Tango Lessons - Number 28

I have always wanted to learn to dance the tango. Who doesn’t really? But I’m serious. I feel like it’s one of those skills every international woman of mystery must have in their possession – it’s right up there with owning the perfect black dress, driving a stick-shift, and knowing when to press your eight in craps. Even if there is only one chance encounter in a lifetime to use it, (say, when sitting at a boring charity fundraiser, your boring date is god-knows-where, and a very devastating James Bond or a blind Al Pacino comes up and ask you to dance,) the tango is something worth knowing. I know you’re thinking it’s just for the romance of Buenos Aires, or accordeon music, or the swarthy men in pinstripes, or perhaps the sexy dresses and fishnets, (I love fishnets.) And, while I do absolutely adore those t-strap shoes tango dancers wear, there is something more to this desire of mine.

Of all the movies featuring the tango, the most unforgettable, is Sally Potter’s “The Tango Lesson” – just for the shot of Sally and Pablo below Delacroix’s painting in St Sulpice, striking the tango hold as Jacob wrestles the angel above. The juxtaposition serves as a simple metaphor for the complexities of a love affair expressed in the complexities of a dance - both elements needing to be fought, wrestled, and possibly never mastered. As Tango choreographer Juan Carlos Copes said:  “The tango is a man and woman in search of each other. It is the search for an embrace, a way to be together, when the man feels that he is a male and the woman feels that she is a female, without machismo. She likes to be led; he likes to lead. Disagreements may occur later or they may not. When that moment comes, it is important to have a positive and productive dialogue, fifty-fifty.”

Like many life lessons, the dance is both obsession and balance, hot and cold, searching and finding. So, for number 28 on my list, I choose tango lessons – even if starting them is only the beginning of a long, arduous, and painful attempt that never leads to mastery…it’s just something I need to do.

Image from Getty Images