Time to tango
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-05 13:54

Chingmay Jo dances to the seductive rhythm of tango music in the arms of Paris-based tango instructor Alfredo Palacios at the club Park 97.

As a dance form in Shanghai, it still has a long way to go. Reporter Emily Steel talks to one woman who is determined to make tango a regular event across the city.

She wants to wear her seductive tango skirts every night of the week. She will only be happy if Shanghai becomes a metropolis where she can dance tango until she wears out the soles of her sparkly red shoes. 

Chingmay Jo never used to dance. She didn't enjoy it and never felt the urge to interpret music with her body. But that all changed when she dated a South American man and he introduced her to Argentine tango. The rhythm seeped into her blood and she hasn't been the same woman since. "The only thing I want to do is dance tango," she says.  

"I cannot live without it. Tango is my passion." Jo used to love rollerblading. She used to enjoy playing tennis. But now tango is the only thing that keeps this real estate executive going. "The music, whenever I hear it, I feel it," she says. "I feel like dancing. I have to dance." When Jo lived in Paris, she would dance tango at a milonga (tango dancing location) every night. During winter, she would wear her tango skirts to work so that as soon as night fell she could shed her jacket and strap on her dancing shoes. In summer, she danced tango along the Seine River. But ever since Jo arrived in Shanghai three months ago, she has been forced to survive on a diet of one milonga a week. For two hours every Wednesday evening, Jo is in her element at the club Park 97. As soon as she enters the room and takes hold of her partner's hand, she is delirious. Nothing matters except music and the dancing. But Jo says one milonga isn't nearly enough to feed her hunger. "In order to really have the milongas, I need to have a trail of people dancing tango," she says. 

"I need to create a tango community." Jo is laying the foundation for Shanghai's own Argentine tango community. All she needs are locations, stereos and dancers to twirl around the floor. Jo says she'll have no problem finding venues. Her top priority is training dancers. While living in Paris, Jo took lessons from Alfredo Palacios and Isabel de la Preugne (known throughout the world as Alfredo and Isabel), an Argentine couple who come from traditional tango families and have spent the last 16 years in Paris, teaching, performing and managing the city's most popular milonga. Since Shanghai's potential tango dancers aren't traveling to Paris to pick up the dance steps, Jo is bringing Alfredo and Isabel to them. Moments after the couple arrived in Shanghai last Wednesday, they were on the dance floor at Park 97, kicking up their legs and swiveling their hips. "All women love to dance with Alfredo," Jo says. "He is such a good dancer. He makes all women feel good."

Alfredo and Isabel have a busy schedule during their 13-day stay in Shanghai. Last Thursday they danced for Nestor Kirchner, the president of Argentina, and 500 others at the Oriental Riverside Hotel. The lunchtime performance added spice to the seminar exploring cultural exchanges between China and Argentina. On Friday the tango masters will begin teaching the basic steps of true Argentine tango during the first lesson of a three-day workshop. On Saturday Alfredo and Isabel will perform at Kathleen's 5 Rooftop Restaurant, encouraging diners to take part. "The dance is very special, and the music is very particular," Isabel says in Spanish. "Tango is growing in popu arity throughout the whole world and it is perfect for Shanghai." Kathleen Lau, owner of Kathleen's 5 located on top of the historic Shanghai Art Museum, says "The community here is looking for something different, something cultural and something international." She says people want something in-between dancing at DJ clubs and performances at the Shanghai Grand Theater. Ballroom dancing is very popular in China, so it only makes sense that outlets for tango dancing are emerging throughout Shanghai. 

"We're not waiting," Lau says. "We'll create our own fun." Tango lovers from Taiwan and Beijing established the Shanghai Tango Club last September and for the past nine months, the group has worked to foster its development, says Jennivine Kwan, one of the founders of the club. At least 150 people are on the club's mailing list and about 10 couples regularly show up for classes on Monday evenings. On Tuesdays, tango lovers can escape into the rhythm of tango at the dance studio, Jazz du Funk. Instructor Clarisse Pinon teaches a modern dance class with a tango twist. 

While the steps are not in the repertoire of Argentine tango, they share the same music and the same seductive quality. "Shanghai is a big city, but you can tell it has very little outdoor activity," says Du Lian, director of the dance studio. "People work long hours, have stressful jobs and they need to find an outlet to make themselves fit here -- and dance fits. In the beginning tango dancing may be a trend, but at the end it will become a habit." Whether the dance is modern, classic or Argentine, people throughout Shanghai are beginning to latch on. "The timing is right," Lau says.
 
"Tango is perfect. It's dramatic. It's the dancing and the music. The combination is just right."

Workshop with Alfredo and Isabel
Date: July 9-11
Tel: 1381-786-5826
Cost: 800 yuan/person
E-mail: Jadoreletango@yahoo.com Register by July 8

The party Tango under the stars
Date: July 10, 7:30 pm
Tel: 6327-2221
Cost: 450 yuan including dinner with wine, performance and dancing Venue: Kathleen's 5, 5/F, Shanghai Art Museum
Address: 325 Nanjing Rd W.
Website: www.kathleens5.com

Beginners' tango class
Date: Mondays, 8:30-10pm
Cost: 40 yuan
Venue: 10/F, Dance Studio, Kings College
Address: 888 Changde Rd, near Changping Rd
Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/espiritutango

Class
Date: Tuesdays, 8-9pm
Cost: different rates, check the Website
Tel: 6466-8755 Venue: Jazz du Funk
Address: 555 Yan'an Rd M.
Website: www.jazzdufunk.com

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