Would tend to agree with Guys description -- with a caveat-- the " stress " or accent( which term I prefer ) , may change as for given circumstance .

The descriptive terms in use, would, for my money, delineate the music clearly for a beginner.

I frequently use the term for a progressive movement as -- Power, --power, soft-- soft.
Interpretation, at best, is very subjective, particularly at the higher end of competitive levels .

Clive Harrison. As you have so rightly said Guy Howard says the time signal for a Tango is 2/4. So does Alex Moore and also Victor Silvester. But if the leading orchestra leaders are going to record in 4/4 time, and let us remember no dance society has the power to insist that all Tangos will be recored in 2/4 Tempo. Where does that leave us.
For one thing we cant do a Four Step any more. It has to be a five Step. Just for the more informed. If we just finished something that left us with our next step on 3 4 we would used a Four Step, four quicks to bring us back into rhythm.
Once this is understood we can now turn out attention to the Foxtrot and the Quickstep.
Social teachers and dancers pay no attention to any of the above. Just carry on as usuall. No disrespect intended, just stating a fact.
One for the record. There are countries where Social Teachers do not teach competition dancers. They are seperate. They, the socials do not have adjudicators to answer to.

Just a final mischievous thought in relation to the technique books' suggestion that the two beats in 2/4 tango music are BOTH stressed: that has to be the same as there being NO stress.

OR IS IT ONE OF THOSE CASES WHERE THE DANCE IS PERFORMED AS THOUGH WE WERE SHOUTING ALL THE TIME?

Do you see what I mean?

That thought had crossed my mind !--

I guess in the final analysis , the top pros take much " licence " in their execution.

We have them in the UK ( wont teach comp types )

JONATHAN. going back to your writting on 12. 5. 07. In a 2/4 Tango is it necessary to wrestle with whether the quanities are cut in half or not considering that we have no idea untill the music is played whether it it is 2/4 or 4/4.
With four beats in either Tempo regardless of which is being played all I need to know is One will have a strong first beat, a weaker second, a strong third not as strong as the first, and a weaker fourth beat if this is 4/4. The dancer who's routines are composed this way does not have to change if he finds the music is not 4/4.
Anyway . Who choreographs in 2/4 any more. And if they did how would they handle the music if it was a 4/4. Personaly I think 2/4 is dead and buried and it is time the technique books were brought up to date.
Harry Smith- Hampshire is on record as saying that no dance has altered in the past few years as much as the International Tango has. And that it was time the dance societies came to grips with this with their technique books.

Most of the time I am absorbing information from here but this time I must share. I am a musician and I have played a dozen different arrangements of Cumparsita. Some were in two, some in four. It makes not one whit of difference in how the tune sounds (or how a dancer would interpret it). It might not even make much of a difference in how the leader counts it off. The difference between 2/4 and 4/4 matters only to the copiest, who burns more or less ink, and the musician, who reads a busier or more tidy ledger. You might want a 4/4 arrangement if your band is made up of early stage musicians - it is a little easier to interpret. That is all.

Molesaver. Have you ever heard Doris Day singing Hernandos Hideaway. Its very stop go isn' t it. 2/4 Tempo. How many Tangos do you know where a vocalist can sing in 2/4. If the music selected by the music presenter is played in 4/4 Time. It is a must that we dance 1 2 3 4. and not 3 4 1 2. If it is 2/4 Time 1 2 1 2 it doesnt matter. You can never dance 3 4 1 2 because 3 4 is never there it is always 1 2. With the Orchestras recording in 4/4 nowdays. you are getting to a stage that unless it is an old recording it will be in 4/4.
So , todays dancers treat all recording counting in 4/4 regardless of whether it is 4/4 or 2/4.
To further explain. Lets have a very simple basic step choreographed for 2/4 and danced to 4/4. Two Walks. Progressive Side Step. One Walk and a Link. The Link you will find is now on 3 4. We've only taken 8 steps and we are already out of rhythm with the music. Take the Progressive Side Step out and we are OK. Social dancers carry on as you usually do.
Those of you who have John Wood's tape, it might have gone right over your heads, but he does talk about dancing in rhythm in the Foxtrot. You can transfer that to both the Quickstep and the Tango, John added, unless you want to look like others around you dancing in time bit out of rhythm.

We social dancers can be every bit as sensitive to a musical interpretation of the dance, and of the proper rhythmic groupings of figures within bars (measures) of music - so no general dispensation there, or any ready acceptance of social dancing being in any degree inferior to dancesport.

It's worth remembering, in the debate, that the dance societies' technique books are supremely unconcerned as to whether particular amalgamations fit within a rigid beat/bar structure. If anything, the fact that often they do not, allows the musical dancer to execute the figures with a slightly different timing to reflect, and in response to, the music.

Art, not science!

CliveHarrison.Music for Ballroom Dancing is written in a certain way, whether it be Latin or Standard. After the four bar introduction there will be eight bars of music played before the next eight bars are played. On one disk there is 64 bars of music played not including the four bar introduction.
Answer this one. Waltz. A Spin Turn. Then 4 5 6 of a Reverse Turn. Followed by a Reverse Turn a Whisk and a Chasse. To start again what part of the next phrase will you be on. If you continue this group how long will it take to get back to the correct phrasing. What we have done here is to try to fit a seven bar routine into eight bars of music. Does it matter. Socially it doesn't. But don't try it in a competition.
Socially or not. Don' t try to dance a Samba out of phrase.