Tongue-twisting Tango

Tango is more than just a dance - it's a conversation, said Jennifer Torpie, 18, a freshman in zoology said.

"You can talk to people and not really get to know them," she said. "But when you dance with someone, you know automatically who they are."

Torpie is a member of the Ohio State University Tango Club. She discovered the club during Welcome Week and has been hooked since her first lesson.

"I've always wanted to dance," Torpie said. "I know it takes a lifetime to perfect and I really want to get there."

Tango originated in Argentina during the late 19th century. It is a combination of many dances from many cultures. Its music was formed from the rhythms of European, South American Milonga and African songs. It is introduced to people in many different ways and in many different places.

Marcelo Pomeranz, a graduate student in horticulture, learned the dance while living in Europe.

"I was studying English in France," he said." I'm Argentinean and it was embarrassing to not know the tango, so an Argentinian professor taught me."

The OSU tango class is not just for students. It is open to anyone willing to learn. Kathy McKinley, a Columbus nurse and mother of an OSU student, also takes lessons.

"I was looking online and wanted to get involved," she said. McKinley enjoys tango so much she said she is going to try to get her daughter to come.

The Tango Club meets every Saturday in the Memorial Room at the Ohio Union. The class is instructed by two teachers, Yuval and Lucia. It costs $3 a lesson or $25 a quarter. After every Saturday lesson there is a free La Milonga in which music is played and anyone is welcome to come and dance.

This Friday, OSU tango is supplying a free Tango lesson and putting on a performance titled "Moonlight Madness" at the RPAC at 9 p.m.

Saturday there will be tango workshops at 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. at the RPAC. There will be a free Milonga at 9 p.m., also at the RPAC.

Both events feature professional tango dancers Diego Blanco and Ana Padron. Blanco and Padron, both from New York City, teach tango in Manhattan and perform in the off-Broadway musical Gardel.