The spirit of Tango comes to Hackney

You may soon witness silent Tango dancers whizzing along the paths of Hackney’s parks, or navigating across the pavements of the borough’s popular street markets.

Whilst social dancing on most occasions occurs in faintly-lit spaces with low ceilings hidden from the public eye, this is not so at DalstonTango, which is exploring the communal dimension of social dancing in entirely new ways.

These ‘TangoWalks’ are the brainchild of social architect and entrepreneur Thomas Lindner who founded DalstonTango earlier this year.

It has been put together by a group of like minded creative individuals at thekindest.org group, which is “dedicated to the creation and delivery of spaces which foster communication, consideration, conciliation and cooperation”.

Tom says, ‘Dancing socially in a world awash with information technologies supposedly connecting us but which actually keep us at distance is more relevant than ever before.

“At DalstonTango you will learn how to communicate while ‘shutting up’, so you can let your bodies do the talking with your partner, giving you access to conversations often too intricate to put into words.”

DalstonTango offers ready-to-dance sessions and tango classes on Thursdays from 6.30pm to 9.30pm and special motion workshops on Saturdays from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

The second season kicks off today, Thursday 11 March, at St. Mark’s Church Community Hall, Dalston (near Ridley Road Market)

“At St. Mark’s we are offering a safe space which welcomes people of all ages and abilities,” says Tom.

TangoWalkers share their mobile phone or musical devices while exploring the outdoor environment in a dancerly manner, and their love for ‘communication in motion’ in public.

Each TangoWalk is comprised of dance music and spoken interludes introducing histories of places, nature in parks, stories about people or the odd piece of East End poetry.

The next TangoWalk starts at 11am on Sunday 14 March at the South end of Columbia RoadMarket, E2.

Every 7 weeks the DalstonTango season culminates with ‘TangoNautica’, an evening of social dancing and creative contributions from Hackney’s sprawling artistic community, with profits donated to a good cause.

For more information on tangonautic journeys, current and future activities check DalstonTango.