Resources for Tango Students

Tango ShoesThe following resources are useful for dancers of all levels and tango professionals. Do you have favorite resources to share? Let us know!

About Tango Music

Tango music for dancing comes primarily from the thirties and forties. After that, the music became first more concert-style and less friendly for dancers, and then moved even further toward jazz in some instances. More recent recordings are either 1) imitative of the older styles or 2) Electronica. Some people like to dance tango to music other than tango music- Alternative.

Where to Buy Music

  • Tangostore Corrientes and Callao, Buenos Aires, or Online! Very reliable
  • Amazon You need to know what you’re looking for. Some of the independent vendors on this site have been less expensive and quite reliable for me.
  • Todo Tango Everything about Tango! Musicians, Singers, Poets, Dancers
  • Polo Talnir (local SF DJ) polo_talnir@hotmail.com

Older Rhythmic

Golden Era: Rhythmic

Golden Era: “Stretchy,” Melodic

Transitional

Tango Nuevo

Neo Tango and / or Electronico

About Tango Shoes

Locally, to start out, a place to buy basic dance shoes for both men and women:

  • The Dance Shop, 1201 2nd Street in San Rafael, Ca
  • D’Lynnes, 1137 4th Street in San Rafael, Ca

Beginning men should wear leather-sole shoes. Light weight, lace-up shoes are best.

Beginning women can get character shoes at the dance store. They have a modest and supportive heel, ankle strap and closed toe. Sandals, flats and shoes without an ankle strap are not good. Later, when you are ready,  you can invest in tango shoes. Subscribe to our newsletter  to keep abreast on when Tango Con*Fusión holds their tango boutique with lightly used tango shoes and clothing for great deals. (The boutique helps support their artistic endeavors.)

More Shoes in San Francisco

  • La Pista, 768 Brannan Streeet, San Francisco, Ca by appointment / Contact Tom 415-850-5869 tomaso@lapistatango.com /Tango Shoes from BsAs
  • San Francisco Dancewear, 659 Mission Street  San Francisco, CA 94105 Tango shoes (and dance clothes)

Movies featuring Tango

Cuesta Abajo – Carlos Gardel 
English title : Going downhill. New York 1934

Scent of a Woman
with Al Pacino, 1992
Just one dance scene.

Tango – (Carlos Saura)
by Vittorio Storano, 1998, Spanish w/ subtitles
Very stylized choreography, very visual. Twisted plot.

Tango Bar – Carlos Gardel
New York 1935 . Director : John Reinhard

Tango Bar
Castle Hill Productions

Tango Con*Fusion
by Auriel, 2005, Short documentary.
All woman Argentine Tango dance company in the San Francisco Bay Area during their first year of creation and performance.

Tango Magic
Hard to come by. Contact us for a loaner VHS copy

The Plague
Tango clip featuring Carolina Loti (partner of Pablo Veron in The Tango Lesson by Sally Potter) in this LUIS PUENZO screen rendition of LA PESTE by Albert Camus. With: William Hurt, Sandrine Bonnaire, Robert Duval, Raul Julia . Movie is in English and French and Spanish . It is re-set in an Oran (originally capital of Algeria) hypothetical South American city.

The Tango Lesson
by Sally Potter, 1997. VHS only, not DVD yet.
Great dance scenes, and a good story too.

Where (and when) to Dance Tango

Tango Mango Schedule of Classes, Milongas, and Special Events.

Milongas in Buenos Aires This is a page of more detailed info and web links

SFLovesTango.com is a wonderful local resource for everything about tango in San Francisco