Tango Forge and Tango Silence
In the realm of Argentine tango, there are many dancers who are not only sublime on the dance floor but are equally profound in articulating their experience.
One can see such exquisite reflections in various tango blog sites penned by some of the most creative and most insightful tango dancers — one of which is Amory Violet, more popularly known as Vio, from Tango Forge.
Until Forever: Not Your Typical Tango Book
In its About Page, Tango Forge describes itself as a
“global community of dancers committed to sublime connection and maximum artistry.”
Vio herself is listed as the founder and director of the website, which offers different tango learning programs for dancers of varying skill levels. More than just a website for learning tango as a dance form,
Tango Forge also has an extensive blog section that discusses some of the most compelling tango-related topics that combine both complex introspection and unique takes that factor in society, history, culture, politics, sexuality, and a sundry of other perspectives.
These blogs are written by Vio herself and often have personal anecdotes and reflections that are written with the same verve, energy, and resolve she has while dancing tango.
In a Facebook post,
Vio explains how the Tango Forge blog has helped her synthesize her thoughts and experiences concerning tango, which led her to write her book, Until Forever: The Dark Silences of Argentine Tango:
“For ten years, I have been writing about tango. I try to be as honest with myself and you as words concede. Then I try to find a deeper meaning in the data and to imagine a pathway for us. But a blog and a book are very different things.
A blog post can be a fragment, a wisp of inspiration, an outline for thinking. A book must complete and reconcile it all. I drag the social scientist to the scene to enumerate the facts of the case.
“As I tried to write the last chapter, I was interrupted by dancers talking about their suffering: A friend called to lament. For ten years, the lament has been the same, and echoed in every private lesson: Not being given a chance. Not being seen. Efforts unrewarded. Accomplishments unrecognized, erased, cancelled — for no reason. Rejection, disappointment, waiting. Punished and no one will tell you what you did wrong. The fact that we know we cannot ask this or any question to our partners is one of tango's silences.
“There are many more. Silences in history. Silences by code. Silences of fear. You already know that tango's silences can be sublime and they can be devastating.”
Available in both paperback and ebook form with an accompanying workbook,
Until Forever explores how dancers can fully assess how tango affects their lives, enabling them to return to the dance with clarity regarding the direction they want to take.
Available for sale exclusively at the Tango Forge website, the book has been hailed by many tango dancers such as Brian Dunn from Dance of the Heart, Homer Ladas from TheOrganicTangoSchool.org, and Josh Rychert, as well as tango musician Pablo Aslan.
Similar to Tango Forge’s blog section,
Until Forever discusses numerous topics that are presented in such compelling ways that will pique any reader’s interest, regardless of whether or not they practice tango. Ironically, or perhaps deliberately,
Until Forever talks about “tango silence” while refusing to stay silent about what many dancers may not know or even realize when looking at what makes this dance so beloved, so human, and yet so flawed.
Until Forever - Available on Tango Forge website
In the book’s Vimeo preview video, one can catch a glimpse of what these “silences” are upon reading some of the titles from its Table of Contents:
The Biomechanics of Unconditional Love
Addiction Beyond Endorphins
The Dissatisfactions of Feminism
Walking to Hide the Soles in Your Shoes
An African Dance, Typified by a German Instrument, Pride of a Nation of Massacres
Economy of Patrimony
Industrializing a Transnational Culture
Selling Authenticity
Anti-Art
Libertango: Legacy of Freedom
One can see that this is not the typical tango book that discusses figures, steps, simple background history, or theory. It isn’t the book to pick up if one wishes to learn about tango on a basic level. Instead,
Until Forever delves deeper into some of the dark labyrinths of tango that have yet to be discovered or encountered even by those who are familiar with it.
The book is more about one woman sharing her unique and unparalleled experience of tango, and asks other dancers to reassess their own experience and how it has influenced their worldview.
“Wisps of Inspiration” from the Tango Forge Blog
It is highly recommended to read Until Forever, but one can catch glimpses of what Vio initially described as “wisps of inspiration” from the Tango Forge blog.
Perhaps one of her most provocative yet thoughtful pieces is “Renaming the Roles,” which explains the importance of language when it comes to using the “leader” and “follower” terminology when referring to tango dancers.
While the post is not lengthy, it doesn’t fall short on discussing the vital role of how these simple yet crucial tango terminologies should not be gendered so as to encourage inclusivity and foster clarity. Vio notes:
“The impetus comes from the need to delink gender from lead and follow.
But the more I use the term ‘follower,’ the more I dislike it. It gives people the wrong idea. It brings out the worst — fear, obedience, and passivity. There are problems with the idea of ‘leading’ as well — he feels too much responsibility to control the outcome.”
While there are those who have started incorporating Vio’s suggestions of using the term “mark” for “leader” and “revel” for “follower,” this often results in mere lip-service when put into play on the dance floor.
In the paper Argentine Tango and Contact Improvisation by Eleanor Brickhill, Vio tells of her experience wherein some dancers only go so far as to incorporate her suggested terms but do not apply it in principle:
“Although traditional tango rhetoric attests that some leaders enjoy the follower taking initiative on occasion or refusing the lead’s ‘proposal,’ in the experience of several dancers, if the follower does not do what is expected of them, it is usually an unwelcome transgression. For example, Saraza notes:
‘I have many times heard teachers and dancers say things like “I don't lead, I propose” or even “It's interesting to me when she does something different than I was intending.”
I think this is horse shit. I don't think any mark enjoys when the revel does something else, and these guys are lying to themselves and their students. The reason I think it is horse shit is that on the rare occasions that I misinterpret my mark, I can feel his displeasure clearly. And many of these are people who claim to enjoy interpretive revelling (Saraza 2014b).’”
There are many tango dancers that still believe tango’s traditions are to be respected, wherein one must follow the “machismo” inherent in authentic Argentine tango. However,
Vio has a more modern perspective on this subject, being a woman who is comfortable in taking on both the “masculine” and “feminine” roles in tango.
At the same time, she acknowledges and empathizes with the Queer Tango community, who may feel that they are unable to fully share the tango experience when roles are perceived within the limiting boundaries of gender.
This doesn’t mean that Vio is completely opposed to traditional tango practices.
In fact, she makes a compelling case for the cabeceo in her post, “No Means No.” Here, she further discusses gender problems in tango, specifically consent, and how removing the practice of cabeceo isn’t going to address the root of the issue. She explains:
“It is especially disturbing to me that as people want to ‘modernize’ or ‘liberate’ tango, the first thing they want to get rid of is the cabeceo. That’s one of the best things we have!
Not only is it a super technology for managing the important and very contemporary issue of consent, it’s also its own source of delight.
The cabeceo is a way of giving and receiving a really nice compliment, and a great cabeceo with a stranger can be thrilling.
“This strange line of assault on the cabeceo concerns me because it indicates that people are not thinking clearly and carefully about modernity and liberation.
Tango has gender problems, but the cabeceo is neither [the] cause nor culprit.
The gender problems have to do with the fact that Argentine Tango gives men permission to treat women in ways that would never be acceptable at work or at home or anywhere else in a ‘modern’ society. And intelligent, educated women get off on being dependent and dominated, get addicted to this, jump into the unwinnable sexual objectification race, and then suffer tremendously.”
Vio argues that the practice of cabeceo allows all tango dancers — regardless of gender — to face both acceptance and rejection without more direct verbal indicators that may put them on the spot — especially when it comes to rejection.
However, she does emphasize that consent must still be understood, and tango dancers must be sensitive enough to feel when a potential partner would accept or refuse one’s invitation even without the use of words.
An indirect follow-up to this post can be perhaps gleaned from “The Power of Desire,” where she cites helpful tips on how revels, particularly women, may properly and successfully cabeceo a mark even from across the dance floor. She shares this anecdote:
“One of the most painful parts of tango for a revel is waiting, or sitting. It makes us feel passive and powerless when we wait for someone — anyone — to ask us for a dance.
“This is a mistaken perception of the situation and revels can develop a deeper understanding of what is going on.
“Your desire is powerful! You get to bestow it on particular marks. They will feel your interest and attention.
Once I was sitting in a milonga and the only person I really wanted to dance with was seated far from me across the dark hall. He was chatting with someone who was blocking the sightlines between us. Nevertheless, I focused my gaze toward him. When his friend walked away, my target closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the chair.
I had nothing else to do, so, as he rested, I kept returning my gaze to him. Less than a minute later, he sat up abruptly and walked across the floor, close enough for a clear cabeceo.
He said to me:
“‘I was almost asleep and I felt like I was shot by a gun.’
“That’s the power of a woman’s desire.”
There are many other blogs written by Vio that delve into topics such as “Tango Addiction” and “The Nuevo Files,” the latter being a compilation of posts that talk about the concept of Tango Nuevo. That said, it won’t be surprising to find more in-depth versions of these topics and the ones previously mentioned in Until Forever.
A Voice in the Dark
With the Tango Forge blog and Until Forever, Vio becomes, metaphorically, a voice in the dark — ever-inquisitive, intuitive, and insightful in her writing.
She presents her thoughts with brutal honesty tempered with compassion and sincerity. Her passion in writing about tango may only be rivalled by her love for the dance itself and the desire to shift tango into a more modern, more inclusive activity that brings together communities in mutual enjoyment.