Tango for the boys

Tango is supposed to be the most erotic dance in the world but for anyone who prefers to dance mano e mano, getting up close and personal with a senorita is about as arousing as the Macarena. Luckily there's a new option for those who would rather dance cheek to grizzly cheek. Queer Tango has arrived in London and is catching on with anyone who's ever felt they don't belong in a milonga - the place or event at which tango is danced.

Already a hit in Europe (Germans have been practising Queer Tango for years now), New York and South America, the UK has been slow on the uptake, but the dance is gaining traction in London's gay community as couples take to the milongas of central London and Shoreditch.

It offers men and women the chance to strut their stuff in same-sex partnerships. This isn't just tango in drag, though. Queer Tango has been adapted so that either partner can lead and the roles can switch mid-tango. It makes for a series of improvised, playful manoeuvres that give the 19th-century dance a new twist.

Argentinian instructor Mariano Garces brought the dance to London this month with a weekend of workshops in Tottenham. He has been spreading the Queer Tango gospel around the world for a decade.
"I lost a lot of jobs in Buenos Aires 10 years ago when Queer Tango appeared in newspapers and people discovered I was gay," he says. "I had to change my surname to keep teaching dance."

Garces persevered, however, and now spends five months of the year teaching Queer Tango around the world. He is adamant that Queer Tango is about self-expression rather than sexuality - and sometimes dons heels in his classes to prove the point.

"I have a lot of students who say 'Can I bring heels?' and I say, 'Of course - why not?' Everyone can choose his or her way to dance."

Nick Stone, a 53-year-old company director and tango enthusiast, invited Mariano to London to kickstart the Queer Tango movement after feeling disillusioned by the traditional dance. "I saw Queer Tango in Buenos Aires and realised it was happening all over Europe except London," he says. London's first weekend of Queer Tango workshops was attended by men and women of all ages.

"Now, the straight teachers know it's a trend in this area because it's very visible in the milongas. There's going to be a crossover - it's already beginning," he says.

Tim Crocker, a 26-year-old doctor from Bethnal Green, was one of the people at the workshops. He had only taken a few dance lessons before but instantly fell in love with Queer Tango. "Tango is a very intimate dance and it's nice to have that with a partner of your choice rather than them having to be a woman," he said. "I'll definitely be back."

Nick is in the process of setting up a regular class in central London, which will be open to everybody. Heels optional.