Building the Tango

Abstract

This is building the tango, a constructive investigation into the material consequences of dancing the tango.

Building the tango is about the resurrection of passion and life, as well as passion for life, of which the reality is now. It also involves resurrecting passion and life on a site occupied by ghosts and ruins: Belle Isle in Richmond, Virginia.

The constructive investigation of dancing the tango on Belle Isle includes reclaiming the scandal, individual movements and individuals moving together, opposition of body to body, opposition of bodies to space, placement of feet, love of the dance, and feeling the heat of the tango.

Studying the material consequences of the tango requires that the structure, itself, is a tango. It is symbolic of a man's struggle for the possession of a woman. The structure is one part man, one part woman, every part dance. The constructive realities of the tango create a dance of materials, a dance of space and a dance of bodies within.