According to the technique book the Tango should be 2/4 tempo.Both the first and the second beats are accentuated. But Dance Orchestra's who make a living recording and playing are recording Tangos in 4/4. When asked a German Orchestra Leader said they put out a 2/4 Tango disk and had to recall and re-record it. It wasn't selling to the general public. Does it matter. If you want to dance in rhythm it most certainly does. How many know that after a Link which is 1 2. The first step of Closed Promenade must be on 3 4. with the music. In a 2/4 Tango it wouldn't matter. The Link would be 1 2. and the step out would be 1 2
The competition dancers now take things slightly different there. They let beat 3 go by and step off on beat 4. Its still a slow two beats but with a difference The last step is done the same way. Now the whole movement is much sharper with more expression.
If you were like me you would have watched a disk. And wondered how come I start and finish on the same beat and yet in between they are doing something different. Then I asked.

Hi,
I recall many years ago a French orchestra recording tangos in 3/4 time!

There are many such-- Its called tango waltz as danced in authenticT/ Arg.

Not quite.

In 2/4 the quantities are cut in half. To translate a piece of music from 4/4 to 2/4, you would cut all the note values in half, such that all half notes would become quarter notes, and all quarter notes would become eighth notes. In ballroom dancers' terms, that means that slows become 1 beat and quicks become a half-beat.

Take a pattern such as two walks and a link, with the rhythm "Slow, slow, quick quick". In 4/4 time, that rhythm counted numerically would be "1,(2), 3,(4), 1,2". (Numbers in parentheses are without steps). However, the same rhythm in 2/4 time would be "1 (and) 2 (and) 1 AND".

You may find it easier to look at the following chart:

Following this guideline and referring back to Serendipidy's Link and single promenade walk, the 2/4 count will therefore be "1 AND" for the link, and "2 (and)" for the prom walk. Or, if you're the type of competitor who likes the "delayed" take-off in promenade, then you could modify it to "(2) AND" for the prom walk. You can see how this is very different from the way he (she?) counted, because he forgot to account for the modified beat values.

Very few dancers understand 2/4. They generally count 2/4 music as though it were 4/4, because they don't know the difference. It really doesn't create too many problems in the practical sense, but I think one should at least understand what it means to count in 2/4, even if one never actually does so in real life.

All dancers should minimally understand that "slows" and "quicks" are not a rigidly defined quantity; They are merely a concept of relative time. Typically a slow is two beats and a quick is one, but not necessarily. Music counted in 2/4 time is one such exception.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Having been thru most of the Tango " phases "-- interesting to note that Scrivener ( for those that dont know-- the " master " ) counted walks sometimes as a" step- catch " thus highlighting the musical stucture .

I wrote a long article a few yrs back on the decline of tango in its current interpretation.

As Irvine said in one of his lectures, and I have been saying for multi yrs, the character of the dance is becoming more like F/Trot-- not uncommon to see " swing- swing " in prog. movements. The " stillness " of the dance has all but disappeared .
And directionally . most walks have little, if any, curve to the left.

The mystery of the dance and the anticipation is ever absent .

The current crop ( teachers and performers ) need to watch a good deal of T/ Arg. and hopefully bring back some of the soul to the dance .