C'est La Tango

          I cannot advertise this in the usual way as it is a sensitive subject that only something like tango can confront. For the last five years I have been working on simple rock-step motion that is prevalent in Argentine Tango. I was not so sure why this movement fascinated me so but I am beginning to achieve a better understanding of its effects on the opposite sex. There is something about the roll of a woman’s hips that she finds pleasing and I have been working to lead it just right.

A few years ago I spent two weeks staying with a friend who is a tango instructor and she worked with me to get this ‘roll’ just right. Until then, my attempts had been too bouncy but now I see that getting the lead just right is something that must be learned with each individual lady but the results are akin to an asteroid hitting a lifeless planet with no atmosphere and transforming it into a vibrant biosphere complete with forests and fauna, oceans and rivers and angels.

I can’t say exactly what is going on inside of her but I have a strong feeling that whatever it is is primordial and extremely powerful. Lately, in my encounters with one such tanguera, I have been able to get the rhythm of the movement just right and she is responding with something I never expected, something that has always been an extreme disappointment in the past that has hit me as utter delight: words.

One of the nice things about tango is the memory that stays with a dancer long after the engagement has ended. Just before Covid, I had one such dance that stayed with me for over a year. Often, after a seriously sensual tanda, words will be spoken and our other selves are revealed and the euphoria is shattered. Not this time, in fact it is the complete opposite. I heard her speak the words, intimate and few, kind of asking for permission to convey what she was feeling or an insight into her persona, and I was touched in a way that was subtle at first but now I see it is long-lasting.

It’s five a.m. and I find myself thinking about what she said to me that I find so charming. For the life of me I cannot remember the exact words, only the impact they had upon my soul: soft yet engraved in stone. C’est la vie. C’est la tango.