Tango is passion, drive, magic that happens between a man and a woman during an old and very beautiful dance. But where did it come from and why did it get such a name?
To plunge into the enchanting world of secrets and emotions, as well as to understand in detail the origin and meaning of the word "tango", this article will help.
Meaning of the word
Sergei Ivanovich Ozhegov in his dictionary claims that tango is, firstly, a special kind of paired ballroom dance, and, secondly, the music that accompanies it "pas" and movements. In the encyclopedic dictionary, the word "tango" is defined as a modern sliding dance that has various types.
The emphasis in the word "tango" falls on the first syllable, and therefore the word should be pronounced like "tango", and in no case "tango"! Remember this so you don't appear illiterate or ignorant.
His Origin
This word appeared much earlier than the now famous and popular dance. However, historians and linguists cannot really say for sure where it came from, they only suggest the history of the origin of amazing movements and their names.
It is only known that the term"tango" in Argentina in the XVIII-XIX centuries was called gatherings, which were often arranged by visiting migrants from Africa (by the way, the word, most likely, also comes from the Nigerian language), in which they danced and played drums, which have a name similar to dance.
Tango - he or it?
This word is clearly not Russian, and therefore it is impossible for Russians at first glance to determine how to speak competently and correctly about this direction: “he” or “it”.
Of course, there are many foreign words in the Russian language, the gender of which is beyond doubt. For example, the words "devaluation" or "tolerance": nouns in the nominative case, singular, feminine. Or "entourage", "experiment", "renaissance": also the initial form of the noun, mentioning which, the pronoun "he" should be used, since the word refers to the masculine singular.
The word "tango" in this regard is covered with secrets and riddles. After all, even knowing its meaning, it is difficult to say what kind it belongs to.
Similar "doubtful" words in Russian speech
Of course, it is quite difficult to determine the generic feature of the word "tango". After all, in this sense it is very similar to the morning invigorating drink, known to almost everyone. Savvy people have probably already guessed that we are talking about coffee now. And also about how many difficulties the majority of Russians have with the correct pronunciation of this word.
Imagine the situation: youbrewed a wonderful drink and offer it to your loved ones, what do you say, inviting them to the table? “Join us, the coffee turned out to be insanely delicious!” or “Join us, the coffee turned out to be insanely delicious!”.
Neutral or masculine? "Mine" or "mine", which is correct? Pronoun "he" or "it"? So you can't tell right away. Yes, and linguists are constantly confusing, without finally deciding what gender the word “coffee” belongs to. It used to be average, now, it seems, they agreed that it was masculine. But what will happen tomorrow remains a mystery.
How not to get into trouble when talking about tango?
This word has exactly the same story as "coffee". However, many, when they use the word “coffee”, “tango” and the like, say: “Tango is a dance… Since 2009 it has been protected by UNESCO…” or “Tango is a direction of ballroom dancing… It speaks the language of love and passion”.
The tricksters use an interesting trick to construct a sentence with the word "tango" in such a way as to replace it with another word or definition, the gender of which is not in doubt.
This simple method can also be applied to the word "coffee", replacing it, for example, with the word "drink" or something else.
What kind of word is "tango"?
To determine the gender of the selected word, conduct its morphological analysis.
This term is probably familiar to you from school. In the lessons of the Russian language, when it was necessary to parse the word relative to what part of speech it belongs to and what features it has,the teacher offered to conduct a morphological analysis. Which just made it possible to reveal the features of a particular word.
Morphological analysis of the word:
- "What? Tango.”
- A noun denoting an inanimate object.
- "What? What? What? What? How? - Tango. About what? - About tango.”
- Does not decline in cases and does not change its form.
- “Whose tango? It's mine!".
- Neutral.
Based on the above morphological analysis, as well as from the definition given in the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, this word should be used exclusively in the form of the middle gender, saying "it".
How did the dance direction begin
Tango is a mysterious and slightly mystical dance. The movements of partners in it are so rich, bright. And the rhythms are so exciting, passionate that one can endlessly admire the beauty of this dance. After all, he is like a volcano, hot and unrestrained. Watching the movements of partners every time you discover something new.
Tango is a struggle, but romantic and passionate. Mastering the movements of this dance is now quite simple, you just need to have the desire to master the skill of tango to perfection.
But at the moment when the dance direction was just beginning to develop, this art was not only not taught, but on the contrary, they tried to suppress it by all means. Tango "bloomed" on the streets, in the poor neighborhoods of Argentina.
Refugees from Italy, Spain, Andalusia, Buenos Aires, the lower strata of Argentines and representatives of other countries took an active part in the "yard" festivities. Therefore, tango is an emotional, sensual dance of people who are at the very bottom and have nothing more to lose. Life is disappointment, bitterness and pain, and love hopes are shattered. But they continue to live and strive with all their might to get maximum pleasure, even if they are in the most disgusting situation.
Tango - dance of brothels
A passionate and rather sexy dance among representatives of the nobility of a rather puritanical nineteenth century was considered impudent, overly frank, and therefore indecent. High society did not approve of it, called it shameful, giving only one definition to the word "tango" - the dance of fallen, degraded people.
Nevertheless, this absolutely did not prevent very many representatives of the “white-handed women” from going to the so-called hot places every evening. Where they could admire the eroticism of the magical movements of this dance.
High society made every effort to at least limit, if not completely eradicate the dance, which is so fond of the lower classes and intelligent visitors to visiting houses. Only all attempts were in vain, and tango, having significantly moderated its sexuality and frankness, nevertheless reached the “decent” quarters.
Tango is the calling card of Argentina
The Argentine intelligentsia could not accept this dance direction as a "worthy" dance. She continuedhinder its development in every possible way, despise and humiliate the people who perform it. But fans of tango, meanwhile, did not give up their positions either. This continued until World War I.
Just the day before, the "dance of passion" burst into Europe with lightning speed. London, Madrid, Rome… The inhabitants of these cities, unlike the Argentines, were not so prone to prejudice. And they not only watched the tango performers with great enthusiasm, but also strove to master a new direction, to become professionals, virtuosos.
And when the dance reached Paris, whose inhabitants ex alted it to the highest level with their admiring exclamations, the Argentines gave up. And, replaying everything in a new way, they made the dance their highlight, fetish and special feature.
If you were looking for an answer in which country the tango dance originated, know that this is beautiful Argentina. And in the 30-50s of the twentieth century, it became as popular as possible. Some experts even argue that it is during this period of time that the "golden" age of this dance direction falls.
No matter how the representatives of the intelligentsia tried to interrupt the spread of this enchanting dance, they did not succeed. And it's wonderful! Indeed, otherwise it would be impossible now to admire the amazing direction of the paired ballroom dance called tango. Modern people simply would not know what it is, and therefore would not line up for training courses.
It is difficult to say how all the inhabitants of the planet would react to this, but for sure for many lifewould become less bright and sensual if this dance suddenly disappeared somewhere. The fact is that it is human nature to strive for beauty. And in difficult times, he just needs to somehow express his emotions.
This is how masterpieces of painting, poetry, music are born. Thus was born the dance of crazy, tragic and passionate love.