If you are engaged in tango-related research and are interested in collaborating, we would love to hear from you! Please contact our Research Coordinator Layla Kassem at
Research Projects
Tango: More than a Social Dance
This study was designed to profile the social impact of tango dancing in the life of the participant.
Preliminary Findings:
Of 250 respondents nation-wide, roughly 61% were women and 39% men, and 45% of the total sample reported that they had been introduced to tango by a friend.
We were intrigued to discover that certain lifestyle changes had occurred based on dancing tango regularly: 66% reported that self-confidence had improved, 56% reported that overall fitness had improved, 50% reported that self-care and listening skills had improved and 41% reported that the ability to empathize had improved. 33% of repondents reported that verbal communication skills had improved and 20% reported that eating habits had improved.
Even more exciting is that these changes appear to be, in many cases, permanent. Significantly smaller numbers of respondents reported that these same lifestyle areas would be affected at all, were they to stop dancing tango.
On the other hand, 54% of respondents claimed tango reduced their overall stress level and 56% claimed tango improved their ability to relax, and approximately the same percentage of respondents reported that stopping tango would reverse these effects. We might conclude from this that dancing tango plays an extremely important role in maintaining a balanced lifestyle for more than half of its participants.
Future Plans
This work is the beginning of a long-term initative to establish an institute for the interdisciplinary development of tango across the fields of health, art, society, and education. We plan to support writers and researchers working in this area by promoting new work, collaborating on research projects, and offering internships in various areas of inquiry to include social impact, physical health, pedagological methods, tango music and dance history.
Photo by Isaac Oboka