Affective temperaments in tango dancers

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Performing Arts
• Cultural Studies

Background:

• Systematic exploration of links between affective temperaments and folk culture is infrequent.
• Studies on creativity, personality, and temperament show associations.
• Tango, a prominent Argentinean folk dance, serves as the cultural focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare affective temperaments between professional Argentinean tango dancers and the general population.
• To investigate the relationship between artistic performance in tango and temperament profiles.

Main Methods:

• The Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Poland, and San Antonio-Revised (TEMPS-A) questionnaire was administered.
• A sample of 63 professional tango dancers was compared with 63 non-dancing controls from the general population.
• Non-parametric statistical analyses were used to compare median scores.

Main Results:

• Tango dancers scored significantly higher on the hyperthymic subscale (p ≤ 0.001) and irritable subscale (p=0.05) compared to controls.
• A significantly higher total median score was observed in tango dancers (p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Artistic performance, exemplified by tango, is associated with specific temperament traits.
• The expressive nature of tango may contribute to the observed hyperthymic and irritable temperament features in dancers.
• Findings support the use of temperament as a sub-affective trait in understanding artistic creativity and performing arts.