I remember once when I was watching an exhibition of a woman teacher in California many of us didn’t much care for we actually laughed when she fell out of her dress. That is correct. She was wearing a dress that might have looked good if you stood still, but it was a dress not made for dancing. The second she turned way too far, the whole room knew exactly what she had. Her dress was padded. Her exhibition was ruined. She had brought someone from Buenos Aires to show off with. Unfortunately the show she had in mind was not exactly what happened.
A couple of years ago here in Buenos Aires in Niño Bien I was watching the exhibition of another well known dancer. She was wearing a flowing dress. She had gained a tremendous amount of weight and the dress covered some of it. She did a back boleo. It was a beautiful boleo until her heel got caught in the skirt of the dress. She tried valiantly to undo her heel without stopping her presentation but it was impossible. I felt sorry for her having been there myself.
Wardrobe malfunction. The terror of any female tango dancer. When buying clothes to dance tango you need to make sure that besides being pretty they are functional. Can you move in them? Are they fluid? Are you going to constantly worry about the darn thing falling off? What happens if it does?
I have a dress that is low cut. When I dance with men who have good posture my dress stays in place. A couple of weeks ago I danced with several gentlemen who did not have quite the posture, so after every song, I would have to readjust my dress. My dress was black and so was my bra. I acted like it was no big deal. I told one man “Would you please stop undressing me here?” He laughed and told me it was probably the only place he would ever get to undress me. I should never have worn this dress or pinned it so it would not open. I knew it was a problem from the start.
The most important thing is to keep your composure. Don’t panic. Either fix the situation immediately or excuse yourself from the floor and your partner. I admired tremendously the dancer whose heel caught in her skirt. She kept her composure throughout the exhibition, even cracking a smile when her heel became free.
When you are uncomfortable with your clothes you cannot dance. Just like your shoes, if they are not comfortable you defeat the whole purpose of why you are there. Think about it. Do you want to come to a milonga dressed like a Barbie doll in a dress you are afraid will fall off in shoes that are not really that comfortable? Somehow that does not seem to make much sense. When you come to Buenos Aires, you probably notice that we dress comfortably. Why? Because we want to enjoy ourselves in the milonga, and you should too.
® Deby Novitz 2008TangoSpam all rights reserved. No parts of this may be reproduced without permission of the author
Deby Novitz' blog can be found at
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