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.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home