Clik here to view.
Beauty Does Not Forget
He walked like a varón, stalking the edges of the milonga like a cat, ignoring Amadeo Mandarino's plaintive Al verla pasar. He pretended not to know her as he walked by, but she did not look down. She...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stepping Stone
Maybe it is the world weariness of Adriana Varela's Cambalache that makes the woman edgy. The lesson is going badly, the teacher has little experience, and people are just learning steps and not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Silent Goodbye
El Hermoso is asking why I didn't say goodbye last night. A wrinkle forms on his intelligent forehead, and his soft eyes search mine. The milonga was a perfect confusion of dancers and soft light and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Haiku Tango
Haiku is all of one's life compressed into seventeen syllables.Tango fits life into eight beats.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lost in Pugliese
La Argentina's hands flutter to her heart, and her head, resplendent in carmine curls, tilts to the right. 'Pugliese,' she says and moves her head as though she is nestling in the composer's arms,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Tear in Suspension
Dark Eyes calls for Pugliese's Una lágrima and takes La Argentina by the hand, wordlessly leading her to the floor of the milonga. He knows that this song, with its lazy rhythm and story of a ruined...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Body Never Lies
In another life, La Condesa had been a theater critic. Her red hair is framed in the fairy lights of the milonga, and she fingers a glass of white wine. It is 3 a.m., and the dancing shadows of our...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Too Much Is Not Enough
La Aventura throws her head back and laughs out loud in the middle of El choclo, and her partner lightly leads her in a delighted molinete, turning her quickly, her legs flashing.And as Tita Merello...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Precious Center
La Porteña stops in elegant suspension, her weight on her delicate left foot. Her partner knows how to take his time. He is testing her weight with feathery touches as Libertad Lamarque cries out over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
La Fea and El Gordo
Across the high counter of the coffee bar, La Fea hands me a cup every morning. Her teeth make her smile crooked, and her glasses are thick. Her wit is quick, and she makes the early hour a pleasure....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Thieving Harpist
Languid red shoes with an embrace of webbing, soft black suede shoes with insistent stilettos, shoes like spiders' webs, shoes like love ... nothing is satisfying the woman. The patient shopgirl, who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Woman's Intention To Play
La Argentina arches her body into her partner as he takes the first salida of the dance.She winks at the dancers surrounding her and gives a huge shrug. 'For this I give you Pugliese. Hah! Emancipación...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Never to Forget
La Argentina sits outside the milonga. It is 1 a.m., and her feet are bare. Her worn shoes are collapsed at her feet. The moan of Pugliese's Y no puedo olvidarte leaks from the heavy wood door, thrown...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mid-Game of Tango
'The aggression of the white side in chess,' El Generoso is saying, 'is balanced by the patience of the black side.'He leads me in a quick forward ocho that he adorns with a rapid kick and a tiny...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waltz of Hearts
The DJ is playing still another tango waltz, and I am suddenly interested in pouring water into my plastic cup. I am so tired of Dos corazones that I eye the door of the milonga, open to the night and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
The Unspoken Rings
El Generoso gathers La Fidele into his close embrace, and they silently glide into Julio Sosa's En este tarde gris. The milonga this evening seems to be taking a break, and they are alone on the dance...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Tectonics of Lightning
When the rains come, we are soaked, but the urgent sounds of El choclo float off the porch through the drops, and we laugh at ourselves. We have no shoes, and the sand lets us pivot effortlessly. Our...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Passing Life of the Abandoned Bandoneón
The yard sale is in the stony drive beside a trailer. The weeds are breaking through, and everything that was once inside the trailer is emptied onto the hard, bright gravel. Broken figures of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sidewalk Memory of Cumparsita
It is late in this night of remembrance, and Dark Eyes commands the stereo. Only a few couples still dance in this early morning of tango, and their tastes delightedly devolve into the scratchy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mirror of Sway
The colgadas are difficult to learn, and the balance of the forces between the man and woman as they move does not come. They stumble and fall apart.'Ah, yes,' says La Luna and stops the practice to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dance of One Is None
La Luna is demanding. 'The colgadas are for the daring.' But on this day the balance between partners falters. La Luna, a world-class dancer, is patient, kind, encouraging - unrelenting.El Flaco...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ripping the Butterfly Cocoon
El Flaco asks La Mariposa to dance, but she looks at the face of her husband, and the storm that is there gives her answer. She comes to the milonga week after week and sits with her hands in her lap...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Riffs in the Key of Tango
The bounce from the flute of Eduardo Tami echoes the rough sweetness of so many nights in Buenos Aires where La Culebra smokes her thin cigars, the ones that show off her hands.El Esquinazo plays...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hearing of the Heart
La Oreja takes my hands and gives them a tug so light I barely notice. The lightly tripping guitar of Espejo de mi vida trips from the stereo, and I am straining to see if Dark Eyes has come this time,...
View Article
