The narratives of mothers and dancers in the professional tango dance circuit in Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article addresses the narrative politics (Ortner, 2006) that take part in the construction of agency of the tango dancers who want to conciliate their profession with their maternity. From the analysis of the musical tango compositions of the first two decades of the twentieth century and the exploration of the film Un tango más (2015), the study inquiries the ways in which these stories are nourished by the cultural politics of the difference and gender inequality. Also, how they participate in the organization of experiences and the construction of cultural representations, senses and imaginary about mothers and dancers in the professional tango dance circuit in Buenos Aires. Based on the information collected during an ethnographic fieldwork made between 2013 and 2020 – in which professional dancers who are also mothers were followed–, one concludes that the narratives associated with the figures of the mother and the tango’s milonguita keep on operating in the subjectivities of many artists and generating tensions in different ways – and in diverse grades – in their daily practices. These tensions also generate, at times, feelings of deep incompatibility between the maternity and the tango.