Eye on the Pupil: Ariel Tabachnik

The clack of four-inch heels echoes throughout the spacious studio, keeping perfect time with the fast-paced guitar playing in the background. Two people twirl around the dance floor, barely apart from one another. The clacking gets faster and louder as the couple keeps up with the increasing tempo, until the music abruptly cuts off and they end with a dramatic flourish, the woman swept off of her feet.

This is Argentine tango and what senior Ariel Tabachnik spends her free time doing.

Ariel has been dancing Argentine tango for the past four-and-a-half years. She takes classes at Fantasy Dance Studio in Mountain View and attends other tango classes, workshops and “milongas,” or tango socials, whenever she can.

Ariel first danced the Argentine tango the summer before eighth grade while visiting her father in New Jersey.

“He [was] obsessing over this dance he suddenly started learning,” Ariel said. “[So] he took me to a lesson.”

The only previous dance experience Ariel had was the four years of ballet she took until she was seven, so being introduced to Argentine tango was “a completely new experience” for her.

The Argentine tango seemed even more mysterious due to the fact that it is not classified as a typical Latin dance either. According to Ariel, it is very different in the sense that it requires constant connection with one’s partner, meaning that it really does “take two to tango.”

“In salsa and cha-cha, you could execute the movements by yourself. It would look bad, but with some effort it’s doable,” Ariel said. “[However] with tango, that’s impossible.”

Ariel also loves how the dance “ transcends limitations such as age or where you are in life.”

“It’s for everyone,” Ariel said. “The one thing that’s important to really enjoy tango is a healthy sense of self, lack of self-consciousness and an open mindset.”

While Ariel said she would like to spend even more time dancing, she has found that there are not many serious classes available in the area. Ariel thus does most of her dancing whenever she goes back to New Jersey for vacations with her father.

“[Whenever I’m in New York City], I spend at least 60 percent of nights dancing,” Ariel said.

Although Ariel does not compete formally, she said she is currently considering entering an Argentine Tango Championship in New York City next summer.

“The New York tango community is huge, and it’s like a world of its own,” Ariel said.

According to Ariel, a typical milonga starts at 9 or 10 p.m. and lasts until 1 to 2 a.m. on a weeknight or 4 to 5 a.m. on a weekend.

“I end up dancing for hours and hours on end when I do go tangoing [in New York City],” Ariel said.

She also went on a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina last summer with her father and spent much of her time dancing, tangoing “six [of the seven nights we were there] … until at least one in the morning.”

Through all of that time she has spent dancing, contrary to popular belief, Ariel said that she has found that Argentine tango is not only about steamy sex appeal.

“It’s about communication and connection through the body,” she said. “That’s the number one thing tango teaches and relies on.”

That connection is what Ariel said she enjoys the most about Argentine tango.

“Just like in life, tango teaches that communication is the number one reason for true passion,” Ariel said. “It ends up being a passionate dance, but not because it’s passion for the sake of passion. The passion comes from an unspoken understanding between people.”