Enjoying a Tango by Moonlight, Over the Charles
AAA Horizons
As the amber, bloated June moon fought through the gauzy cloud cover of Cambridge, it shed light on a modest rose that graced the chest-high rail of a decades-old footbridge that spans the Charles River.
It also acted as a natural spotlight for the untold dozens of tango fanatics who gathered for the fifth season of Tango by Moonlight, a monthly celebration of dance that takes place on the Weeks Footbridge, only a brief backstroke away from the Harvard Boathouse.
Once a month – from June to October – the Tango Society of Boston conducts a free night of dance under the full moon. Tango by Moonlight was inspired by the French film “Tangos, The Exile of Gardel,” where Argentine expatriates dance a memorable moonlight tango on a bridge over the Seine.
“The Argentine tango is very social,” said Rita Kraner, a Boston College law student who hails from Moldova, a former Soviet republic. “It’s a nice dance to do together as a pair. Unlike many other forms of dance, there’s an interaction between the partners.”
Forget the lambada, the Argentine tango is the real forbidden dance. A
sensual blend of sinew and subdued rhythm, the Argentine tango is a
more intimate affair, unlike its younger, more extroverted American,
European and ballroom cousins.
“Men like [the tango] because it allows them to be masculine in an acceptable way; they lead and it gives the men a chance to safeguard the women. Women like it because it's one of the few times, they tell me, that men listen to them.”
Although its exact origins are difficult to pin down, it is known that the Argentine tango is a fusion of rhythms that evolved during the late-19th and early 20th centuries.
“[The tango] comes from three separate traditions: The Italian and Spanish influence, the indigenous Argentine tradition, and African tradition,” says Clifton Chow, the Tango Society of Boston’s special events coordinator. “We call it the dance of the embrace.
“My connection with tango began long before I knew about this society,” adds Chow. “I used to live in Argentina. When I was touring the neighborhood where tango was supposedly born, San Telmo, I saw people dancing outdoors . . . and I fell in love with the music.”
So, apparently, have the more than 1,500 “tangueros” who belong to the Tango Society of Boston. Founded in 1997 by Shahrukh Merchant and Anne Atheling, this not-for-profit organization is dedicated to the support and growth of the tango.
With Merchant’s idea in mind, Atheling organized a 10-day Argentine tango festival in Boston in 1997. It was such a hit that the society was given the green light, and the Tango by Moonlight sessions are now the highlight of a very active year-round calendar. The society hosts a weekly lesson and dance at the V.F.W. Mt. Auburn Post on Huron Avenue in Cambridge, and brings one of the world’s top tango teachers to the city once a month.
“I’ve asked our dancers what men and women like about the dance,” says Chow. “Men like it because it allows them to be masculine in an acceptable way; they lead and it gives the men a chance to safeguard the women. Women like it because it's one of the few times, they tell me, that men listen to them.”
For more information, call the Tango Line at 617-699-6246 or visit the Web site at www.bostontango.org.
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