Fairbanks Tango Exudes Passion with its Dance
For Hispanic Heritage Month, Liz Veenstra, a tango instructor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, presented a brief history of the Argentine tango, and performed demonstrations and a free class to the audience. The event was sponsored by Enlaces.
Liz used to dance ballroom dances, such as waltz, swing, American tango, rumba, salsa, bachata, merengue, etc., until she discovered the Argentine tango. “I still enjoy these dances from time to time, but they are more robotic and lack the emotional expression of the Argentine tango. After my mother died, I started dancing a lot of tango. For me, it was a healthy way to process my grief without anyone (including myself) knowing that that was what I was doing,” she said. Her education in tango has taken place through workshops and private lessons with nationally and internationally recognized teachers. “I have been a student of tango since 1999, later becoming a tango teacher for the Fairbanks community, which needed someone to step up to teach. I was the first in that position in 2012, took over event planning in 2013, and recently started DJing for our dance parties,” she said. For Liz, tango is huge. “Every dance is a three-minute-long embrace. Tango is community. We dance with one partner, yes, but also with all the other couples around us, so awareness and respect for others is implicit.” Fairbanks Tango is growing by offering tango as a recreational class at the university. Students enroll in a semester-long class through the University of Alaska Fairbanks—the class is a one-credit course, so the cost is about $5 per hour or $15 per week for resident tuition. Class size is restricted to 24 people, to ensure individual attention. Fairbanks community members enroll as non-degree-seeking students and can choose to attend as auditees if they don’t need credits. Registration opens November 11, for classes beginning mid-January 2025. “Tango is becoming more popular in Fairbanks as more people discover us.” |