The sexy, sensual world of tango is experiencing a shake-up, as same-sex couples compete for the first time in the world championships in Argentina, where the dance was born.
The crowds in this traditionally conservative bastion of machismo culture, surprisingly, seem to embrace the change.
Enthusiastic cheers and massive applause rang out in a Buenos Aires exhibition hall for Juan Pablo Ramirez and Daniel Arroyo, as they danced to a 1940s classic.
Photo: Reuters
“It takes two to tango,” Ramirez said, elated after his successful performance, “but they don’t necessarily have to be different sexes.”
Ramirez, a 34-year-old Argentine professional dancer, and Arroyo, 18, are among four same-sex couples competing in the 11th annual world championship.
“There is a macho culture,” Arroyo said. “But there are older people who appreciate us.
“We aren’t doing anything transgressive,” he said, adding: “Society isn’t ready. It’s a slow change, with pauses.”
The dance partners said they are trying to excel in the world of tango, not just a gay subculture.
“Our goal is for people to say: ‘What good dancing!’” Ramirez said.
Although same-sex couples are now seen as out of the ordinary in the milongas (dance halls) where tango is celebrated amid a cult of masculinity, the origins of the dance tell a different story.
Born in the brothels of the 19th century, the dance was at that time performed by pairs of men — women were initially prohibited from participating in a dance considered prostitute-like.
Gustavo Mozzi, a musician and composer, and director of the tango championship, said that same-sex couples were never barred from the competition, though they never entered in the past.
This year’s entries show “there is a relaxation in the tango and milongas circuit. An opening,” Mozzi said.
Music swelled again and couples began striding and circling the stage in the deliberate tango motions as the audience cheered for Marlene Heyman and Lucia Christe.
Heyman, 31, a dancing shoe saleswoman, and Christe, 32, a violin professor, say they are not gay — both have or had boyfriends — but started dancing together for lack of partners at the milongas.
“Nobody asked us to dance. So to avoid being left sitting, drinking wine, we said: ‘Let’s play. Let’s have fun,’” Heyman said.
“And we loved it,” she added.
Once they figured out who was going to lead (traditionally the man) and follow (traditionally the woman), they took on the challenge of competing with the male-female pairs.
Other dancers “told us: ‘What genius! What courage!’” Heyman said, adding: “It’s not important to us if others stare. The most important thing is we have a good time.”
Nearby, Marcelo Siufe, 41, a nurse, stands with his partner Manuel Mioni, 26, a professional dancer, waiting to take the stage.
“Dance has no sex,” Siufe said. “Before, men danced with each other. I could dance with my sister or my mother.”
“Tango is passion and fantasy,” he added.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
A team of doctors and vets in Pakistan has developed a novel treatment for a pair of elephants with tuberculosis (TB) that involves feeding them at least 400 pills a day. The jumbo effort at the Karachi Safari Park involves administering the tablets — the same as those used to treat TB in humans — hidden inside food ranging from apples and bananas, to Pakistani sweets. The amount of medication is adjusted to account for the weight of the 4,000kg elephants. However, it has taken Madhubala and Malika several weeks to settle into the treatment after spitting out the first few doses they
RSS