Ten Years of Tango

Midnight at a Tango Salon in Buenos Aires, March 2004

It's ten years, to the week, since I took part in my first intensive Tango experience. There is nothing quite like the International Week held at Tango El Corte, in Nijmegen, Holland. Some weeks before, in May, I had attended a few tango lessons by the incredible tango maestro, Eric Jorissen, in Cape Town which had been arranged by Rodney, Sally and Mark. I had been dragged there, kicking and screaming, by my friend Neil. At the time I had said "I think tango is ugly, and the music is funny". Seriously. I said that.

Neil's then partner had been unavailable for three out of a four-session course. At the time I was Neil's dance teacher in other forms of dance, and a good friend. So I went along.

I loved it. I was hooked. I was going to be in Holland that August to fundraise for NICRO, so I arranged with Eric to attend his International Week. He was "pretty sure" I'd be fine.

Yeah, right!

In July I made my way to Nijmegen, found his out of the way studio under a railway bridge, and had my first of many, many experiences around the world of opening an arbitrary door and hearing the strains of tango welcoming me in. There, at the very back of El Corte were couples seamlessly moving around the room, legs wrapped in legs, bodies wrapped in close embrace. A room of lovers, I thought. How was I ever to be part of it. Then the music stopped, and these tight couples drifted apart, re-formed with other people, and started again, weaving webs of tango magic around the room. I backed off. I would never make it. A wonderful woman told me everyone felt that the first time, and I should stick with it.

I did. It was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I spent a lot of up a ladder at near the roof of the studio where there was a tiny one-person balcony where I could observe the dance from above. As I learn well by watching, this was a great strategy, especially after one chap was particularly irritated in a class that I didn't know how to turn, or what a giro was. I was new. He was not. I have since learnt that rudeness is not essential in those kinds of settings, but that it is slightly irritating being partnered with an absolute beginner when you have traveled far and paid lots to learn advanced stuff.

It was good that Eric had such trust in me - that I could survive International Week. But also a huge leap of faith, and one I just HAD to live up to. Many people there had been dancing up to 11 years, and some were dancing six nights a week.

Interestingly, when we got back to Cape Town in July 1999, Mark Hoeben and I had been exposed to more tango than our Cape Town tango friends, so it was fitting that he continue to teach and that I start to teach tango. And what a fabulous few years that was - teaching and facilitating tango, running la Vie en Rosebud (a free milonga in Green Point) and arranging mad places to dance inside and outside along with others. A fantastic group of friends, and the licence to dance in other places, including the five continents I tangoed on in 2004 on my tango trip around the world. It was on that trip that I met Francis in Spain.

Now, exactly ten years later to the week, Francis has taken himself off to intensive tango workshops with the lovely Lucia Mazer from Buenos Aires. He did three night sessions and four sessions over the weekend, with a milonga in between. I managed just two sessions on the weekend and the milonga - it was good to be back on the floor, complete with a 21 week preggie belly. I was thrilled to see the level of the participants and the excellent ethos bred by Hosanna and Paul at their exciting warehouse venue in Redfern. and it's a plus that Francis is fast becoming a tanguero. It's time to celebrate ten years of tango for me, and many years ahead for Francis and me.

You can join 810-strong Tango El Corte, Nijmegen group on Facebook which I started to link whose lives El Corte has touched. We're with those at International Week in spirit this week.