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

Abstract

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.