[Tango-L] Now that I?m here in BsAs

[Caroline Polack]

Iºve realized that what I thought I knew about tango, I actually didnºt know 
at all. Have only been here five days but have already gone to several 
milongas (Gricel, Nino Bien, Salon Canning, Confiteria Ideal). The first two 
days, I was absolutely terrified to jump in and dance because I felt so 
incompetent in comparison to the locals. Then one afternoon, I forced myself 
to go to Confiteria Ideal, on my own. Just being there was an incredible 
experience and then 3 and a half hours later, when I finally left, due to 
massive blisters on my feet from breaking in new tango shoes, I felt as 
though I was coming back down to earth. I had danced non stop with one 
porteno after another. One lovely porteno, who noticed that I was a bit 
stiff (jetlag, oncoming cold, blisters) said to me in broken english, "close 
your eyes and sleep". And so I did, I closed my eyes and in this dreamlike 
state, felt as though my partner was telling me a poetic story through his 
body, his dancing, his tight embrace. Iºve never experienced anything like 
that in my life. My entire body felt as though I had just imbibed a glass of 
wine and thus was relaxed from its liquid in my veins.

The best way to describe what itºs been like dancing with them, itºs as 
though Iºd been given passage to a secret world where senses collide in the 
form of tango. It seems so silly now, how obsessive I was about getting the 
steps right, back home in my hometown. For thatºs so secondary, itºs the 
musicality that is what tango is all about. Each nuance of each movement is 
a response to a note in the song. The portenos, they hold you in close till 
you are forehead to forehead, cheek to cheek, chest to chest, and with all 
those connection points, itºs almost impossible to make a mistake, for when 
you follow their leads, you do so not with thought but with instinct, like 
breathing.

I have a bad cold and blisters on my feet and I donºt care. All I think 
about is where and when to go to the next milonga.

And now Iºm already feeliing sad because I know that this experience may 
never be again replicated when I go home unless I get lucky enough to dance 
with men who are either Argentine or who had learned the tango here in 
Argentina.

Last night, at Salon Canning, there was a busload of tourists pouring into 
the milonga. As I sat with my friend and watched them, I almost winced to 
see how out of place they seemed with their awkward open embrace, or overly 
fanciful steps. All I could think to myself was "they just donºt get it, 
they really don't." When you look at the locals, they are calm, beatific, 
confident. They do not need to step on every single note. They know how to 
put as much into a pause as they do into a step. The tourists, on the other 
hand, seemed almost trying too hard to impress upon others that they know 
what they are doing while completely missing the point.

The dance floor was very crowded and yet all the portenos danced together in 
a perfect flow. It was the tourists dancing with each other that were 
disrupting the flow, or hurting others by kicking up their heels which is a 
big no no! It should be blatantly obvious that such boleos donºt belong 
where there isnºt room for them and obvious how discourteous it is to others 
and I must say kudos to the Argentines for their gracious and benign 
tolerance. The female tourists, I knew, once they danced with a porteno, 
will change their style but the men, because they are the leaders, it will 
take them much longer to understand.

How I wish I could bring over the entire tango community from back home to 
this place so they could learn to dance the Argentine way so that I can 
selfishly have the same experience in Montreal as I do here.

For months, I had heard that in BsAs, itºs not about knowing all this 
advanced tango stuff, itºs about the music, about your partner, itºs about 
translating how the music affects you through your body to your partner. I 
danced okay in Montreal but there was always a bit of awkwardness somehow 
but here, my dancing had improved so naturally fast because my mindset 
shifted from doing the steps properly to closing my eyes and "sleep".

There arenºt any words to describe the bliss Iºm feeling right now.

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