Part of my fancy dance lessons has been the Argentine Tango. I've learned the basic steps and a couple of the slightly tricky ones. Just before New Year's, a tango club rented space at the dance studio for their tango party--all-invited.

One of the women I take lessons with was willing to try this, so, sticking with the buddy-system, we both attended.

The tango party started with a lesson, and I quickly learned how little I know. I sort-of learned the new steps, but never quite figured out how to merge them into the steps I already knew.

The Tango is a pretty intimate dance, even in the basic form. The new steps were serious invasions of personal space. The lead steps inside his partner's feet, and applies force to spin the couple into the next step. After a few "move to the next partner and practice this step, " I suspect I'm engaged to several women I've never been fully introduced to.

Once again, I drove to Atlanta for the GAFilk relaxacon. Several of the musicians at GAFilk get together as a jazz/swing combo and the hotel provides dance floor during the banquet. Last year I was totally embarrassed by being unable to dance at all.

That led to me starting dance lessons last June. Over the past six months, I've discovered a half-dozen left feet I didn't know I had, and have become embarassingly acquainted with several women's toes.

This year, I'm pleased to say I danced most of the dances at GAFilk, only stepped on one foot and only got a couple of my own feet underfoot.

I had a great time.

The dance at GAFilk was much less invasive than the tango club's dance. And a lot more fun. Nobody was worried about getting the steps perfect. Or even close to standard. At one point, a couple started playing toreador with their partner's fancy shawl.

There's a lot of improvisational steps in dance, but none of the ones I'm learning involve putting your hands on your head like a bull and charging at your opponent. That might be considered a bit too intimate.

Here's a short video of the dance, an overview of the dance floor and band, and more of me dancing Cha-Cha with my friend Brenda Sutton.