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Tango Forever to Age Well

The sultry moves of the tango can keep your mind sharp and improve your balance, a new study suggests. With its basic steps and an always improvising style, the famous dance from Argentina struck Canadian researchers as an ideal form of exercise for seniors, especially when faced with the cold winters of the North. The only challenge: finding enough dancing partners for the women.

"For the French men, it wasn't a problem," says Dr. Patricia McKinley of McGill University, who presented her study at a recent Society for Neuroscience meeting. "But some the English guys were a little insecure at first."

With a little coaxing, McKinley's team found 30 willing men and women between the ages of 62 to 89 who had fallen down once during the past year. Half were instructed to walk a couple of hours a week for two and a half months. The others were given tango lessons twice a week for the same amount of time. Soon, even the shyest among the group was moving gracefully on the crowded dance floor, with some dressing up to fit the part.

McKinley says the allure is understandable: couples romantically twirl around to the rhythmic sounds of a violin and piano orchestra. From a scientific perspective, she adds that the continuous swivels and turns force dancers to be quick thinking and light on their feet.

"It's not like line dancing," says McKinley about the repetitive, Western-style dance steps. "Tango is constantly changing." As part of the traditional Argentinean dance, everyone moves counterclockwise to a different pattern of steps, which can change in an instant. When it does, dancers pivot on one foot in a move known as the Ardono. Couples must learn to both lead and follow.

"It really taxes your ability to take information and reorganize it quickly," she explains.

By the end of the study, McKinley found that the tango group had better balance than before and scored higher on several complex memory tasks, such as receiving a grocery list over the phone and remembering what to buy without writing it down. The fast moving tango also showed several advantages over walking. Compared to those who walked several times a week, the dancers scored higher on balance and complex memory tasks.

McKinley says this does not mean that everyone should give up other activities in favor of the tango. Indeed, each type of dance or exercise may have its own place in improving memory and balance. The walkers in the study, for example, did better than the tango group with remembering directions and following the correct path back from an unfamiliar place.

What the tango seems best suited for, according to McKinley, is aiding the ability to multi-task and preparing for quick changes in direction. The dance is also quite appealing. One of her students, a vivacious 78-year-old woman, was so taken by the tango that she recently booked a trip to Argentina to practice with the best. Another student said the tango changed his life.

"Now he's trying to get his friends to join in," says McKinley.