Tango Etiquette

Note to self: when someone asks you to tango you say yes!!

It’s weds night, I’m 3 lessons into my week o tango and Steve and I head to a tango social or milonga.  We enter and are seated.  Unlike swing dancing you are given a seat when you arrive if you haven’t already pre-booked, which is the norm.  Anyway, we survey the room just watching, and not planning to dance really.  And then out of the blue, cute girl comes and asks me for a dance.  I and my sandal clad hooves gracefully declined.  After all, I didn’t have proper shoes on… yes that it, no shoes on.

Later that evening I did put shoes on, hoping that somehow put on shoes would make me feel like a tango dancer.  It didn’t, but it apparently made me look like one.  After a few complements on the shoes and a scolding for turning the cute girl in blue down, one of the older women at the table suggested my 3 lessons were plenty and asked for a dance.  To avoid another scolding I obliged and successfully kept my feet off her toes for two whole songs.  It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t musical, but by god I danced tango in Buenos Aires.

Here’s a photo of me and my tango instructor…