A comunicação dos afetos no tango

função, improvisação, sexualidade e ambivalências na linguagem da dança

Abstract

Despite its complex coding system, the language of tango as a dance can only be understood through the constant improvisations that the couples perform, requiring a fine-tune in their movement intentions. However, the tango language exceeds those circumstances, becoming a communication of affect that reveals itself inside a unique experience that cannot be reproduced. Even if it is wanted to make tango as a representation of sensuality between men and women, it is proposed here a critical view of this gender identity, showing that its aesthetic expression transcends the social determination, raising a set of ambivalent representations that are not subjected to unique interpretations. In this article, although tango is conceived as a semiotic space itself, it is also possible to seek the understanding of their body language as a complex cultural system open to constant reinterpretations through some associations with other forms of language and social representations.