In the 1920s, actor Rudolph Valentino sparked an international tango craze when he performed an Argentinian style tango in the silent film “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
Tonight, UCLA’s Social Dance Club, along with the Ballroom Dance Club and International Folk Dance Club will bring this Argentinian tango experience to UCLA by hosting a milonga, or Argentinian-style tango party, in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
This event is also a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Ballroom Dance Club’s first tango party that was held in 1997 and attracted more than 200 participants.
According to Sam Neff, a second-year mechanical engineering student and president of the Social Dance Club, “milonga” can also refer to the faster, more freely formed Argentinian variation of the tango.
“(Tango dancing) is very much about being present with your partner, in the moment and dancing together as one person, like merged bodies in a way,” Neff said.
The event will include free tango, milonga and vals cruzado (an Argentinian waltz) lessons. There will also be performances by Los Angeles-based tango instructor Michael Espinoza and the co-directors of the Ballroom Dance Club, Cynthia Harper and UCLA alum and club founder James Zimmer.
“Tango is just based on walking around the room together, so it’s a really easy dance form to learn the basics in,” Zimmer said.
These lessons will be followed by an open dance floor with DJ Emmet, a DJ known for his tango music.
According to second-year psychobiology student and president of the Ballroom Dance Club Misha Agunos, tango music mirrors the movements of the dance. The dancer must follow certain steps and rhythms, but there is also a sensuality to the movements that enables dancers to have an intimate, close dance.
“You’re just fixated on the music (and) the movement. … It stirs up a lot of passion (and) evokes a lot of emotion,” Harper said. “As a dancer, you take that in and you dance to express how the music makes you feel. You have an emotional reaction to this music.”
Agunos said tango songs also allow the dancer to vary their steps.
“In a lot of tango songs, there’s a lot of room for pace changes. You can speed up or slow down your steps, and there (are) a lot of interlocking and overlapping beats for people to style their dance against. … It allows a lot of room for dramatic things,” Agunos said.
According to Agunos, the Argentinian milonga event is one in a series of cultural dance nights hosted by the club.
She also said the Ballroom Dance Club tries to collaborate with as many on-campus cultural clubs as possible to expose people to different cultures through dance. While tonight’s event focuses on Argentinian dance, the club has featured Hawaiian, Greek, Armenian and Bollywood dances at past events.
Zimmer said that while the event is meant to celebrate Latin culture, it is also a Valentine’s Day dance.
The club plans to recreate the enclosed, romantic atmosphere typical of Argentinian clubs in Ackerman Grand Ballroom by encompassing the room in curtains and dim lighting.
Tango has a reputation for being a romantic dance, but it is also a social dance. Neff and Agunos said they want to stress the fact that partners are not required and that this event is a place for dancers to meet people with all levels of experience.
“Tango is an unspoken conversation between two people. … It makes them feel connected, and this connection can be romantic. But it can also be friendly too,” Harper said.