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Dancing the tango, says enthusiast Cecilia Bale, is like having a three-minute love affair.
The close embrace, the passionate music, the sensual rhythm and the surrender to a partner's every move - it is the total connection of the dance that has the world in its thrall, she says.
Bale is a leading light in Auckland's thriving tango community, organiser of the Tango Congress, which will see between 300 and 500 members performing, discussing, refining and displaying their "cruzada", "sacada", "volcada" and "gancho" in workshops, a championship competition, cafe dances and a masquerade ball over the weekend.
Bale has also brought Argentinian show dancers Corporacion Tango to the country.
After sell-out shows in Nelson and Tauranga, they will perform in Auckland on Sunday and Monday, as part of the Tempo dance festival.
Consisting of four couples, the group regularly performs in Buenos Aires' most prestigious venues.
Important to Bale is Corporacion Tango's inclusion of show and traditional styles of the dance in their performances.
The tango originated in the flirtatious showing-off of working-class Argentinian men competing for the attention of the "ladies" - often within the brothels and bordellos.
Transported to and developed further in Europe, it was reimported in a form recognisable today.
But with its emphasis on musicality and improvisation, the dance form continues to evolve and there is lots of overlap between its various styles.
Bale describes two main forms as "stage show tango" - where you see all the fantastic moves, footwork and the throwing of female dancers into the air - and the "real" tango, as danced in salons and social settings throughout the world.
"Then Argentinian tango is a very relaxing sort of dance," she says of the salon style.
"The woman just leaves everything to the man."
Bale is Filipino by birth, but explains that her passion for all Latin music and dance is a result of the strong Spanish influence in her native country.
"We have had Spanish blood and Spanish influence in the Philippines for 300 years," she says.
"We share the same names, lingo, religion. That's how I explain why I fell for the tango."
She became a pioneer of the tango in New Zealand not long after her arrival 15 years ago.
There was, at that time, an Argentinian-born teacher in Auckland, Miriam Cupermann, also known for her choreography in the stage show Don't Cry for Me Argentina.
When Cupermann left for life in Miami, Bale and a small group of students took the initiative and organised tango sessions in a number of cafes, originally with just 10 or 20 people taking part, compared to the 400 odd who will enjoy the 2007 Congress.
"But we are just very, very baby compared to the rest of the world's interest in tango," she says.
A professional in the travel industry, Bale says it is possible to go anywhere in the world at any time and find a tango festival.
"In the United States and Europe tango is huge. But every month you can dance the tango - worldwide."
