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 .

Dancers do violence to a proper musical interpretation of the difference between common time (4/4) and duple or march time (2/4).

Tango has two slow counts to each bar. Each bar has two crochet beats, but dance technique books say (wrongly) that they have equal stress: they don't. March time is counted STRONG, weak, STRONG, weak. For comparison, common time is counted STONGEST, weak, STRONG, weak, but dancers (foxtrot & quickstep) count not one, but two beats as a slow, so that in those dances quicks are crochet beats, whereas in tango, quicks are quaver beats. In both cases, one bar of music has either SS or QQQQ (or any combination), but the distinctive stress pattern of 2/4 is ignored on the dance floor.

It is intersting to ask non-musically trained dance teachers to explain what is different about the pattern of a compound system like 6/8 (ie why it is different from slow waltz's 3/4, if played at double speed). Usually their explanation would make a novice musician wince.

Clive -- todays dancers do violence to ALL tango music !!

"In both cases, one bar of music has either SS or QQQQ (or any combination), but the distinctive stress pattern of 2/4 is ignored on the dance floor"

Wrong.

The distinction doesn't make the technique book, but it is by no means ignored in practice.

Your explanation that "March time is counted STRONG, weak, STRONG, weak. For comparison, common time is counted STONGEST, weak, STRONG, weak" is equally wrong, in that it makes the highly flawed assumption that each measure is equal.

In fact, in most music, especially in the shorter meters, successive measures are NOT equal, but instead come in stronger and weaker pairs.

So for example you might have common time:

Strongest, weak, Strong, weak (1 measure)

Vs. 2/4 time

Strong, weak (strong measure), Strong Weak (weak measure).

Different notation, but very similar pattern...

And the best part is that we don't have to write it down in the technique book, because the instruction for what to do is already in the music you are listening to.

Is it possible to do two Walks and a Progresive Side Step. One Walk and a Link to a 4/4 Tango and be in rhythm if it is to be followd by a Basic Closed Promenade. You would be closing your Right foot to your Left on the count of 1 2. What now with the Reverse Turn.
I think the fall from grace with the 2/4 Tango is it doesn't suit a vocalist, and the public like a vocal.
There is one 2/4 vocal that goes well and that's Doris Day singing Hernandoes Hideaway. Another is Elton John The Pinball Wizard from the show Tommy. Can't think of any others.

I'm wrong, am I?

Guy Howard in "Technique of Ballroom Dancing" (the standard text on which IDTA student teachers are examined) says of 4/4 (in Quickstep section): "Time signature: 4/4 Four beats to one bar. Accented Beats: One and Three (One stronger). A slow count equals 2 beats. A quick count equals 1 beat."

On Tango, he says "Time signature 2/4 Two beats to one bar. Accented beats Equal on each beat. A slow count equals 1 beat. A quick count equals 1/2 beat."

Now, of course, each measure IS absolutely equal. If you doubt this, take out your metronome, set it to Tango tempo and listen to it tick. You will find that it ticks with complete regularity. The underlying pulse never varies. But the natural musical stress to the two metres (4/4 and 2/4) are not the same. The two crochet beats in duple or march time (which is what 2/4 is) are NOT counted with equal stress, but counted STRONG, weak. Ask any marching soldier, if you don't believe me. Hum "Liberty Bell" to yourself, or any Paso Doble music, and tell me that march time DOESN'T go STRONG, weak.

Anymouse suggests that two bars (measures) in 2/4 can yield the pattern "Strong, weak (strong measure), strong, weak (weak measure)", and this is plainly quite incorrect: the two measures are the same. If you counted four tango "slows" over two bars of music, the technique suggests that the stress pattern is Strong, Strong, Strong, Strong, whereas the musical pattern is Strong, Weak, Strong, Weak. The pattern of a second pair of beats having a secondary (less strong) accent is, of course, exactly what 4/4 is. In 2/4 they will be the same: new bar, same stress.

There is a tangible difference between the two metres: they are not the same, and there is no easy way to reconcile the musical stress, with Howard's view that EVERY "Slow" is a "Strong".