The secret lives of Concordia tango dancers

By Rob Carver

Dania Adamuszek dances the tango with Jean-Marie Bourjolly
Photo by Andrew Dobrowolskyj

Two strangers walk towards each other in a crowded Concordia hallway. As they pass, their eyes meet and they realize they are not actually strangers. In fact, she knows the touch of his hand on her back. He knows the subtleties of her movements. They tango.

Ask anyone in the know to describe tango, and the one word you will always hear is “passion.” It is an intimate dance with the partners moving rhythmically in close quarters, but the real passion lies in the dancers themselves. Those who tango love to tango.

“Everyone who is in this community is addicted to tango,” says Dania Adamuszek, a neuroscience student. She’s a part of Concordia’s small but very devoted population of tango aficionados.

Like most of the others in the informal group, she usually dances two nights a week at one of Montreal’s several tango rooms. For her, it is an immersive experience that allows her freedom, both in her ability to move and also in the social rules that normally govern us.

“There are no boundaries,” she says. “You can dance with anyone and it doesn’t really matter what age they are.”

Sheila Das, who teaches Italian language and literature, agrees. “There’s no social hierarchy.You don’t worry about other things.”

Das saw a tango performance in Toronto about six years ago and was hooked. “It’s just so beautiful,” she says. “The music is very soulful and taps into dream spaces and deep passions.”

Another reason to tango is the unique sense of comfort and belonging. “There’s this feeling of connection that doesn’t demand obligation,” Das explains. “There’s a feeling of trust.”

To an outsider, the Concordia tango community almost comes across as a secret society. By day they are students, professors and technicians. At night, however, they gather at obscure addresses, sometimes dressed in dramatic clothing and shiny shoes, moving to the sounds of violin, acoustic guitar and bandoneón.

The tango itself looks deceptively simple. Men and women paired together move slowly and smoothly around the dance floor, sometimes stopping, sometimes appearing to just walk together, facing each other.

The dance relies heavily on improvisation, and is subject to few hard and fast rules. How it is danced, in fact, is determined largely by the man, who leads.

Jean-Marie Bourjolly, a professor with the John Molson School of Business and a nine-year veteran of tango, says that a good leader “allows his partner to shine.” Bourjolly says that many of the women tango with their eyes closed. “It’s a dance of emotion,” he says. “You are supposed to immerse yourself totally in the music.”

Das agrees. She often dances with her eyes closed. “It’s kind of a space to breathe,” she says, explaining her tango mindset. “You feel yourself enter the music in a relaxed way.”

Bourjolly and Das estimate the Concordia tango population at between 10 and 15 people, but say that it’s a part of a larger community of up to 2,000 people in Montreal. This translates the experience of tango into a good social opportunity.

“It’s a good way to make friends, to meet people,” Bourjolly says. Das says that applies internationally, too. If you can tango here, you can tango, for example, in Berlin, and have something immediately in common with others.

Robert Pisarsky, a Concordia technician, was introduced to the tango through one of the Concordia’s Recreation program. He met his wife, Josée Galibois, three years later while coming in to volunteer as a dance partner for new students.

Since then, they’ve gone on a tour to Buenos Aires, birthplace of the tango, for private lessons, and while they were expecting their first child the couple tangoed for exercise.

“We tangoed three times a week up until seven months of her pregnancy,” Pisarsky said.

Although they now have a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, they’re eager to put on their dancing shoes again. “It’s really a late-night activity,” he lamented. “We’re anxious to go back. It’s very sociable and very relaxing.”

Concordia offers tango lessons through campus recreation Sunday evenings at the Victoria Gym, and there are several private tango schools that offer free introductory lessons.