I did not pack my dance shoes. I didn’t think Nairobi
had any Argentine tango on offer. I was wrong! There is a fledgling tango
community here in Nairobi thanks to
a brave Maltese-Canadian who, after a lot of encouragement from two local "tangueras", decided to start teaching. He started an association called Patamango.
(Special thanks to Patamango Association for Argentine Tango for sharing this photo.)
I’m glad there is tango here in east Africa now. As a former student of African studies, I now have a new area of culture and diaspora to learn about.
The tango as we know it originated in Argentina about 150 years ago, but there are theories that suggest it is tied to African forms of music and dance.
My teacher recently sent me this article from the magazine Indy Week, on the theories of the historian Robert Farris Thompson, who suggests Africans and people from the African diaspora played a much larger role in tango than is actually acknowledged:
'The origins of tango are black, via Kongo culture imported from Central Africa and Cuba. Tango, "the fabulous dance of the past hundred years," started life as a creole: "the Kongo grind, caught in a waltz-like embrace."'
Among other things I have learned, tango is related to candombe (or candomble), danced mainly in Uruguay. Candombe is a musical genre that developed in Latin America among African slaves. It is a partner dance similar to tango, but danced with very bent knees.
There are theories that the name tango comes from Africa,
too. One theory suggests the word “tango” comes from the Niger-Congo languages,
but other theories suggest the name comes from the Latin word tangere, or to
touch, or that it borrows its name from the musical form “tangos” in flamenco
dance.
So the tango has come back to this part of Africa
… but the dance shoes haven’t. I briefly considered having a pair made by the
shoemaker in Sarit Centre mall (After all, how often does one have shoes made
anymore? This is a service that I don’t think even exists in Canada anymore),
except he doesn’t really deal in dance shoes, but rather in prescription orthopedic
shoes, so he can’t make my dream of a pair of shoes in metallic light pink
leather with silver straps come true.
Miraculously, I found a pair of affordable strappy heels
that seem to substitute for tango shoes rather well, despite the fact that they
have plastic soles, instead of suede ones. I dance twice a week now.
A few of us are advanced dancers. Most are beginners who seem really dedicated to the art form. There are a few dozen tangueros now (or maybe there are more in Nairobi and we just don’t know about them … I’m waiting for them to come out from behind the bushes).
A few of us are advanced dancers. Most are beginners who seem really dedicated to the art form. There are a few dozen tangueros now (or maybe there are more in Nairobi and we just don’t know about them … I’m waiting for them to come out from behind the bushes).
I admit I also didn’t pack my dance shoes because I expected
to sign up for a more “traditional” form of dance. Anyway, I stumbled on the
tango – my favourite of favourites – and now I feel I can justify the choice
because this is the continent where it all started.
