Abstract
Much like the intricate and impassioned dance of the tango, Anahí Viladrich’s book, More Than Two to Tango: Argentine Tango Immigrants in New York City, tells the complex and tempestuous story of Argentine tango immigrants, defined in the book as immigrants from Argentina who take part in economic and artistic tango practices in New York City. Their participation in the tango industry takes a number of forms: some are dancers, others are singers or musicians, while others are producers of tango shows; most also work as instructors. Through ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with the artists who produce and populate New York’s tango scene (which includes dance halls in Manhattan and the outer boroughs, dance schools, and performance spaces), Viladrich portrays the sometimes dark and difficult path of Argentine immigrants whose lives are hidden behind the glamorous and cosmopolitan tango. Their stories of passion and compassion, hurt and betrayal not only mimic famous tango lyrics but also illustrate the often fraught and complex relationships that make up the social networks immigrants rely on so heavily. In this book, Viladrich investigates the many factors that affect how these immigrants incorporate into the New York tango scene, such as legal status, race and ethnicity, socio-economic class, and age. Though Argentine tango immigrants in New York are a small group, their experiences help illuminate the complicated nature of social networks and social capital that are so indispensable to new immigrants.
Viladrich begins the book by taking the reader through a social history of the tango’s origins up through contemporary times, where the tango has been rebranded as a cosmopolitan and transnational dance with strong ethnic and cultural roots in Buenos Aires. Viladrich’s expertise on the subject shines through as she details the origins of the tango as a humble dance of immigrants to its rise as a sophisticated art form of elites. This section lays the groundwork for the contextual analysis of the tango’s latest rise to popularity both in Argentina and abroad.
Following the historical analysis of the ebbs and flows of the tango, the book delves into the lives of the Argentine tango immigrants in New York through beautifully told vignettes. Through these stories, which span ages, racial and ethnic identities, and socio-economic status, Viladrich ably disentangles many of the generalities that often accompany the sociological literature on immigration. Viladrich shows how the intersection of sociological factors affects the opportunities available to Argentine tango immigrants. For example, older tango immigrants are subject to ageism both within and beyond the tango world.
Viladrich also describes the complicated racial and ethnic classification schemes that are constructed by Argentine tango dancers in New York. Many of the dancers identify as white and separate themselves from those they view as having a lower place on the U.S. racial hierarchy. These immigrants are quick to point to their skin color, their social class, and the sophistication associated with tango dancing as markers of their difference from the larger non-white Latino population. Interestingly, Viladrich argues that darker-skinned Argentine tango immigrants use these same variables to elevate their racial status. They may not physically resemble the white majority, but the cultural capital associated with tango dancing heightens their racial position. At the same time, non-white Argentines experience a fair amount of discrimination, much of it, Viladrich explains, coming from the Argentine tango immigrants who more physically resemble the white mainstream.
The racial boundaries are also physical. The outer boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn) are home to tango venues that are less transnational, where working-class, darker-skinned Argentines congregate and dance. This is in stark contrast to the urbane, upper- and middle-class venues, which cater to higher-status patrons and tango performers and where tango immigrants are more likely to socialize and make business contacts with Americans and Europeans.
Social capital or “ethnic capital” and the reliance on immigrant social networks are themes that are featured prominently in the book. The idea that immigrants must depend on social networks for all manner of material necessity is not new (Portes 1987, 2000; Zhou, 1995). Many immigrant newcomers have relied on older immigrant co-ethnics as providers of jobs or job leads, temporary food and shelter, information on healthcare, and so on. However, Viladrich argues that Argentine tango immigrants have an even greater stake in this type of reciprocal relationship. It is not merely a story of old immigrants relying on new cheap labor, Viladrich argues (though recent Argentine tango immigrants certainly fulfill that role also), but a tale about the constant authentication of the Argentine art form that new immigrants can bring.
It Takes More than Two to Tango offers a fascinating and intimate view of the lives of Argentine immigrant tango workers in New York. Argentine immigrants are an understudied population, and Viladrich’s contribution is commendable. The research probes important sociological issues of race, class, ethnicity, and the intersection of these variables across the exchange of social capital. The careful research brings to light the heterogeneity of this group of immigrants. Viladrich makes important additional contributions to the sociological literature on immigration through the analysis of the contested reciprocal nature of ethnic or social capital among immigrants. The tango is an ethnic niche, Viladrich argues, that relies on the capital and labor inputs of both old and new immigrants. However, tango workers have an added incentive to keep tango in the “Argentine family” and to reinforce the notion that a necessary condition for authentic tango is that it be Argentine.
The book is packed with sociological inquiry, but there is a sense that it is trying to cover too much ground. There is a richness in the subject that extends beyond the possibilities of one book. Viladrich’s expertise in the subject of the tango both in Buenos Aires and abroad is apparent, yet perhaps too much space is dedicated to the history of tango and the contemporary tango experience. In fact, it is not until page 55 that Viladrich begins to describe her research project. In some ways, it feels like two books: the first on the cultural dimensions of contemporary tango, which would include Viladrich’s accounts of the social history of the tango in Argentina and abroad, and the second on the experiences of tango immigrants in New York and the development of network-based social capital deployed by members of this group.
In conclusion, Viladrich has written a wonderful account not only of the tango and the immigrants that take part and make a living in the New York tango world, but of the role of social and ethnic capital in the lives of immigrants. By taking an understudied population, one that often falls by the wayside within the larger discussion of Latino immigrants, Viladrich illuminates the complexities and nuances within Latino immigrant communities and their networks. This book is an important contribution to the sociological literature on immigration and serves to further our understanding of the complexities of social capital exchange within immigrant networks.