A Chapter closing: Goodbye ASU tango class

Coming on the heels of the news that our dear dancer-with-everyone, community supporter, organizer, part-time teacher, Marco Licon, who started Argentine Tango with me at ASU 13 years ago is moving to Seattle, it is with great sadness that I share that ASU is canceling their Argentine Tango class due to budget cuts. (A little history - Lori Ross started the Argentine Tango class at ASU in 1998 - when I started!!!! The class has changed teachers over the years but there has been a Tango Class for 27 years.)

I recently asked about the schedule for the fall semester when I was told that ASU was canceling Argentine Tango due to budget cuts. My immediate concern was the genuine loss of opportunities these students continue to lose when schools decide to cut funding from the arts and specifically culturally significant programming.

Hearing this left me with mixed emotions.

On the one hand there’s a deep frustration - that I just returned to AZ (ok 3 years ago) and I’m finally finding my rhythm to teach this new generation the love and passion for Argentine Tango.

And on the other hand, maybe “one door closes another one opens”?

I never imagined I would be an Argentine tango teacher for as long as I have been. It wasn’t part of my original plan. My heart was always set on becoming a modern dance choreographer, living in NYC, and a mom.

But in 2005, after moving back to Arizona in 2003, I was offered the chance to teach Argentine Tango at ASU. I didn’t know how long I’d be there or what impact I would have, but it turned into a journey that would shape my life in ways I couldn’t have predicted. (And for readers who don’t know, the tango class is separate from the Tango Club on campus. They support each other but they are separate entities.)

At first, I thought it would be a temporary thing. In 2003 one of the community colleges had asked me if I could teach Argentine tango, and I thought, “Sure, I can do that.” What started as an opportunity quickly became a passion. Soon after, ASU became my creative incubator—my testing ground for what worked in teaching and what didn’t. My students have been my greatest teachers.

The level of inquiry and curiosity they brought into the classroom pushed me to explore tango in deeper ways. I LOVED the creativity that my students infused into the class. As a 2 credit course grading was unconventional. Instead of focusing on memorizing steps, they were assessed on their engagement with the material—through discussions, their willingness to dance, and their final projects. For many years the final project was to write a paper or a present a creative project based on an area of their interest and how it relates to tango. This was the best part of the semester!! 

An education major created a board game, there were tango songs written, played, and danced to. There were stories, poems, paintings! We even had a magnificent “slam poem” that captured this student’s tango journey. 

These moments are the ones I cherish most now, especially as more time goes by and students—many of whom I haven’t seen in years—pop up again, either in a class, through a kind message, or at a tango festival. Their lives are unfolding: careers, families, love, loss… LIFE, and sometimes, tango!

In 2013 and 2014 I started writing it all down, my methodology, which turned into the first Tango Workbook. Maybe the 2nd edition will finally be finished and published.

When I left ASU in January 2015 to pursue my lifelong dream of traveling, I didn’t know if I would ever return to Arizona or teach at ASU again. It was an abrupt end to a chapter that I was deeply sad to close, but I knew it was the right decision for me. I’m sorry to those I may have let down with my sudden departure.

Now, as I say goodbye to the Argentine Tango class at ASU, I hold on to the hope that I will continue to make a meaningful impact on the Tango community. It may not ever be the same as my time at ASU, but the memories and experiences we created together will stay with me forever.

A heartfelt thank you to all the students who created, learned, and thrived in the tango community at ASU. And to all the teachers and artists who came to share their visions with these students through the years via the Festivals and the retreats.

May the tango club at ASU thrive, and may we continue to hold tango in our hearts, wherever we go.

(I wrote about teaching at ASU back in 2011, read about it here.)