Great Moments in Tango Teaching: David Hodgson, the Nancy Reagan of Tango

Glenlivet takes me into his embrace, then pulls back to inspect me with narrowed eyes.

“Are you going to misbehave?” he asks suspiciously.

“No!” I say innocently. I look him straight in the eye. It’s true, I am not! I am going to do exactly what my teacher told me to do.

I grin.

Before this set began, David called the women to one end of the studio, leaving the men at the other. “Come close,” he said. We crowded around him. Then he gave us our secret marching orders:

Just Say No.

In the next set, we are to refuse a step. We do not miss the step, we make that clear. We simply refuse to take it.

Saying no is a bit of a problem for me. I don’t like to be rude. This leads me to dance with men I’d rather not. And once dancing, or in some other scrape, what choice do you have? You can’t exactly stop in the middle of things.

David says, Give it a try.

We walk the length of the studio to our partners. We are a pack of gunslingers descending on unsuspecting townsfolk. We try to be straightfaced and sober. One of us fails. Hence Glenlivet’s suspicion.

Refusing a step is easier said than done. Glenlivet doesn’t so much lead your feet as your axis. Your axis is always enroute somewhere. Refusing a step means letting your axis go off without you.

i.e., take a dive.

On the other hand, Glenlivet is a big strong guy, and in all the time we have been dancing, since we were rank beginners, he has never let me hit the floor. Even when I thought for sure we were goners. I trust him completely.

I’m game. Now, to figure out how.

How do you stop water from flowing? Glenlivet’s style is definitive. There are no hesitations, no cracks where you can insert a refusal.

As we round the first corner, I still haven’t found an opening.

Then I hear grunts and giggles. Secret is out. No time to wait for an opening. It's now or never!

Heedless of consequences, I plant my feet.

Glenlivet takes a big sidestep. Schwing! My axis takes off with him, my feet stay where we were. For a split second I am slung between two points, feet over there, shoulders over here. Very cool! If Nick and Tara were doing this, it would be a very nuevo beautiful colgada type move.

I don’t know what passes through Glenlivet’s mind, but the giggling has to give him a clue.

Now he knows the score, it’s a bit of a battle. He doesn’t know when to expect it, but he’s pretty determined not to allow it. I also don’t know when to expect it myself, but I am pretty determined that it will happen.

It adds a little suspense, a little spice. That’s the point, David says.

But there’s another point, too. A serious and helpful one, good for beginners to hear. David stops everything to make it:

If a partner, male or female, abuses you physically, emotionally, or energetically, this is what you do, he says.

Heedless of consequences, plant your feet. Dig in your heels. Just say No.

When the oaf takes notice, say "Thank you" and walk away.