queering the world's most romantic dance

QUEERING THE WORLD’S MOST ROMANTIC DANCE

GLBT people grasp the magic of Argentine Tango – in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Boston

March 1, 2008

Argentine Tango is danced every night, all over the world. It is an international language which enables strangers to experience connection, intimacy, self-expression, and a rush of ecstasy. They needn’t exchange names, or even speak. With the entry costs low, tango is an unusual space where people of all social classes mix without distinction. And the average tango milonga is an age-diverse environment; teenagers and masterful elders dance with each other. Elegant and sexy, tango is a full time stage of drag kings and queens. Dancers of all ages wear suits and hats, high heels and skirts slit to the thigh. But until recently, Argentine Tango has been all but closed to gays and lesbians. With women forbidden to lead the dance and men dancing together only for instruction, not socially, tango has been unwelcoming to GLBT people.

But tango, and Argentina, is changing. The first gay milonga was created in Buenos Aires in 2003, the same year the city legalized gay civil unions. (A majority of urbanites now support gay marriage.) Now, 20% of the tourists are gay. In 2007 the government co-sponsored the first International Queer Tango Festival. Lively queer tango communities and festivals have also been built in Berlin and Stockholm. GLBT classes are now offered in San Francisco, Portland, and New York City.

And now Queer Tango comes to Boston. Duro y Vio, newcomers to Jamaica Plain from Los Angeles, are offering beginning tango classes designed especially for queer folk. “We’re not the first. We came across a website that someone started a Queer Tango group in Boston back in 1998.” Tango enjoyed a resurgence beginning in the 1980s and it is still growing. Now it is popular again with young Argentine people, there is new music and, as always, the dance is evolving with the experiments of the dancers.

In Duro and Vio’s class, all students learn to lead and follow. They may keep this up, or they may eventually choose a role they prefer. But it won’t be based on their gender. “We have to work with the codes of tango, too. Because leaders can’t assume that every femme wants to follow.” They’ve written a guideline for their students on how to use the traditional “cabacao”, the gift and receipt of a nod by which a dance is contracted. The cabaceo protects the ego of the dancers, who turn each other down discretely – by not making eye contact. “In tango, we take very good care of the ego. It’s a formal, elegant way to interact. But in that it’s also very kind.” Argentines often call tango their “therapy”.

Duro and Vio teach social close-embrace tango, the dance of the neighborhood community centers of Buenos Aires. This is the most connected dance. It’s not flashy, but it sure feels good. The follower listens with their body. The leader waits in the embrace until inspired by the music. Leaders may dance to the rhythm, the melody, or the decorative elements of the music – or change back and forth between them. As the leader expresses the music, the attentive follower is ready to go in any direction at every moment, so they are able to move as one, although every step is improvised.

Violet explains what tango has meant to her. “I’m a very words person. I used to be impatient and bored a lot. Tango has enabled me to find another way of appreciating and communicating with people.” She explains that the language of social tango facilitates a sublime level of connection, doubly amazing in that it is a routine part of the dance. “You have this incredible experience with someone you may never see again or perhaps with someone you dance with every week – but you only know their ’sobre nombre’ (over name). And for a couple it gives you a new way to connect with each other.” Duro, a longtime rave|goth clubkid, calls tango “my golf. It’s something exciting I can do until I’m very old.”

Duro y Vio are planning to sponsor occasional queer milongas and workshops with visiting teachers, and also to organize group outings and to work with organizers of local milongas to welcome queer dancers. Their next 6-week series for absolute beginners starts Sunday March 30 at Spontaneous Celebrations. “We really want to work with people who don’t have dance in their lives yet. To tango is to take a walk in a tender embrace. We want walkers.”