Under Milei’s rule, queer tango is creating space for community resistance
Originally emerging from a desire to challenge tango’s heteropatriarchal image, queer milongas are providing vital spaces for LGBTQIA+ culture in today’s Buenos Aires WORDS BY JAKE HALL HEADER DESIGN BY YOSEF PHELAN Back in 2001, Mariana Docampo started teaching tango classes at La Casa Del Encuentro, a storied lesbian cultural centre in the heart of Buenos Aires, Argentina. “The roles [of tango] were [seen as] very rigid,” she tells GAY TIMES. “The man would lead and the woman would follow.” In Docampo’s eyes, it was practically impossible to imagine two women dancing together – the vast majority of people couldn’t even fathom the idea of a woman leading her partner, let alone enjoying herself in the process. “People assumed I was taking that guiding role as a teacher because I had to, not because I actually liked it,” she recalls. “It was a different era.” When you think of the word “tango”, many immediately conjure up romanticised and heavily gendered notions of love, sensuality and romance.
When, infact, it’s a practice steeped in tradition and a sense of national pride, yet its origins can actually be traced back to slaves shipped into Argentina throughout the 19th century.
Scholar Sylvain Poosson paints a vivid picture of slaves holding vibrant, late-night parties, filled with music, dance and laughter. “Dancing was affirming one’s existence,” he wrote, describing these fiestas as a means of survival.
By the late 19th century, slavery had been abolished and descendants of slave families had largely taken root along the banks of the Río de la Plata, which separates Argentina and Uruguay.
