10 Years of Auroville Tango Festivals

Tango started growing roots in Auroville around 2008 and simultaneously in different cities across India. It was in the following years that tango really settled and started to anchor itself in India. What is interesting is how the spirit of Auroville infused itself into tango in India.

During the first Auroville Tango Festival in 2012, we had about 90 participants come together from India and abroad, and there was an atmosphere of concentration, of study, of dedication and of self-giving. That set the tone for a lot of what would develop into tango in India.

One of the questions that was asked this year to the tango community across the country was whether there is a distinctive flavour or approach to tango in India. Many of us who have danced both in India and abroad, have noticed this difference. The responses were affirmative, there is indeed an aspect of care and of concentration, of diversity, a sense of oneness, expressing itself in Tango here.

We are talking about Argentine Tango, yet it’s a dance, and art, and a search that keeps evolving as it reaches new shores, taking on its own flavour and absorbing a part of the spirit of places.

And in India we have seen time and again how anything that crosses into her borders is taken into the Indian culture, and is transformed.

Culturally speaking, these days, the East generally has less casual physical contact than the West, so one of the aspects here is that there isn’t an immediate ease to physical closeness. Therefore the tango embrace is something that has almost taken a sacred turn because we don’t casually take strangers into our arms.

And so when we take that step, there is an awareness, there is a sense of respect and a sense of care, that we are in that space because the music and tango is asking us to be. That takes a certain effort because we have to bring the best of ourselves to the dance floor.

And Tango is particular, in that it remains in a sort of niche. Comparatively, other dances such as salsa seem to have gained more popularity, they are more accessible, providing more immediate joy and fun. Tango requires a certain amount of dedication and work to just get into it. The fact that it’s completely improvised at each moment demands that we figure out how to communicate with each other, without words, just through the body and flow.

Sometimes the first few weeks or months after starting tango, people experience an intense joy and gratitude. After that, there starts to be a lot of work. It takes endurance to just get started and to get anywhere, because there’s no such thing as a sequence that one can learn. Everything is improvised in the moment with the music, so one has to be constantly deeply listening and flowing with one’s partner.