Tango/Dance

[Update: Since I wrote this, Frank and Karen Davis have begun to organize an Argentine Tango community here in Salem. Check out their website for info about the Tango classes being taught by Elizabeth Wartluft of Portland. On September 3 the Salem paper had an interesting story about the classes.] Fellow Salemites, even though we live in Oregon's boring capital city, there's untapped passion in our rain-drenched souls. That's why we need to bring Argentine Tango classes back to town. Thanks to Peter Gysegem, of Corvallis, weekly classes were offered during 2006 – which Laurel and I started taking in…

Amazing! Last night Salem actually seemed interesting for a couple of hours. We pushed aside the tables in the downtown Beanery coffee house and danced away on a nice wood floor while Tango music played over the sound system. It took a San Diegan, though, to wake up sleepy Salem. That would be Matt, the guy in the middle of the photo who distinguished himself by (1) being by far the youngest amongst us, and (2) actually knowing how to dance Argentine Tango. The rest of us ranged from rusty beginner/intermediates (Karen, in middle, plus Laurel and me, on the…

That's a provocative title for a blog post, one that contains an implicit addition: when dancing. Any man realizes that the dance floor is just about the only place he's going to be able to lead a woman with impunity. Especially if he's married, as I know from thirty-five years of yes, dear experience. So why is it that in partner dancing it's so acceptable for the man to call the shots? Well, not only acceptable – demanded, as we keep being told in our Night Club Two Step lessons. We've gotten halfway proficient at American Tango, thanks to Lora,…

Well, true Tango aficionados probably would consider our current dance class a devolution from the Argentine style. And I have to admit that American Tango (at our level) doesn't have the same spontaneous flowing flair as the Argentine version. But it's easier to learn. Therein lies much of our satisfaction with the ten classes we've had so far from Lora at Salem's RJ Dance Studio. When we took Argentine Tango classes last year, we were taught an eight-count Argentine Tango basic movement. I've heard that some Tango instructors eschew this movement , wanting the dance to be entirely spontaneously led…

Our last Salem Tango class was last night. We didn’t go to it but were there in spirit. It isn’t possible for Peter, the instructor, to drive up from Corvallis each week anymore. Laurel and I are deeply appreciative of all the time and energy he and Joy, the organizer of the classes, put into bringing Tango to Salem for most of 2006. In the “Tango” category of this blog you can learn what Tango has come to mean to me (scroll down past this post, which is at the top of the category postings). I’m still a rank beginner…

Before our Tango era, Laurel and I briefly took some West Coast Swing classes. Almost invariably, the female instructor would start off by saying, “Men, this is your chance. In dance you get to lead the woman. Make the most of it. The rest of the week you’ll be back to following her.” How true. Especially if you’re married. I speak from thirty-four years of experience. In our egalitarian American culture, where overt sexism is becoming as déclassé as overt racism, sex roles are becoming increasingly blurred. This is mostly for the good. But the current dance craze—witness the popularity…

Carlos Rojas, one of our Tango instructors, says that Tango began in Buenos Aires as a human mating dance. Much as birds and other animals do, males had to compete for a limited supply of desirable females. Dancing Tango demonstrated to a woman what kind of a mate a man would be. So Carlos likes to say that Tango is simple: “It’s just a gentleman walking with a lady so she will fall in love with him.” Just as Carlos told us last night, Christine Denniston explains that in the late 1800s there was a massive influx of single male…

Last night our dance instructor reminded us of the Tango truth: “The man is always wrong.” A murmur of agreement was heard from the women. I could hear several men mutter, “Just like marriage.” Carlos, a guest instructor a few months back, gave us the same message. Guess I’ll have to live with it. Not that I disagree with the adage, especially after repeatedly stepping on Laurel’s feet as we tried to learn some cross foot moves. Tango, Carlos told us, is just a man walking with a woman so she will fall in love with him. At least during…

“Tango is just a man walking with a woman so she will fall in love with him.” As soon as our guest Tango instructor spoke those words, I knew that he had the rapt attention of all the women in the class. The men, too. I’m a romantic at heart. But after sixteen years of marriage I’ve gotten a bit lackadaisical in the romance department. The shelves are thinly stocked except at the predictable times: our anniversary, Laurel’s birthday, Valentine’s Day. So both of us are enjoying the romance of Tango through our Monday classes here in Salem. Last week…