Argentinian tango – it’s as close as men and women get on the dancefloor
HE IS sitting at the bar, she’s at a table. Their eyes meet across the room as the song ends. As she meets his gaze, his expression signals a request almost imperceptible to an outside observer. She responds with an equally subtle affirmation. They both leave their seats and meet at the edge of the dance floor. He offers her his arm; she moves into his embrace, gracefully resting her arm on his shoulder. And when the song starts, in what seems to the outside observer to be but a single step, they find each other’s balance, enter the dance floor, and turn to join the other couples in the circle of dance, their bodies moving as one to the twists and turns of the evocative tango.
Are they friends or lovers of long standing? Are they total strangers? Do they even speak each other’s language? An outside observer couldn’t tell and in the world of the Argentine Tango, none of that matters anyway.
So where are we? Buenos Aires? Montevideo? Perhaps. But as of this season we could just as well be in Nicosia, Limassol or Famagusta.
How can that be me – or you?
That’s what I’ve been asking myself since I started to learn the tango with Julia Gorina’s group in Limassol a year and a half ago. At first, it was ‘How can that ever be me?’ as I fumbled and stumbled with my rigid body and two left feet. Today it’s more like ‘How can that really be me?’ as I revel in the beauty and joy that tango has brought into my life.
For me, so far it’s all been about doing away with myths and misconceptions. The first myth to be disposed of was the partner issue. Wasn’t I supposed to have a partner to take to tango classes? And where does a single male find a likely lady? Well guys, I have news for you: shortage of men in dance classes is a worldwide phenomenon, so for us guys, just turning up really is 90 per cent of success in tango. And the Argentinian tango, let me remind you, features probably the closest hold of any couple dance. Do I have your attention now, gentlemen?
But wasn’t I supposed to have natural dancing talent? Well, I had little natural walking talent, let alone dancing, when I started. I had been kicked out of my unit’s parade team while serving in the National Guard because my marching was too stiff and rigid – no, I’m not joking; my superior officers really did think that my walking was actually too rigid for a military parade.
At first I pitied intensely the poor ladies who had to put up with me losing my balance, losing count and generally losing the plot as I stumbled my way through the lessons. But they were very patient with me, I stuck to it and the big turning point came when I first crossed the Green Line to go tango dancing in Famagusta a year ago, not knowing what to expect. I got considerably more than I bargained for!
No matter that I could hardly walk around the dance floor at the time: Rahim Cetinel, teacher of the Famagusta group and host at the milonga, made me dance with just about every lady there and introduced me to just about everyone. That was where I met Mustafa Elmas and his lovely partner Pembe Gaziler, who also teach tango. Mustafa is an accomplished orchestra leader and accordionist as well and heads his own tango orchestra, Mediterraneo.
That friendly reception, and others since, put paid to another myth: that tango is some kind of glamour game and to have a good time you have to turn up looking perfect with your dancing skills already at world-class level. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tangueros are a friendly lot; they’re always on the lookout for new people to infect with the virus, irrespective of age, gender or other personal circumstances. Tango is about socialising, not competing or performing.
Cyprus tango fever
TANGO fever came to Cyprus in 2003, and hit both sides of the Green Line. Julia Gorina returned to Limassol from Athens, and Rahim Cetinel and Mustafa Elmas returned to Famagusta from Istanbul. Each of them brought the tango back to the island from lessons they’d taken in the big cities. Each was determined to start teaching tango and form a community. It wasn’t long before small but dedicated bands of tango dancers started growing in Limassol and Famagusta.
Janet Offer, an enthusiastic British tango dancer and teacher of Greek Cypriot ancestry who, with her partners, runs the school Tango West in Bristol in the UK, played a part in bringing the two emerging tango communities together. It was on one of her regular visits to the island that she enticed some members of the Limassol tango community – myself included – to visit Famagusta. The rest, as they say, is history.
These days, the most dedicated dancers are equally likely to be found at tango classes and events on either side of the Green Line, in Limassol, Famagusta or Nicosia – where there are events on both sides of the divided capital. And, though small, the tango community is active. There have already been lessons with guest teachers from Athens and the UK, including Tango Wests’s Argentinian teacher Eduardo Bozzo. There have also been special events featuring Mustafa Elmas’ tango orchestra Mediteranneo, and a visit by tango school “Ocho” from Stuttgart, Germany, with lessons taught by their Cypriot-German teacher, Leonardo Anastassiades. And more events are in the pipeline.
The scene:
Nicosia (south of Green Line): Lessons with Mustafa Elmas and Nina Gorovaya or Julia Gorina, from 8:00pm, followed by dancing until midnight, at the Mystagogia music cafe, 43 Areos St. (off Xanthis Xenierou) within the walled city of Nicosia. Contact Julia, 99406032, [email protected]
Limassol: Currently on recess, but Julia will be glad to hear from you so she can keep you posted as to future events. Julia, 99406032, [email protected]
Also have a look atwww.almaproductions.net/page/partners.htm
