Tango Queer: Argentina's famous dance thrives among LGBTQ+ community
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Loading... - Riky Rojas
- 27 Mar 2023
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While the dress and music of the Argentine tango have updated with the times, the dance has lacked one marked revision: the role of the dancers has remained remarkably immutable. That’s where the idea for Tango Queer was born: a space that permitted dancers of any gender to fill the role they pleased: lead, or be led.
Think of tango and the classic images of Argentina’s beloved dance come quickly to mind: a woman draped in red, her heel kicking up under an asymmetrical, lace hemline, clinging closely as her partner leads a dramatic display of love and longing. But almost two centuries into its history, a new generation of dancers are taking tango into the 21st century.
Yes, the silhouette of a cherry-dressed brunette guided by her partner, his face shadowed under the brim of a dainty fedora, remains on the postcards peddled on El Caminito and in some of the most touristy tango shows. But away from the spotlight of tourism, in the milongas of Balvanera or Boedo, tango is modernising.
Dancers dressed in black, orange, blue, even plain clothes, electro-tango playlists on Spotify, and shows with elements of surrealism hint at some of the changes that the rhythmic dance has seen in its history stretching back almost 200 years. Yet, the updates to the dress code and the music of tango only expose the absence of one glaring revision: the role of the dancers has remained remarkably immutable. Read More..
