The home of tango
Steve Fosdal and Krista Bultmann, organizers of the Madison Tango Society, the nonprofit group that sponsors milongas, were part of the group that traveled to Argentina to learn from the best tango dancers in the world. <

"In Buenos Aires, even people in their 90s are out dancing until 4 a.m.," said Bultmann, a Madison physical therapist. "You see couples who've been dancing together 60 years, and there is a connection like you've never seen. In Buenos Aires everybody goes out at night. Nothing opens until 11 p.m. and most people don't arrive until midnight." <

Argentina's economic collapse in the 1990s inadvertently revitalized its old tango scene. <

"Dancing is cheap. You pay a couple dollars and dance all night," said Bultmann. <

The Argentine economic ruin also led to an exodus of elite tango dancers who now tour the world and teach. Meanwhile, there's a growing number of Americans who, after succumbing to tango fever, moved to Buenos Aires to dedicate their lives to the dance. Among them are a pair of Milwaukee women who offer services as "tango guides" for Americans, steering them to the milongas they're interested in (Saturday milongas are for sedate oldsters, while others draw drunken young people who roll around on the floor), helping them find the best lessons and places to stay. It's cheap for Americans to spend time in Argentina because of the exchange rate. <

When not dancing, the Madison group searched Buenos Aires for recorded music, since Argentine music is difficult to find in the Midwest, and tango shoes. Women usually wear open-toed high heels with ankle straps and a hard, slick sole for easy pivoting. Men, too, often have dance shoes with slightly elevated heels so they can turn on their toes smoothly. <

While the dancers, music and shoes may be better in Buenos Aires, language barriers can sometimes create tango glitches. "My heel got stuck between the floor boards, and the guy I was dancing with me couldn't figure out why I wasn't following him," said Nicole Stevens, of Madison, who has been an avid tangoer for more than a year and recently started sponsoring her own milongas. "And I couldn't explain because he spoke only Spanish and I spoke only English." <

Learning the nuances of Argentina's culture is also part of the experience. "In Buenos Aires the man is always the one who asks someone to dance," said Bultmann. "Men also ask with their eyes. If a lady wants to dance she looks around. If their eyes lock, it's yes. He might nod his head, and not a single word is said before you dance. <

"If either person looks away, the answer is no." <

Tango began in the brothels of Argentina in the late 19th century, though Uruguay makes the same claim. Legend has it that you couldn't get a woman, even in a brothel, if you couldn't dance. Traveling tango shows still have brothel scenes showing men learning to dance together, followed by a knife fight started by the rejected man. <

Getting connected
Here, it's often the movies that brings people to tango. Tom Rice, a computer programmer, dove in about a year ago after he and his wife saw the movie "Tango" at the Majestic Theater. <

"Tango is dynamic communication between a man and a woman," he said. "There's a lot of room for back and forth, and nothing is verbalized. When you dance with a woman, you pay attention to how she is responding to the music, how she feels, her mood. Pretty soon, you are both listening to the music. If I'm leading right, somewhere in the music is something we both can respond to. You build up communication in the course of a set. Essentially you are trying to seduce your partner. It's really very polite, but extremely intense." <

While Rice was at the recent milonga in Madison, his wife, JoAnna, an artist, was in Italy dancing tango in a group that included an Argentine master. "We found this whole world that we didn't know existed." <

There is, of course, plenty of great tango outside of Buenos Aires, in European cities, and there's an especially lively tango scene in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in a number of American cities, notably Chicago. And there are plenty of style variations. What sets Argentine tango apart is the intense physical contact. <

"In Buenos Aires dance clubs you expect to have your space invaded," Stevens said. "The men scoop you up and hold you close." <

In American-style tango, partners may stand as much as eight inches apart, and it tends to be more theatrical and flashy. Show tango by professional troupes features throws, pivots and hooks. <

About 320 people are on the Madison Tango Society's e-mail list, and about 60 typically attend the milongas and practices. Roughly half are college age, while most of the others are in 30s, 40s, and 50s. The oldest of the regulars, in his 80s, is frequently asked to dance by women of all ages but seems to prefer dancing by himself, gently brushing the women off after a few turns, and continuing to circle the floor by himself, smiling as if remembering a partner who is no longer with him. <

As many singles as couples come to the Madison Tango Society events. Luckily, there are usually roughly the same number of leads as follows, so there are no wallflowers. Couples split up and dance with everyone, both sexes doing the asking. They come from as far as Milwaukee, Beloit, Racine, and even Chicago. Some come to tango with dance backgrounds; others come knowing little more than how to walk back and forth. <

"You only need to take a couple of lessons before you can come to a milonga and participate," Bultmann said. "But you keep taking lessons, just as you would ballet." <

The dance itself
Tango has an eight-count basic step, moving forward, backward, with side steps and pivots. But much of the appeal is the freedom of the dance. <

"Ballroom dance has a lot of structure," said Fosdal, a member of the database technical staff at UW-Madison. "Tango is an open and improvisational dance." <

"As a follow, you have to let yourself be one with the man," added Bultmann. The embrace and connection of tango has a lot of play and flexibility in it. Dancers choreograph their own "adornments" during playful passages in the music. "My leg is the whip, nice and relaxed," said Bultmann, as she made a quick little backward kick against Fosdal's leg, then snaked her foot up his calf. <

A couple might be doing what appears to be different steps, but when they're in the zone, they move as a single unit, detecting the slightest cues from one another in an unspoken dialogue that includes shifts in weight, rhythm, direction, and the changing pressure of the man's hand against his partner's back. <

Most dancers at Madison milongas are at intermediate levels, but milongas have a growing number of advanced dancers, such as professional tango dancer Marek Szotkowski, who emigrated to Milwaukee from the Czech Republic after the Soviet Union broke up. In addition to teaching in Milwaukee, he holds class in Madison and is credited with generating a lot of the prevailing excitement in Madison's tango world. A number of internationally known tango teachers have also come to Madison to teach. <

Tango is also, according to some, as much a tonic as a dance - an antidote for stress, and even loneliness. Nicole Stevens credits the tango with, among other things, helping her recover from a leg injury after physical therapy and yoga failed. "It strengthened my leg, it's good for balance, and it's invigorating," she said. But that's not the primary reason she does it. <

"Tango is addictive," Stevens said. "In our culture, people aren't sensual enough with one another. Tango is all about affection. It's a rush. But it's a friendly, not sexual thing, because everyone knows the boundaries. You are saying, 'I'm happy to be getting into your space,' and how great is that? When you really connect, it feels great. It's called 'the special moment.'" <

"When I started tango, I was worried that all kinds of guys would be mackin' on me, but that didn't happen. I mentioned that to Steve and he said to me, 'Nicole, there are lots easier ways to pick up women than to learn the tango.'" <