It takes two to tango ““ or so the American proverb goes.
But members of the Tango Club at UCLA would likely insist that the Argentine tango requires and incites much more than the adage includes.
“Everything is improvised in a tango dance, so every dance is unique, and should communicate a different message,” said Brian Nguyen, a second-year physiological sciences student and tango club member. “The message is given without words, but with moves in accordance to music. You can memorize all the steps in the world, but when you’re on the floor, it’s the heart that moves you.”
This past Saturday marked a momentous occasion for the Tango Club at UCLA. Four couples from the group ““ a total of eight pairs of fancy feet ““ competed in Argentine tango at “The Dance of the Roses,” an annual dance competition held at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Several couples took home honors in divisions ranging from beginning tango to intermediate/advanced salsa.
“This is the first time ever that UCLA has fielded a ballroom dance team,” said Stephen Le, the club’s founder and president and a graduate student in anthropology. “This is a great start.”
Le grew up break dancing, but a friend sparked his interest in other kinds of dance by introducing him to salsa and swing. Learning one dance led to the next, and when Le learned tango, it was addiction at first encounter.
“The thing that distinguished tango for me right away was the music,” he said. “I have a classical music background, and as soon as I heard the music I knew tango was the dance for me. The music is lush, sophisticated, intricate and passionate, all the elements I look for in classical music. It’s quite artistically fulfilling.”
Now, Le’s love of tango can continue at UCLA. He founded the club a few years ago, but it wasn’t until this year that it gained what he calls “a critical mass of people.”
Le taught a tango class at the Wooden Center during fall quarter, and inspired a few students to come to club meetings Thursday nights in Wooden to expand on their new skills in a relaxed atmosphere.
“One of the things people notice is that we’re really friendly in our club,” Le said. “The problem with partner dances is that you have people who are really good and people who are learning. … You sometimes end up with a kind of cliquishness. But … we’re really open to beginners and experts alike.”
Andrea Chang, a fourth-year global studies and Spanish student, has taken advantage of the weekly meetings.
“Tango at UCLA was started by people that love tango,” she said. “When we come to these tango practices, they teach us so much: how to breathe, move, extend your legs ““ details that you would have to pay to learn in lessons.”
A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Chang lived in tango’s birthplace until she was 8 years old. She says that although American tango is based on Argentine tango, the two are very different.
“A lot of people feel like since American tango derived from Argentine, it’s the imitation version,” Chang said. “(But) Argentine tango has different step patterns and directions. In Argentine tango, you’re constantly moving, rotating, kicking in different directions and between (your partner’s) legs.”
Though she never had any formal dance training, she competed in Argentine tango as Le’s partner this Saturday. The two took third place in the intermediate/advanced tango division.
Most group members were not exposed to tango at such an early age. Nguyen, who took second place in the beginning tango division with partner Elisa Frank, remembers imitating Michael Jackson and teaching himself pop-locking moves when he was in seventh grade.
“Now, it’s Le that I learn from,” Nguyen said.
Members are also constantly learning from their partners and having to trust them.
“There’s balance and trust; in a counterweight (move) where we both lean back and hold onto each other, you can’t let go or your partner falls,” he said. “In a move like that, it requires trust.”
While the tango is a partner dance, Chang stresses that members don’t have to worry about bringing a partner to dance with.
“You don’t even need a partner,” Chang said. “You switch all the time. A lot of girls think, “˜Oh, nobody’s going to dance with me.’ But if a guy sees a girl standing there, he will go dance with her. There doesn’t have to be romance. After a while, it’s more like a performance.”
And while partners may switch every few minutes, one thing remains constant: Once you’ve been bitten by the tango bug, you’ll be hooked.
“It’s one of those things where you don’t think you’ll like it, but once you start you can’t stop,” Nguyen said. “I’m a walking example of that. I was like, “˜Tango? Come on.’ And it’s my life now.”