A decade ago, when some of Wolfgang Sachse's graduate students began to dance tango, they invited him to watch. He brought his camera. "I was intrigued by what I saw: the connection between two persons moving beautifully through space," says Sachse, the Meinig Family Professor of Engineering.

Over the next few years, Sachse continued to photograph tango performances. "I had danced little over the years and felt safe behind my camera," he says. But when a tango band played at a 40th wedding anniversary party in 2003, Sachse became hooked. "I had my camera with me, and the images of a couple married 40 years, moving in close embrace across the dance floor, brought tears to my eyes."

Later that evening he signed up for a tango workshop.

"I haven't looked back since," Sachse says. "I've learned that tango is much more than a dance. It's been called an 'elegant, passionate, sensuous interpretive art form disguised as a dance.' When one really dances tango, one opens oneself up to very subtle movements of body and soul, totally immersed in the moment with a partner, which is as fleeting and glorious as life itself."

Sachse worked with the Ithaca Tangueros, a student organization, to create Cornell Tango Week, Feb. 2-8, which includes performances, classes, a dinner and the History of Art Department's Annual Findley Distinguished Lecture by Yale art historian Robert Farris Thompson, whose widely praised new book, "Tango: The Art History of Love," explores African influences on the dance.

Facundo and Kely Posadas, Argentinean masters of the milonga candombé, or salon-style tango, will demonstrate tango and offer tango instruction throughout the week and will also perform at the Thompson lecture.

Tango originated in the late 1800s in Buenos Aires from a fusion of candombé, an Afro-Uruguayan rhythm, and European dances. Once seen as an inappropriately sexual display -- perhaps the original dirty dancing -- tango has gained worldwide popularity. The legendary choreographer Martha Graham considered it the most beautiful of dances.

Of his passion for tango, Sachse says, "One can enjoy the sensuousness, the passion, the touch and the physical contact. But it's nothing unless your soul is also touched by your partner. It's different with each partner, and it may be that one will not enjoy dancing with certain persons. But when it works, it's a truly magical experience. That's why tango is not just a dance!

"Cornell, ¡bailemos tango!"

Tango Week Events

For more information contact Professor Wolfgang Sachse, or (607) 255-5065.