We couldn’t be more excited for the Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Tango Duo’s return to Austin for their third performance with us. Click here for more information about the Austin Tango! concert on March 2nd at 8pm in the AISD Performing Arts Center.
Each concert, an energetic team of volunteers helps us out with everything from the Box Office to ushering to assisting our food vendors. One of our longest-serving volunteers, Pat Dickerson, has been dancing tango for over two decades. She has a unique perspective on tango in Austin, and why the Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo is special.
Pat is a research geologist at the University of Texas – Austin where she serves on graduate student committees, collaborates with friends and colleagues, and leads Smithsonian trips to places such as Iceland, Machu Picchu, the Galapagos, and US National Parks. In addition to geology, Pat’s second love is tango.
“It’s one of the most wonderful things I’ve discovered – my passion for tango and geology are pretty close.”
Her first exposure to tango was her goddaughter’s performance with Glover Gill’s internationally renowned “Tosca Tango Orchestra” in 1997. Pat was instantly hooked.
“I heard the music, saw the people dancing, and thought, ‘There’s the rest of my life.’ It was that visceral, that immediate.”
She signed up for a tango workshop and started taking lessons, gradually becoming more enthusiastic about it as time went on.
“Week after week I built on it and became more and more – I don’t want to say obsessed – more enamored of it.”
The roots of tango music go back to docks on the port of Buenos Aires. Most tango social dances, milongas, take place in small venues, similar to the Buenos Aires neighborhood dance halls in which they began. Pat started attending milongas, and grew to love the music and culture surrounding tango.
“The dance is total improv, it’s similar to jazz and blues in that way. You learn a few basic steps, and those can be chained together in whatever sequence the music wants you to do, whatever skill level you or your partner has, or how much room you have on the dance floor.”
“We dance to a lot of the same music every night, every week, for months and years, and you’d think we’d get bored, but it’s always fresh – it’s a curious thing. You can dance five times to the same song, but it will always be a different dance.”
Tango dancing appeals to Pat because it demands her complete attention.
“I love that you have to be engaged. It’s a very cerebral dance. You’re not just learning patterns, it’s not choreographed – for me that’s a huge appeal. You have to be able to read each other’s movements and respond. The connection with the music and your partner is a different level of dancing.”
Pat tries to get to Buenos Aires at least once a year, but she also appreciates the tango opportunities available right here in Austin. She finds a milonga to attend almost every evening, and has developed a deep connection with the tango community.
“You can dance every night in Austin. Occasionally people will host milongas in their homes – those are always lovely. Someone who’s even more an addict than I am has built a room off her house just for tango dancing.”
According to Pat, tango seems to attract quite a wide range of enthusiasts.
“Our group has everything from aerospace engineers to US Postmen to 28 flavors of teachers. At the moment, I’m the only geologist in the group. It’s a wonderful melting pot, and you can meet people you might not otherwise have a chance to cross paths with. It’s almost like a clan, in a way, but without any blood relations.”
Pat is drawn to the universal appeal of tango, finding similarly zealous dancers in her travels around the world.
“I’ve danced in Reykjavik, Oslo, Auckland, Santiago, Quebec, Vancouver, several places in Argentina, and many US cities. It’s this shared music we all dance to; it’s a comfortable thing when traveling.”
Pat has seen the Bandini-Chiacchiaretta each time they’ve performed in Austin. She admires their impeccable skill and originality.
“Bandini-Chiacchiaretta carry some of the original feel of the music; they retain the legitimacy of it. Their selection of pieces is authentic, older, more traditional tango – the classics. They play animatedly, it’s wonderful.”