My first tango in Buenos Aires was a shock. An elegantly dressed older man indicated that he would dance with me. He escorted me to a carefully selected spot on the dance floor, and just stood there, waiting for something, as the music began. I wondered if he had changed his mind about dancing with blond, Norte Americana. Then, at some mysterious signal, he raised his arms to wrap me in my first tango embrace. I had taken a few tango workshops in Boston and Montreal and felt confident that I understood how the tango worked. My first mistake, but it's how I learned that tango is not just a series of proscribed steps. Tango is a feeling. It's the feeling of moving with another body, in synch, in concert, in harmony, with syncopation, with pauses, with communication, and with trust. The feeling of letting go of all the issues of the day, melding with another in a room full of others, all hearing the same song and all dancing their own dance. When you experience that, you understand what they mean when they say "Tango is a love affair the length of a song". For me it has been the love affair which most changed my life.

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