Tango and rhythm. Ritmo! Ritmo! Ritmo!

In all the years I have been dancing Tango and organizing tango travels I have known a lot of Tango teachers.

I learned something from everybody of them and from some I learned a lot.

One of the Tango teachers who left a really strong impression on me was the late Eduardo Aquirre.

I remember Eduardo not so much as a teacher who explained things very theoretically.
Like many of the Argentine Milongueros he belonged to those who rather demonstrated you something and then let you repeat and practise.
Explaining the theory Eduardo rather left to his partner Yvonne. At least that was always my impression.

What was much more important for me, was Eduardo´s feeling for the music. He knew almost every Tango song by heart and could fill entire evenings singing Tangos.

And he knew everything about the different rhythms of Tango.

The late Eduardo Aquirre, Tango dancer and Tango techer, was living and breathing Tango. "Ritmo! Ritmo! Ritmo!", For me these were clearly Eduardo´s favourite word in every Tango lesson.

I will never forget one particular word, Eduardo used in the Tango lessons all the time, always in a pack of three.
“Ritmo! Ritmo! Ritmo!”
So he spurred us, the participants of his class, friendly but with decision when we were moving over the dance floor to sedately for his taste, dancing to music of d´Arienzo or other more rhythm oriented Tango orchestras.
When we had finally woken up and started to dance at least passably with the music, Eduardo smiled benevolently and was visibly pleased with us.

Until the next “Ritmo! Ritmo! Ritmo!”

I took me some time to get the idea with the rhythm right and to put in into practise on the dance floor.

Today finally I have it internalised so strongly that it comes to my mind everytime I think about Tango, which is practically every day…

Okay now you know a little more about what is important in Argentine Tango.

When you dance Tango the next time remember this: “Ritmo! Ritmo! Ritmo!”