Learning the Argentine Tango!

The first thing I wanted to do as part of my recovery was dance. One month after surgery, I saw that they were offering a "Tango with Passion Week" at my old dance studio.

I thought I’d sign up for one class and see how it went...


One week later – I’d spent about 2-5 hours a day, every day, in that studio learning the Argentine Tango (which was very, VERY different from the ballroom tango I had danced before). I took intro and advanced classes, bought new shoes, went to my first milonga (a tango ball), and even signed up to participate in a showcase where I rehearsed and performed with a group during the final milonga.

The classes were taught by Omar and Monica Ocampo, who teach courses around the world in Argentine Tango. I jumped at the opportunity for a private lesson with Omar, who worked with me on my form and technique in the dance. He even taught me most of the lesson in Spanish, since I took some classes in school, and really challenged me linguistically and physically during my lesson! Something he explained to me is that Argentine Tango is a very private, intimate dance, very different from ballroom style dances, which are primarily for the audience. The stance is completely different, and the movements are very technical, and vary from step to step. As a follow, it’s extremely important to have the weight on the correct foot, so the other foot is available for any move the lead takes. It’s a very intricate dance, far outside of anything I’ve tried before. And it was a blast to learn.

Some of my favorite moves I learned were the back ochos (the back crossing thingy), the ganchos (the leg kicky thingy), and the calesita (the up on one leg and spin in a circle thingy).

The absolute best part of this dance was learning that people actually get together and do this on a regular basis. Colorado Springs has a thriving Argentine Tango community, and Denver’s is among the most popular in the world for milongas. I still try to go pretty regularly, and have made some awesome friends through this. I think this made the top of my list of favorite dances, and was a great post-op adventure…in spite of the blisters I got from breaking in my pretty new shoes!