Video: Tango fires up the passions of New Yorkers at the 92nd St. Y. 2: 38
Argentine tango is more than a dance for the couples that glide along the dance floor on Saturday nights at the 92nd Street Y. It’s a love affair, a meditation, a life lesson —at its best, a communion between two bodies.
“I never had a passion as strong, as vivid as tango in my life,” said Patrizia Chen, a Manhattan author and chef. “It’s orgasmic.”
That physical vulnerability, that willingness to allow someone to grip you and pull you close, creates an intense intimacy between partners, while the melancholy lyrics give the dance an air of wistful romance.
“No other dance has such a close embrace,” Chen said. “You have to give yourself to the other person.”
The tango, which originated as a dance between men in the streets of working-class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century, can be found nowadays at two or three New York City clubs on any night of the week. Tango DJ and webmaster Richard Lipkin said the New York tango scene has been growing steadily since the mid-80s. He runs www.newyorktango.com, a comprehensive calendar of tango dances, called milongas.
