Born to Tango

"Tango Pasión" 1999 José María Cornide

I've been wanting to do something adventurous and spontaneous for some time now and the opportunity came this past Friday night. While sitting at the j.v. basketball game I received a message on my cell phone from Kevin, one of the dance teachers here at EWS, inviting me to a Milonga ( a tango social party) that was beginning in only 2 hours or so. Somehow he heard through the grapevine that I knew how to tango (not sure where he heard that joke!) and he wanted to introduce me to the local tango crowd in this region. I've certainly never considered my big and tall self capable of dancing such a sensual and intricately detailed dance as the tango, but my interest was peaked and I decided to take him up on the offer. I told Jessie, my housemate, and she was interested too. Well when I called and confessed to him my inexperience but sincere interest in learning he told Jessie and I to meet him in the school dance studio where we'd have an hour private lesson and then head over to the Milonga together. What an amazing opportunity!

I didn't think it possible but in one hour he had us dancing the 3 key moves that we would need in order to participate at the Milonga - the basic 8 steps, forward ochos, and backward ochos. He also gave us some tips about the social gestures and procedures necessary to invite someone to dance with you and keep them dancing with you - In Argentine Tango you show you're interested in dancing with someone by making eye contact. Then, there are three short pieces of music within each set. If you enjoyed the first dance you need to be sure not to say "Thank You" because that communicates that you are done dancing with them and would like another partner. If someone says thank you to you they don't want another dance with you and are in someone unsatisfied with your performance. If you get through three dances then your partner must be really impressed and want to take you out on a date after the milonga! Isn't it all fascinating? I had no idea that there were actually rules of behavior for dances like this.

So we get to the dance studio, which is used as a yoga studio during the week, and the crowd is mostly older and , no surprise here, much shorter than I. Jessie and I were a bit worried we wouldn't fit in and that we'd be wallflowers the whole evening because of our inexperience but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Kevin, our most amazing and patient teacher, actually danced with us the entire night. He'd dance a few songs with me and then invite Jessie to dance for a few. Each time helping us when we needed and introducing new steps as the night progressed. Occasionally he would dance with some of the people he knew there but he really was dedicating this night to help us learn. Jessie and I both were invited to dance with others in the room, which was a lot more challenging because the steps where not always done in the way Kevin did them. That's what makes tango so fun is that there are some basic stpes but they are never done in the exact same way each time. There's always room for interpretation and improvisation. Although dancing with those other men was more of a challenge I felt I could keep up well and many were impressed that I'd only been dancing the tango for less than three hours.

When I wasn't dancing I really enjoyed watching. there were some incredible dancers there. But there are so mancy nuances to the dance that one can't see or understand unless they do them. The male is the leader and determines every step the female is to take by how he has his hand on her back or how or when he crosses the center line of the woman's body. Much of the dance too is done on the balls of your feet. The best tip Kevin gave me was to take one step at a time. The next step is mostly determined by which foot the female has her weight on and where her center of gravity is. So if the female decides to predict the moves or speed them up, it makes it difficult/impossible for the male to lead her. Now one could read into this dance and see that it mirrors patriarchal values which control even the slightest movement of the female and as a feminist I can say there is much truth to that. However, there is something magical about being held by your partner and being carried across the dance floor in the most graceful of ways. Like I said, I never thought that my 6'1" athletic self could be turned into a nimble, quick and lightfooted dancer. But Friday night I proved myself wrong and felt like I was dreaming. It was so amazing that we could learn so much in such a little amount of time, be able to put it to use on the dance floor and learn more as we went along. I learned some new moves such 'la parada' (sudden stop/pause in the dance), "la mordida", or sandwich (when one partners foot gets trapped between the two feet of the other partner), and "arrastre"( where the foot is dragged across the floor by the foot of the other partner, which forces one to cross their foot over their center of gravity).

We had a great time and stayed until 1:15am! I'm hooked and now trying to find a way to keep practicing. My weeks are pretty booked now with my only free day being Monday (tuesdays I play volleyball in a league nearby and wednesdays and thursdays I'm on duty in the dorms). I found out there are private lessons at someone's home for only $5 every monday and also Williams College is beginning lessons next Monday. I think it's worth a look into either one of them! For this week I'll continue practicing each night in my attic room!