DISPATCHES OF DEMOCRACY: QUEER TANGO

EVERY WEEK, CAMBRIDGE’S DEMOCRACY CENTER OPENS ITS DOORS TO THE COMMUNITY—SARAH’S DISPATCHES OF DEMOCRACY COVERS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

A thumping beat plays, with slower harmonies layered on top that sound straight out of a ’90s R&B hit, before a rapper starts spitting rhymes in German. It’s not exactly the music you would expect in a traditional dance class,

but then, Queer Tango Boston likes to shake things up.

Tango is typically a highly gendered dance; the male leads, the female follows. The lessons given by QTB every Monday night at the Democracy Center toy with this assumption. And when every student learns both roles, it makes for more fun and better dancing.

“Tango dancers always play with the music, and changing roles gives extra options,” said Luc, a teacher who helps run QTB.

“Also, this gives birth to new moves which are centered around the change of roles during the dance.”

Everyone is welcome, regardless of your sexual orientation or two-left-footedness. The teachers are all highly experienced, and classes are usually pretty small, so you’ll have time to work out your dancing incompetency.

The next open house is tonight at 6pm, completely free, and a good way for first-timers to see if they’ve got the suave hips of a tango-master-in-training.

It does take two, so bring a friend!