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First Pass at Performing Tango - First Step:  Music Choice

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Every once in a while, we come across a piece of music that virtually everyone loves. Tango to Evora is a great example. Everyone wants to dance to that music. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a good performance piece at all because it is consistently lilting and flowing with very little change in musical dynamic.

Ideally, look for changes of speed as well as changes in dramatic tension in the music. Typically, if the music doesn't have parts that are flowing and parts that are sharper or more dramatic, it doesn't really support the kind of variety the choreography must have to be successful.

----- Sample 1 -----

Artist Name:

Astillero

Song Title:

Andén

Album Title:

Tango de Astillero

Artist Website:

http://www.astillerotango.com.ar/

(Paraphrased from the website): Astillero was formed in 2005 with the defined purpose for creating and playing their own new compositions, as the past tango masters did.

----- Sample 2 -----

Artist Name:

Astor Piazzolla

Song Title:

Bailongo

Album Title:

The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night-Apasionado

Artist Website:

Astor Piazzolla

(Paraphrased from wikipedia): Piazzolla's tango was distinct from the traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz, its use of extended harmonies and dissonance, its use of counterpoint, and its ventures into extended compositional forms. As Argentine psychoanalyst Carlos Kuri has pointed out, Piazzolla's fusion of tango with this wide range of other recognizable Western musical elements was so successful that it produced a new individual style transcending these influences.

----- Sample 3 -----

Artist Name:

Color Tango

Song Title:

Bordoneo Y 900

Album Title:

Con Estilo Para Bailar

Artist Website:

Color Tango

(Paraphrased from creativetango.com): Color Tango was founded and is directed by Roberto Alvarez. Quoting Roberto Alvarez: "Our music is focused on what tango is for: the dance. Tango had a bad time, when orchestras dissolved."

----- Sample 4 -----

Artist Name:

Carlos Di Sarli

Song Title:

9 Puntos

Album Title:

RCA Victor 100 Años: Carlos Di Sarli

(Paraphrased from todotango.com): He, as nobody else, knew how to combine the rhythmic cadence of tango with a harmonic structure, apparently simple, but full of nuances and subtleties.

----- Sample 5 -----

Artist Name:

Apocalyptica

Song Title:

Nothing Else Matters

Album Title:

Inquisition Symphony

Artist Website:

Apocalyptica

(From the website): Since they formed in 1993, Finnish orchestral rock band Apocalyptica has released six studio albums featuring numerous cello-based instrumentals along with some vocal-based songs. Whatever styles they’ve explored – from atmospheric interludes to fast, battering rhythms -- their music has been gripping, dynamic and full of melody.