Essay by Birthe Havmøller/The Queer Tango Project. Edited by Liz Sabatiuk/Humans of Tango.
[Læs en dansk version her.]

I write for dancers, non-dancers, friends and acquaintances, to introduce people with little or no prior contact with the queer tango community to queer tango as a dance style. The queer tango community does not own this way of dancing. It is from all of us to all of you. Everybody can (learn to) dance queer tango.

The dance style of queer tango is informed by a dance philosophy and danced with a tango embrace that allows you to dance with flexible role switching. This division of labour with the queer tango concept of fluid roles is distinct from the philosophy and attitude of the archetypal single-role dancer in mainstream tango, making queer tango a dance style in its own right. In Europe, the role switching methods are often referred to by the umbrella term “intercambio,” which means “exchange” in Spanish.

“Queer tango” can refer to the dance style described above and/or to the culture and activities of the LGBT+ tango community. When applied to tango, “queer” refers to any subversion of heteronormative tango culture and dance philosophy. This most obviously manifests in how dancers approach the roles, partnership and division of labour, but it can also manifest in queer culture, tango shows, music and dress.

Queer is in the eye of the beholder; what is natural to us may seem queer to you. Originally meaning “odd” or “strange,” “queer” was used as a derogatory term that promised verbal attacks or gay bashing until it was reclaimed as an identity/power term by the new generation of queer, lesbian and gay rebels in the 1980s. In the 1990s, academia defined Queer Theory, a philosophical method for analysing the world, and added it to their academic toolkit. As the word “queer” grew in recognition, it became the polite umbrella term for LGBT+ people, as in she is a “queer woman” when talking about a (self-identified) lesbian. “Queer” as a contemporary unisex identity term is an anti-establishment, anti-mainstream mindset and lifestyle that has led to new solidarities and the creation of new inclusive cultural spaces: international queer tango festivals, queer arts festivals, etc.

Open role, double role, or queer?

Argentine tango is an improvised social couple dance. Traditionally, mainstream tango culture based the roles in a heteronormative, binary division of labour: the man “leads” and the woman “follows”. Informed by feminist philosophy, open role, double role and queer tango communities believe it should no longer be gender (or sexuality) that defines your role in tango. Consequently, these tango communities encourage dancers to explore both roles. This has the added benefit of allowing organisers to aim for a more inclusive leader-follower-based balance at their tango events instead of the old-fashioned man-woman-based balance they used a few years ago.

Open role tango

The term “open role tango” was coined in the 2000s. Open role dancers typically establish roles at the beginning of a tanda (a set of 3-4 songs) and maintain those roles rather than switching. The hierarchical concept of fixed roles, supported by the gender-neutral terminology of “leader” and “follower”, is carried over (from mainstream tango) to the open role approach.

Double role tango

The term “double role tango” came into use about 2011-14 in Europe as an informal name for tango classes, retreats and tango subcultures dedicated to learning the “other” role. Teachers running double role (a.k.a. dual role) classes usually require dancers to be proficient in one role before learning the other role. The term “double role tango” has almost turned the term “open role tango” obsolete in Europe, perhaps because the term emphasises a strong focus on developing skill in both roles instead of abstractly classifying the roles as open.

Double role dancers have created an unwritten social dance rule of sharing the lead of a tanda. Changing the lead between songs offers dancers a beginner-friendly, supportive way to practice both roles.

Queer tango

The term “queer tango” was coined in 2001 for the first international queer tango festival, held in Hamburg, Germany. While open role and double role tango tend to approach the roles as fixed, queer tango as a dance style may approach the roles as flexible or even fluid.

The queer tango community typically teaches beginners to dance both roles and may present intercambio methods from the start of the tango journey. Non-conforming tango couples added intercambio, with all its diverse variations of how to exchange roles while dancing, to the international tango vocabulary and dance scene. Once you have seen dancers dancing with seamless role switching, you’ll surely want more.

How to dance intercambio

The signature of queer tango as a dance style is the exchange of roles while dancing, also referred to by the umbrella term intercambio. At the moment, queer tango communities are (still) the primary organisers of tango workshops specifically on how dance intercambio, including the following intercambio methods:

• role-change figures, where the leader leads the follower into a change of positions, embrace and roles;
• letting go of the lead, a subtle invitation to change roles initiated by the leader;
• hijacking the lead, where the follower takes the lead; and
• queer interventions and backleading by the follower.

Dancers and teachers have designed role-change figures for the dance style of queer tango. These figures are exercises, teaching tango students how to improvise and time their exchange of roles in harmony with the music and the flow on the dancefloor. Role-change figures are mainly initiated by the leader, in line with the traditional tango norm that all figures must be initiated by the leader, yet subverting the normative division of labour via the switching of roles and embrace.

Letting go of the lead, also initiated by the leader, is a subtle invitation to change roles. Physically, letting go involves relaxing the muscles in the left hand and upper torso/back of the leader, thus creating an openness in the embrace, asking the non-verbal question: “Do you want to take over the lead now?” If the follower does not pick up on the invitation or does not want to lead, the leader must continue as if nothing happened and try again later.

The follower can take or “hijack” the lead by initiating a change of the embrace and the roles. One common way for the follower to hijack the lead is to let go of the leader’s hand, placing their right arm around their dance partner’s back and offering their left hand as they begin to lead.

The follower’s queer interventions are small surprises to their dance partner in the form of unsolicited steps/movements (not led by the leader). They are danced to create a dialogue or perhaps even to speak over the leader’s body language (and their lead). The queer interventions are rebel moves that need not be advanced. Even an unsolicited shift of weight – making the couple shift from parallel system to cross system or the other way around – can be enough to catch the leader’s attention and make them listen to their dance partner.

Backleading is leading from the position of the follower without any change of embrace. It is a basic tango technique where the follower focuses on giving as much information about their proposition for direction, speed, and musicality as possible, leading from their back.

Things to consider when dancing intercambio

All intercambio dance methods are questioning the heteronormative division of labour in tango, inviting everybody to queer their tangos by making a gentle mess of the normative power and gender roles. In a proper co-created, co-improvised queer tango, role changes must come as naturally as possible, regardless of who initiates them.

Strict changes of the roles initiated by the leader may be counter to the feminist zeitgeist of the queer tango community and should be used sparingly. Consequently, any dancer who leads must develop an acute ability to listen to their dance partner and let them approve or reject a change of roles. The leader technique of letting go of the lead may be a gentler, more elegant way of proposing a switching of roles than a role-change figure, where the leader is assuming that their dance partner will be ready in less than a second to take the other position, seamlessly recreate the embrace and start leading.

Many dancers love the dynamics of intercambio with the strict changes of roles (initiated from either position), because they form a clear division of labour. However, any changes in the embrace may potentially lead to a disruption in the couple’s connection. To amend this flaw inherent to the dance style of queer tango, the couple should give themselves ample time to create a nice flow when exchanging roles, or change roles without changing the embrace(!)

Backleading (leading without changing positions), especially by beginner and intermediate tangueras, has been much frowned upon in mainstream tango, where it may be considered bad follower technique, because the followers are no longer following… leaving the leaders out of control. However, the philosophy about the roles has shifted among many high-level dancers to give much more respect and agency to the following role in general. This trend is trickling down to all dancers, inviting them to embody the follower’s role with a new attitude. Backleading as a method for queering a tango can be used very elegantly to co-lead and maximise the couple’s musical interpretation. However playful it may be, backleading may become a disrespectful trick in queer tango when a leader changes positions without actually giving control (of the couple’s navigation on the dancefloor) to their dance partner.

Whatever intercambio methods you practice, immersing yourself in the flow of the music will help move you closer to a smooth, seamless experience.

Same-gender dancing

Same-gender dancing is as old as tango itself, yet there are still conservative milongas (tango balls) that claim that tango should only be danced by a man (leader) and a woman (follower). Some will even expel same-gender tango couples. Thankfully, these events have become more of an exception than a norm in much of the tango world. Furthermore, the dance style that emerged from a divergent tango practice by pioneer LGBT+ dancers is now danced by high-level dancers, including professional same-gender tango partnerships like. Martin Maldonado and Maurizio Ghella, Sigrid Van Tilbeurgh and Maria Filali, Nicolas and German Filipeli, Vito Muñoz and Claudio Cardona and many more.

Queer tango, open role and double role tango dancers take their tango practices to mainstream milongas around the world. The recent increase in the number of dancers forming same-gender couples at mainstream milongas is wonderful. It brings more dancers onto the dancefloor. It opens new opportunities for dancers of any gender to blossom and unlock new skills and levels of musicality and creativity.

While same-gender dancing among women in particular has flourished in recent years, male dancers may still find it difficult to get their dances as followers at mainstream milongas. The queer and double role tango movements are a godsend for male dancers who want to practice their follower’s technique and improve their intercambio skills, offering spaces to meet like-minded dancers. Queer tango classes, festivals, marathons and retreats also serve the incredibly important purpose of providing safe, supportive spaces for non-binary and non-gender-conforming dancers to develop their skills and confidence.

A note on invitations

When dancing both roles in queer or mainstream milongas, it may not always be clear who will view you as a potential partner or how they’ll want to dance. Learning to use the Argentine non-verbal code of cabeceo (the leader’s invitation to dance with a slight head movement towards the dancefloor) and mirada (the follower’s gaze at their favourite leader) is a must for all dancers in queer and mainstream milongas. However, the cabeceo/mirada may lead to confusion between dancers connecting for the first time with other dual role dancers. To solve this problem, you may see dancers resorting to verbal invitations. No matter which method you use when inviting someone to dance, a best practice is to ask your partner what role they prefer, express your wishes, and decide if you’ll dance open role, double role or queer tango, before starting to dance. With experience, you’ll learn the subtle cues that allow for a totally improvised intercambio experience that honours the non-verbal culture of the tango dancefloor.

Let’s play with queer tango!

Part of our tango journey is making conscious choices about the specific tango skills we want to develop. Studying the “other” role and/or incorporating intercambio into our tango practice can seem daunting at first, but with the right approach, it can be a rewarding and enlightening experience.

If you don’t have access to intercambio and queer tango classes where you live, you can do a lot to learn the dance style of queer tango on your own. Start by signing up for mainstream classes in the role you’re less comfortable with and dancing both roles and intercambio at prácticas (tango practice spaces). If you know other queer/double role dancers in your community, organising a private práctica is a way to create a supportive learning space. Making a point of queering your dance in prácticas and milongas can help others feel more comfortable doing the same.

Traditional tango (activism) and milonga culture invite dancers to encounter one another in a close embrace and share the intimacy of moving together to music. Queer tango (activism) takes this up a notch, embracing all kinds of bodies and encouraging dancers to connect beyond gender, age or sexual orientation.

Queer tango has gained momentum during the last 10 years. It has become an important global movement with international queer tango festivals in Europe and the Americas offering not only workshops, milongas and dance shows, but also lectures and sharing circles for dancers. Queer milongas aspire to be non-competitive, inclusive tango spaces with a relaxed, joyful atmosphere where everybody is welcome. These dance events are run by LGBT+ teachers, queer activists and allies as safe spaces, intended to be free of bias, homophobia and transphobia. Many form same-gender couples, but you can invite anybody you like to dance, dance with fixed or fluid roles, and even dance as a traditional man-woman couple. A queer milonga is not a queer-tango-style-only space!

Queer tango doesn’t have to be about genders, sexual preferences, pronouns, or if the rainbow flag hangs “out and proud” at the milonga. As more young people take on the challenge of dancing both roles, dancing queerly may become just tango.

Tango is always just two people improvising in harmony with tango music. I invite you to explore, let your creativity flow and see what kind of contribution you can make to the dance style of queer tango. Who knows, maybe experiencing the queer tango approach will make your heart sing too, leading to new friendships and amazing dances!

Related links
More examples of professional dancers switching roles in their performances at mainstream tango festivals:
Walter Venturini and Aoniken Quiroga; Claudio Ruberti and Marco Gallizioli; Claudio Cardona and Vito Muñoz; Ines Muzzopapa and Corina Herrera; Lumi Antoniou and Ermid Karaboulas.

The Queer Tango Project’s online calender listing queer and open role tango festivals, marathons and retreats around the world.