Dance Pasión - New Zealand Argentine Tango Champions

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What is Argentine Tango?
Argentine Tango is a dance of grace and complexity that moves with changing rhythms and intensity. The original passionate dance derived from the heart of Buenos Aires.

For social Tango the dance moves around the floor in an anti-clockwise direction. Depending on the amount of space available Tango can be stepped out to move around a large floor area or adapted to dance in a small crowded space.

The music changes from slow to fast throughout one song and has a distinctive sound due to the type of instruments commonly used such as the bandoneon, violin, double bass and piano.

A lot of the core movements in tango come from walking and isolating the shoulders from the hips to maintain a strong connection with your partner as you dance. While Tango is based on some simple concepts and steps, it also has a hidden complexity that continues to challenge the dancer.

Tango encompasses a wide range of tango styles that have developed over the years along with the music and culture of Buenos Aires.

What is Salsa?

Like many other Latin dances Salsa has its roots in Cuba. The popular usage of the word "salsa" for danceable Latin music began in 1933 when Cuban song composer Ignacio Piñeiro wrote the song Échale Salsita. He conceived the idea after tasting food which lacked the Cuban spices. It was a protest against tasteless food. Salsa is danced to eight-beat music, with dancers moving on three beats, pausing (or taping) for one beat, dancing for three beats, and pausing (or taping for one beat). Salsa is incredibly popular throughout Latin America and around the world.

SALSA ROOTS
During the time that the slave trade flourished in West Africa, natives used specific rhythms to speak to their gods. The rhythms came to the New World in the holds of the slave ships and in some cases the rhythms helped to keep the prisoner's hopes alive and kept them alive to the end of the journey. When the slaves were forced to adopt the Christian religion, they continued to call their own gods by using the drum rhythms. Most people who dance to Latin music today are not even aware that they are dancing to what started as religious music. In Cuba, many of these rhythms are still being used for religious purposes.