“When are you coming back? I’m not coming back. I’m so far away already.”





The wistful lyrics of love lost swell at Institut Français de Birmanie (IFB), inviting interpretation via tango steps.

At the IFB every Thursday, Yangon’s growing tango scene comes alive with prácticas, or practice sessions, of “Let’s Tango in Yangon”. It is a group coordinated over Facebook by dance partners Ghislain Rieb and Kerstin Duell. Before the fancy twists, or ochos, and hooks, or ganchos, Rieb starts with the foundation of the dance: el embrazo. It is how a dancing pair connects their bodies through arms and hands, and how the leader transmits to the follower an intention to move. Rieb assured us “that moment you feel your first true connection with another dancer, you feel gooseflesh, a wave of energy. It’s like, whoa! And then you’re hooked on tango.”

Some of the assembled dancers started dancing Argentinian tango in Yangon, far from its birthplace of Buenos Aires. Zin Me Lwin Oo first heard tango music in a video posted on the “Let’s Tango in Yangon” page, and thought it was beautiful. She has now attended four prácticas, and said her “dream is to be a perfect tango dancer, to move with harmony”. Other dancers, like Hans Sannes, are inspired to return to tango after a hiatus. Sannes learned tango and several other ballroom dances more than eight years ago, and said, “Tonight I follow my friend to this session to try it again.”

Rieb himself first tried tango three years ago while working in Mozambique. When he moved to Yangon in August 2015, he searched for ways he could continue tangoing in the Golden Land. Though Aung Thura, founder of Thura Swiss, had tried to build a tango scene in Yangon in 2013, the sizeable community of tangueros had become inactive in recent years.

Rieb was connected to experienced dancer Duell through a mutual tango friend. It may take just two to tango, but they hoped for an active tango community in Yangon with more dancers and tango gatherings, or milongas. The first step, in a place like Myanmar with few already seasoned tango dancers, is to help beginners learn.

With this goal in mind, Rieb and Duell founded “Let’s Tango in Yangon” in January. Rieb leads the free weekly prácticas at IFB and teaches the basics. He also hosts weekend milongas at his apartment, where the steps learned can be put to use. Interested dancers can start by attending any session. Tango has a reputation for being a nuanced dance that is more difficult to master – in fact it is said that anyone who has practiced for three years or less is still a “beginner”. But Rieb assures learners that a handful of basic steps makes up 80 percent of a typical dance. By learning just those steps, a beginner can start to enjoy tango.

Over the coming months, Rieb will continue to help participants of “Let’s Tango in Yangon” develop fundamental tango skills. After the rainy season, he plans to accelerate learning by inviting a tango teacher from Bangkok to lead workshops in Yangon. Another possibility is to organise a weekend dancing retreat where Yangon tangueros can take intensive lessons and participate in the bigger milongas of Bangkok’s more established tango community.





“Tango is a dance that will go well with the Myanmar culture. It is a spiritual dance, a bit like meditation. You work on your balance your intention, your thoughts and your connection,” Rieb said. And so the new tangueros of Yangon glide forward one caminada at a time, getting hooked on tango.