‘If you can walk, you can learn how to do the tango’

A veteran teacher says the tango isn't as hard as the celebrities on Dancing with the Stars make it seem.

Eleanor Brodie co-founded the Dubai Tango Festival. Satish Kumar / The National

Mastering the Argentine tango may seem like a combination of complicated footwork and intuition only achievable through years of experience with a dance partner. But Eleanor Brodie, co-­founder of the Dubai Tango Festival, says it isn’t as difficult as the celebrities on Dancing with the Stars sometimes make it seem.

The “godmother of tango in Dubai”, as she is fondly called by the tango community in the Emirates, will be leading free, hour-long initiation classes during this year’s Dubai Tango Festival. Participants will be introduced to the basics of Argentine tango, which dates back to the early 1900s, and be able to build the confidence to partner up.

“It’s not as difficult as it sounds,” says Brodie, who began teaching the dance form in 2002. She hosted the first milonga (dance festival) in the living room of her villa that year.

“The basics of tango is to learn how to walk and work with a partner, perhaps one of the most difficult things to do because coordination comes into play.”

But Brodie says the only barrier that has to be broken is often psychological in nature.

“If you can walk, you can learn how to do the tango,” she says.

“First you’ve got to stop thinking about shopping, the office and family quarrels. Don’t be looking at the phone or chewing gum during the class. All these things are distractions,” says Brodie.

“Argentine tango is like a walking meditation, and you have to surrender yourself in that moment.”

And age is no bar to picking up the dance form. “That’s one of the reasons tango is so popular. There is no age limit here, as long as you can move. And once you have a foundation, you put the basics aside and dance from the heart. It’s not choreographed.”

She says the leader makes the moves on the spot, but needs to build a comfort level with a partner first. “Mainly it’s about how to walk moving forward, sideways and backwards,” says Brodie.

“Because two people are working together, you need to know which foot your partner is standing on so that you aren’t stepping on each other’s toes.”

And she says there are hardly any prerequisites, except “enthusiasm and comfortable shoes”.

• Brodie’s classes will be held on May 27, 29 and 30 from 9pm at The Meydan Hotel. For more information, visit www.tangodubai.org