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Recommended Books
Learning Process
Zen Body-Being by Peter Ralston
A program of "physical education" for anyone interested in body improvement. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence.
Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner
Addressed to students of music, but equally appropriate for students of dance or anything else, Werner shares his perspective on freeing the mind of anxiety so that productive learning and inspired playing (dancing) may occur.
The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
Gallwey's revolutionary thinking, built on a foundation of Zen thinking and humanistic psychology, is really a primer on how to get out of your own way to let your best game (or dance) emerge. Addressed to athletes and tennis players but applicable to students of dance or anything at all.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
While not a "tango book," per se, the message of this writer is clearly in alignment with our best efforts to dance together, to be present in the moment, "to make the now the main focus of our lives." For tango dancers who might observe their leisure, creative, and spiritual lives overlapping from time to time, this book is for you.
Tango History & Culture
Long After Midnight at the Nino Bien by Brian Winter
Many have written on their experiences discovering the tango and Buenos Aires, but this one really stands out. It is a surprisingly candid, hilarious, and devastating, portrait of Argentina and the tango. Winter's insights will give you a deeper appreciation for the cultural heritage of the tango.
The Meaning of Tango by Christine Denniston
The Tango's history is cloudy at best, but Christine has painstakingly uncovered as accurate a record as possible through countless hours interviewing the older generation of today as well as poring over what documentation does exist from the early century. Fascinating and engaging, and a rare opportunity to understand the broader context of tango.
Tango and the Political Economy of Passion by Marta Savigliano
This academic work explores the politics of tango, tracing tango's travels from the brothels of Buenos Aires to the cabarets of Paris and the shak dansu clubs of Tokyo. The author is an Argentinean political theorist and a dance professor at the University of California at Riverside. She writes of sexuality, gender, race, class, and national identity, analyzing relations between machismo and colonialism, postmodernism and patriarchy, exoticism and commodification.
Tango An Art History of Love by Robert Farris Thompson
Thompson, an Africanist and art historian at Yale University, writes of the often-obscured African roots of tango. He explores the tango's relationship to cakewalk and ragtime, Cuba's habanera and Rossini's operas. He tells the stories of many of tango's composers and performers and scrutinizes its dance technique and aesthetic through the lens of Argentina's African heritage.
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Find more books on the inspiring Oxygen Tango Reading List, compiled by Mitra Martin and Stefan Fabry.