the Director and plays bandoneón in the "Orquesta Típica de la Guardia Vieja" http://www.delaguardiavieja.com.ar/ a traditional tango orchestra of four bandoneons, four violins, a piano and a contrabass thatplays music of the golden age of tango in original style.

In both his book and his classes Prof. Amenábar uses music and visual aids to show dancers how to recognize and dance to the different rhythms of tango music. Telling those who do not understand how to read music that a piece is in 4/4 time or that the key changes midway through, is about as helpful as talking to them in a language they do not know. So the professor has set about devising a language and a method that will introduce dancers to the different rhythmic options and in so doing help them to choose the moves that best suit the music.

Workshops with a Difference

In a series of workshops tango dancers reach a new understanding of the tango music they have been dancing to. They discover tango rhythm and how it differs from other dance rhythms and from there they learn about melody, form and structure.
Joaquín's workshops are unique in the tango world and open the doors to a knowledge and understanding of tango music that bring new meaning to those who love tango to dance to and to listen to.