Adventures in Tango with Kayak Hombre and Capitan Frog: Art, Tango and Charles Cushing

I recently attended a milonga/art exhibit at a small studio on Buttonwood Street in Philadelphia. It was held in a nice space that is host to a monthly milonga called Milonga La Matine’ on the first Saturday of every month. It is more casually known as Lesley and Kelly’s milonga. It was a small gathering of art enthusiasts and tango dancers that I found relaxing and educational.

The artist’s name is Charles Cushing and he travelled to Buenos Aires last year to dance tango and to paint. Upon his return he completed his paintings and brought them to the studio for show. I was in eastern PA visiting family when I heard about this unusual pairing of art and tango from two friends and we decided to ride down to Philadelphia together. When we arrived the artist was talking about where he painted and the techniques he used.

I am not an art aficionado but I found meaning in his words that I could apply to writing and to dancing tango.

At one point Charles tried to clarify his feelings about painting on-site and painting from a photograph. The difference, he explained, was that light behaves differently on location than it does in a reproduction. A photo records the colors of all objects present but it does not capture the hues we see as a result of the interaction of the light on the retinas of our eyes.

He said there were halo effects from the light that cannot be captured by a photo and that this was something he strived to convey in his art.

When I write about something, I try to give the reader a sense of the place and not just a description of all the objects present and how they were arranged. I aim to convey the emotions I experience that make a scene memorable, that I was not simply there, I was living it.

In tango we don’t merely interpret the music into footsteps; we are affected by the person within our embrace. My partner’s impression upon me drastically alters my performance as compared to what I did with another tanguera to the same song. Her mood, scent, touch, appearance and movement are all factors in our shared experience that makes our engagement unique and special……and so very real.

Because I am dancing tango and not some other form of dancing, what happens is spontaneous; what we do together is not dependent upon learned patterns. We move in the present; together we are the light and not the photograph.

After the lecture there was dancing. It had been a long time since I danced in Philadelphia and I had forgotten what a diverse city it is and the exceptional encounters it provides. The DJ’s offerings were superb and I found myself enjoying every tanda in the embrace of a delightful tanguera for the next two and a half hours.

There were not more than twenty people dancing but everybody danced with everybody. The two women with whom I carpooled were extremely jubilant as they talked about the event on the long ride home. It is a testament to the power of tango that such a small gathering could provide so much enjoyment when much larger crowds can sometimes make a person feel so alone and depressed.

I had a great time. It was nice to look at Charles’ paintings and to hear what he had to say about them. My partners varied from Swiss and French immigrants to old friends I had not seen in years. This is why I tango. It is something I do to relieve stress and challenge my body and my brain in a way that is entertaining and not arduous.

Thanks, Charles. Your art helped me make another happy memory of dancing tango in Philadelphia. You’re making the world a better place one brush stroke and one tanda at a time; keep up the good work!

p.s. Check out Charles and his work on Facebook. Prints are available for sale! Click here.