Free tango classes are being held in Kings Cross to make tango more inclusive.
The dance charity Queer Tango London (QTL) hosted a class for those who had never tried Argentine tango before at the Coal Drops Yard shopping plaza in north London, on Saturday.
Another session will be held from 2:30pm on Saturday, August 24 as part of the Summer Sounds festival.
One attendee, Mark Bradshaw, said: “It was really fun. With a friend I had learnt a few basic steps but I really knew nothing.
“This introductory class went from the very beginning, just walking, getting that right.
“It made me aware of how important these tiny things are.”
After the hour-long introductory lesson, DJ Claudio Tedesco played traditional music for a social dance — known as a milonga — until 6pm, providing a chance for newcomers to practice with experienced dancers.
Jacqui Greenland, teacher at Queer Tango Bristol, travelled to the event with some of her students.
She said: “It can be very easy to get stuck in your own little bubble sometimes so it’s lovely coming down to dance with different people.”
QTL aimed to break down stereotypes about the way tango is danced and challenge ideas of gender roles.
Ray Batchelor, QTL teacher and scholar, said: “The standard model for Argentinian tango is a man leading a woman.
“Queer tango began in part as a reaction against that so women could lead women, men could lead men, women could lead men.
“One of the fabulous things about a dance floor is that anybody can turn up here and dance.
“That means what we can do on a dance floor is we can offer models of how people could live in the world off the dance floor.”
Bradshaw said: “Knowing that you’re not going to just be leading or following, that you’ll probably be doing both, that feels really nice.
“And to be amongst a queer group of people is really great, and it’s just like a queer bunch of people in another sense in that it’s a group of people of all different ages, different abilities.”
Martin Collins, the festival director, said it worked with local communities to ensure all were represented in the festival, now in its ninth year.
He said: “Last year we set up a choir and a member of that choir came to me.
“They told me that there’s a big ageing queer population here that doesn’t buy in to the stereotypical queer culture, the nightclub, drag queens etc, and actually they’d want to see something more like social dancing.”
The festival and QTL, commissioned by the Arts Trust, also delivered four weeks of free classes for King’s Cross residents, specifically targeting those aged 50 and older, at The Place dance centre.
Celine Borrow, a resident who attended the classes, said: “Trying tango for the first time was really interesting.
“I didn’t know what to expect, it was new to me but I enjoyed that.
“Part of why I’m here is because of the queer aspect of the tango, and it makes me feel like I’m part of my community a bit more and I really appreciate that.”
For young people, Summer Sounds ran a tour of ten local schools with the National Youth Theatre and 25 students have been recruited to perform a jazz composition on the main stage on August 25.
Of the festival, the director said: “It’s really eclectic.
“It literally ranges from classical music to jazz to opera to musical theatre.”
Queer Tango London provides a discount for their regular class and milonga at the Bishopsgate Institute in the City of London every first and third Friday of the month.
The free 12-day Summer Sounds festival runs to August 26 at Coal Drop Yard shopping plaza.
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