Tango toes

This glowing couple are the winners of the 2010 Tango Mundial. They are the best tango dancers in the world. Shes 29 and hes 18. Theyre from Buenos Aires.

When Nate and I ventured to our first tango event last night -- a beginners class in a community center that seemed better suited for wrestling mats than high heeled shoes -- who had showed up to guest teach the class? The best tango dancers in the world. Though I left the lesson with permanent dents in the toes of my flats, getting to watch this pair glide together across the floor demonstrating, uh -- well, to be honest, I have no idea exactly what they were demonstrating. Triple axles? -- was absolutely worth the toe pain and my 2 dance partners who tactfully moved on to the next partner as quickly as possible.

Tango is strange. Nate and I decided that it is the opposite of swing dancing. Its a free form dance with few dictated steps, and even limited relationship with the music, but it requires a poise and posture that people take years to master. Partners lean in together, chest the chest, and often forehead to forehead. The woman can (or so they tell me) follow the mans lead so precisely with this kind of contact that it appears as though the steps are choreographed. Nate had a lovely partner, a patient woman in her 60s, with large busoms who kept pulling him in, saying, "Contacto! Contacto!"

Nate and I are not sure how we will proceed with this new activity. One response: Nate stayed up late finding swing dancing classes in Buenos Aires.