Staff Writer Riley Stacy attended this semester’s first open Columbia/Barnard Tango Club meeting on Wednesday. As it turns out, dancing with strangers is awkward!

On January 17, the Columbia/Barnard Tango Club held their first meeting of the semester in the Broadway Room in Lerner Hall, open to any and all Barnumbia University students. The meeting featured a Foundations class for beginners, followed by 45 minutes of “practica” and a Beyond Foundations class. 

As a very, very poor dancer and generally stiff person, I decided to venture to this meeting with a few friends to see if Tango Club was going to be our new favorite activity. While I don’t think we’ll be returning, the meeting was lively and served as a great way to meet new people, get uncomfortable, step on strangers’ feet, and explore a new hobby.

The meeting began with a Foundations class from 7 to 8:15 pm, in which most people had never tangoed before and would be starting from scratch. The class was taught by a professional tango instructor and dancer, Robin Thomas, and assisted by an additional professional tango dancer who told us that he had competed in at least three continents. Thomas was incredibly passionate about his craft, consistently borrowing people from their partners to demonstrate correct form. Watching these two instructors dance together was genuinely impressive.

The main focus of the class was understanding and practicing the concept of leading and following, which is the basis of Argentine tango. For the first section of the meeting, attendees were asked to pick a partner and participate in a few exercises to learn how to lead or follow. Most of this focused on reading the body language of the leader to figure out which foot should go where and when it should go there, all while avoiding looking at their feet. I was horrible. After becoming comfortable with that, the partner swapping commenced. This is where things became awkward.

My number one piece of advice for those considering joining the club is to bring a friend. Especially if you’re uncomfortable interacting with strangers, it can be nice to have someone to make eye contact with from across the room and make a please-help-me face to. There were definitely a few characters in this class, so it was quite entertaining to watch my friends get paired up with interesting people. However, you must beware the concept of the Rizzler, as I’ve named it.

Unfortunately, my friends and I were faced with a male participant in the class who definitely thought he was the most charming person to ever walk the Earth. Three of us ended up being paired with him, and we all came to the conclusion that he was attempting to rizz up (another word for “flirt with,” for any millennial or boomer readers out there) every young woman in the class. Since tangoing requires you to be in the personal space of another person, this is somewhat unavoidable. I like to call this character the Rizzler, and I’m sure that this is a common thing to come across in partnered dance classes like these, so keep an eye out.

Altogether, the Columbia/Barnard Tango Club is a great place for outgoing, creative people to make some new connections, learn a new skill, and laugh at themselves. While I didn’t stay for the advanced class because that was very clearly above my skill level, I’m sure that practicing with more advanced dancers is a great time. If you’re looking for a way to meet new people from all walks of life and the many undergraduate and graduate institutions of Columbia, Tango Club might be the place for you!
Twelve to thirteen classes are offered each semester on Wednesday nights, but new dancers are only accepted during the first three. Classes are $10 each after your first lesson, and snacks are offered afterwards. (They had some nice looking grapes and cookie-type snacks when I attended, so who knows what might be offered in the future!) Their Facebook page and newsletter are the best ways to stay up to date with them. You can also learn more about the club on their LionLink page.

Tango image via Pixabay