Seduced by Tango

This blog entry takes place at La Viruta. Click to play the song by my favorite tango electronica group, Otros Aires, which happens to be about a night at La Viruta.


Tango is an intense love affair. It is an emotion, an experience in and of itself. Tango has never been "just a dance." I have taken over a dozen classes, had private lessons, and attended a few milongas. While I would love to say that I have mastered this dance, I still have a long way to go. But I finally started to hear some of Tango's sultry and seductive calls last weekend.

One is not asked if they would like to have a dance. There's a secret form of communication between men and women in the Milongas, (tango dance halls). Across the hall, a man will make eye contact with a woman. He will slightly lift his head, raise an eyebrow, and then perhaps glance towards the floor. In response, the woman will either hold eye contact and offer the slightest smile back, or demurely nod, moving her head only a centimeter at most. It's the tiniest nod back. If you didn't know what you were looking for, you'd miss this whole exchange and just see people meeting randomly on the dance floor. "How do they all know who they are dancing with?" I exclaimed to myself when I first saw this. People were pairing up magically, while I was oblivious to this under current communication. There's also no talking. I suppose you communicate through the dance. When you agree to dance, you agree to the whole set of songs which may be 3 or 4 in a row and can exchange a few pleasantries in between songs, but certainly not during the dance.

So last week I went to La Viruta with my friends. Saturday nights are busy, bordering on too crowded. We had a table off to the side which wasn't ideal for finding dance partners. But late in the evening, I noticed an attractive man way over at the other side, looking at me right in the eyes. He held my gaze, and then I saw the tilt. Yes, that was definitely a head tilt. Yes, he was asking me to dance. I froze for a microsecond and then found myself gently nod back, as if I were the Tango pro I pretend to be. My mates of course missed all this and just saw us silently meet by the dance floor, like a scene from a movie.

There was silence between us. I started to lift my arms up to him to get ready to dance, but he just continue his intense gaze. Was this still part of the secret language? I don't remember anything about this. He stepped closer to me, really close. I took a small step back. He just kept staring. For a brief moment, I though, "Am I supposed to know this guy?" I met someone here a few weeks ago and we exchanged emails, but I was pretty sure this was a different guy. I was wondering if he was expecting me to recognize him. More staring, he took another step towards me, I took another step back. Um, what is this, I though?

Then he dramatically, and slowly, raised his left hand for me to take and I put my left arm all around his shoulders. Our heights were a perfect match. He pulled me in closer and we started melting around the dance floor. I felt like I had been dancing Tango my whole life. I was Tango. We were Tango. My inner voice laughed at myself. "Usually we have at least exchanged a hello and our first names when I dance this close with someone." Yes, this is the love affair part of Tango. But really, our bodies were moving as one. Round and round we went all over the dance floor. We turned, walked back and forth, legs tangled but moving in perfect coordination. I could feel his heart beating through my chest. Or was that my heart? I had been seduced by Tango.

Our series of songs ended. I thanked him for the dance, still wobbly in the knees. I walked back to my table with my friends in awe as much as I was. "I think I need a cigarette" I said to them. And I don't even smoke!