The Effects of War: Prague’s Tango Community After the Start of the War in Ukraine

Abstrakt

This article examines the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war on the Prague tango community. For six years, the author has been attending local milongas (social tango dance gatherings), and for the last five years, has developed an ethnography of Prague’s tango life, using soundscape analysis as a heuristic tool, and correlating the collected data with the translocal phenomenon of tango. The specific ways of experiencing wartime conditions and sharing solidarity which have arisen at the Prague milongas in response to the events in Ukraine have been identified. In addition to directly supporting Ukraine through donations, the soundscape of “the effects of war” appears to confront part of the community with the transience of the tango experience.