BOOK :: Kiss & Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires

by Marina Palmer (2005) is autobiographical expose into the author's life as she experiences the world of tango (and a good deal of sex) in Argentina. The book covers about 5 years worth of journal entries, marking her first visit to BsAs as a tourist in 1997 where she first witnessed a tango milonga, and following along as she studies, practices and navigatest the tango labryinth.
The author's candid and unabashed style make it easy to live vicariously through her personal experiences. We are excited and nervous for her as she leaves everything behind her in New York and flies away to Argentina to pursue professional tango dancing. We feel anxious as we approach the milonga with her, wondering who will ask her to dance tonight, and whether she'll find the "perfect tango partner".
In terms of research relevance, this book is an excellent source of primary information related to the cultural nuances of tango, gender roles and interactions in particular--how men act in the tango environment, how women are expected to act, the various rules of etiquette on both sides...and what happens when tango relationships spill off of the dance floor...
**note: according to Palmer, tango and love don't mix.
The book does an excellent job of describing, in particular, the non-verbal language that exists within tango...the head nod from the man that indicate an interest in dancing with a particular female (called "cabezeo"), the females fervent eye contact made across dimly lit dance floors, seeking to lock with a potential male partner, and the art of the refusal--a blank stare from the woman indicates a passive "no" to the man's cabezeo, while he saves face in not having been openly rejected.
Despite a narrative that frequently bends back toward the authors private, sexual escapades (thus perpetuating the stereotype of the tango as a erotically charged dance), Palmer's account of the process of learning tango, and learning to love tango, is insightful and informative, offering a taste of the tango as lifestyle, and not just as dance.