• About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • New to Tango?

SF Loves Tango

Insider’s guide to Argentine Tango in the San Francisco Bay Area

  • Home
  • Learn
    • Tango Instructors
    • Senior Tango
    • Queer Tango
  • Dance
    • Monday
    • Tuesday
    • Wednesday
    • Thursday
    • Friday
    • Saturday
    • Sunday
  • Wear
    • Tango Shoes
    • Tango Clothes
  • Live Music
  • Festivals
  • Music & Books
    • Tango Music

The Lessons of Psicotango: How Tango Can Be Therapy

December 10, 2014

I am thrilled to announce we have another guest post by Sasha Cagen, author of “Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics”, relationship and life coach, and the creator of the Quirky Heart Tango Adventure in Buenos Aires. (Learn more at the bottom of this post).

“Tango remains from its origins as a hug, an embrace, to rescue us from pain and loneliness, central pathologies of consumer society. Tango is a path that connects us with our own personal story.”

—Monica Peri and Ignacio Lavalle, Psicotango founders

What if you could work through your emotional problems by dancing tango?

Monica Peri and Ignacio Lavalle, the founders of psicotango, a unique workshop in Buenos Aires, and the authors of Psicotango: Danza Como Terapia, make a bold claim. They believe that tango is a uniquely healing dance, more healing than any other. They believe that tango could help you unravel your problems. See yourself more clearly on your own and in relationship to a partner. Connect better. To yourself and others. Even to understand your primary bond with your mother in a way that will help you in your intimate relationships as an adult.

They also see tango as a path that rescues us from loneliness, as it did for the original immigrants who created this intimate partner dance in Argentina.

Lucky for me I discovered psicotango when I was lonely. I came alone to Buenos Aires to pursue my passion for tango in fall 2012 after falling in love with tango in Cali, Colombia in 2010. I thought it would be no problem to make friends because I had made friends easily when I moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2010.

Buenos Aires is not Rio, and it’s not necessarily the friendliest city for a newcomer. I met many men dancing tango in the Buenos Aires milongas, but after dancing a tanda, we would say goodbye. Women sat with me at tables, but our attention was fixed on men’s eyes to get dances. I did not have budding friendships. I distinctly remember a month of seriously questioning my decision to move to Buenos Aires, saying to my mother on Skype, “Living without a partner is OK, but living without friends is hell.”

Feeling a raw alienation in a large city that I had not felt since transferring to Barnard College in New York City at age 20, I searched online for people who might be my people. I found an ad in the Buenos Aires Tango group on couchsurfing.org. An Estonian woman Nele posted an ad. She was looking for people to help translate a Psicotango book from Spanish to English. Psicotango! Even the combination of words fascinated me. Would there ever be a psicosalsa or a psicozumba, or was this unique to tango? Was this tango for psychos? There are a lot of “characters” in the tango scene. Nele said in her post that psicotango would be big. She seemed overly optimistic. I thought, nah, but I thought, psicotango could be big for me.

On a deep level, I knew that psicotango might hold the key to finding my community in Buenos Aires so I joined the psicotango translation team, volunteering to translate passages of the book. I’m not a psychologist, but I am a relationship and life coach, and deeply interested in how we can create better relationships with others and happiness within ourselves. I wrote a book called Quirkyalone, which is all about finding happiness within yourself as the foundation for connecting to another. From the very first moment when I saw tango danced in Colombia, I knew tango had a lot to teach me about life, relationships, and connection. Psicotango was a place where other people saw that too.

Psicotango was a kind of dream come true for me, a group of people who were interested in tango in the same way I was interested in tango, a uniquely Porteno (Buenos Aires resident) seminar, a book, and a set of ideas combining psychology, community, and tango, creating a space for people to explore what tango means to them. Buenos Aires is the only city where Freud still holds sway, and therapy is not shameful. So in this culture, psicotango was more normal than it would be in San Francisco. They meet weekly or biweekly in an elementary school, which turns into the Universidad de Tango at night. When I have brought visitors to psicotango, they are a little shocked. A Canadian woman Linda said to me afterwards, “I can’t believe there are men who choose to do this on a Thursday night.” Yes. There are men also at psicotango.

psicotangueras
Linda, the Canadian visitor who was surprised that men come to psicotango, Sasha, and Nele, psicotangueras and co-guides in the Tango Adventure.

While most tango classes are about technique or figures, psicotango goes to the heart of tango: connection. (To connect with another you must connect with yourself, and this is what makes tango a deep personal quest.) my first psicotango, we each shared a moment of “ethereal connection,” whether through tango or in life. I could tell this would be a way to get out of my head and back to the thing that originally drew me to tango. I remembered that I could feel sublime connection, or even a tangasm, as a beginner, sometimes more easily than when I had been dancing for years, bothered by thoughts of dancing “perfectly.” Tango is not all about technique.

Playing with body expression in psicotango
Playing with body expression in psicotango

I go back to Buenos Aires every year now for some months and have formed a community that includes many psicotangueros. I am now a psicotanguera. I love having found this community of people who approach tango on a deeper level. I go back for the hug too. Psicotangueros know that the embrace is more “committed” in Buenos Aires. It is not a technical, faint thing the way it sometimes feels in the States. A whole-hearted embrace circulates energy between our hearts as we dance. By contrast, sometimes when I dance in San Francisco, I feel tired from doing “steps” and “exercise,” where more often in Buenos Aires, I feel more energy after dancing—because of the energy circulating through a more committed hug.
A true embrace heals.

psicotango3
Sasha with Ignacio (Nacho) Lavalle, co-founder of psicotango

I want to bring the psicotango ideas and method to a wider English audience. I interviewed the founders of psicotango Monica Peri and Ignacio Lavalle and translated the interview to share their viewpoints and mission.

SC: What is the core mission of psicotango?
M & I: The primary mission of psicotango is to show that tango is healing, more healing than any other dance in the world. We believe that tango is more healing than any other dance because of the closeness of the embrace and the game of playful improvisation.

SC: How do you bring Freud and tango together, and why?
M & I: Our perspective as psychologists is holistic. We incorporate not only the perspectives of Freud and Lacan from psychoanalysis but also others like Jung from his analytic psychology, the analyst of play Winnicott from the cognitive and the Gestalt. Each one serves us to help us find answers to our central hypothesis that the dance of tango is healing.

SC: What kinds of issues do you see people working through or resolving in psicotango seminars?
M & I: We understand that behind every difficulty there is fear. To move the body, to get started with the first steps of tango, we recognize there is fear in the psyche and in the body, in diseases of all kinds. Psicotango is intended for all those who suffer from fear.

SC: What is the best thing you have gotten out of tango?
M & I: Tango remains from its origins as a hug, an embrace, to rescue us from pain and loneliness, central pathologies of consumer society. Tango is a path that connects us with our own personal story.

SC: I have heard you say that what’s unique about tango is the closeness of the embrace, and this close embrace approximates behind held in a mother’s arms. You say that tango is a search for the return to bliss, even being in the womb. Now we search for this bliss from an adult perspective. Can you tell me more about this?
M & I: In a utopian way, we are born fused with our mothers then we must let go of this utopia. In adolescence we rebel against our mother and as adults we look in the mirror and we realize that our life of relationships is cemented by the primary link with our mothers. Psicotango gets into the crack, or primary bond with our mother, that we all have and helps us to explore it, to know it, to dance better in tango and life.

SC: What is the value of embracing our sensuality in tango?
M & I: The full contact with another with the possibilities of a game of improvisation is something that no other dance or activity has, with the exception of making love. Bonds and connection are at the center of where psychology bases its theory of health and disease, whether someone is healthy or sick. We call the milonga a “venue of sublimation.” These are “embraces of sublimation.” We go thirsty for hugs to recover our repressed libido. [Note: Defined more narrowly, “libido” refers to an individual’s urge to engage in sexual activity, defined more broadly, “libido” represents all our instinctive energies and desires.]

SC: What can a foreigner learn about tango in Buenos Aires that they would not discover elsewhere?
M & I: In Buenos Aires people of the world gather to dance tango in a committed embrace where the real body gets involved. Our folkloric and intimate rituals are part of this too: mate, asado (barbecue), tango.

Sasha CagenSasha Cagen created Quirky Heart Tango Adventure in Buenos Aires where you can learn in one week what she has found in a year of living in Buenos Aires, including psicotango. All tangueros look forward to their first trip to the holy land. Coming on this trip, you’ll have so much more support and insider info than if you come alone. The next Quirky Heart Tango Adventure are February 21-28 and March 14-21 in Buenos Aires. If you go, tell Sasha that you learned about it on SFLovesTango.com!

Filed Under: Guest Post Tagged With: Argentine Tango, buenos aires, Milonga, psicotango, quirky heart tango adventures, San Francisco Tango, Sasha Cagen, tango therapy

Comments

  1. Sasha Cagen says

    December 10, 2014 at 9:34 pm

    I love the way my tango writing looks on your blog Maika! Thanks for presenting these ideas so well. Happy to bring psicotango to San Francisco as I am to share psicotango with San Franciscans in Buenos Aires!

Tango scenes in SF

sflovestango

Celebrate #bayareatango community, support everyone involved & share ♥️ of #tango with San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

sflovestango
As the year-end approaches, many SF local tango ev As the year-end approaches, many SF local tango events have had or will have their last event of 2022 to wrap things up. This year's last Milonga Rubia al Sur happened this past Sunday, Dec 18 with DJ @ayano.yoneda.tango and special performance with visiting artist, @martinalmironartist, and milonga host, Lisette @passion4tango. 

With the holidays coming up and Argentina winning the world cup, dancing tango all night long around Lisette's very own flower arrangements was just the appropriate celebration people needed.

Hosted by Lisette Perelle, Milonga Rubia is held every 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month, with current location at Just Dance Ballroom (2500 Embarcadero) in Oakland and a different DJ for each event.

✨ Fun fact - how Milonga Rubia got its name... ✨

Lisette's Argentine friends have always been calling her 'Rubia' because of her blonde hair. One day about 6 years ago, when she was discussing naming this new milonga with @julian_tangosf, he said, “Why not just call it Milonga Rubia?" That's how Milonga Rubia got its name! The event once was in a venue in Emeryville/Richmond. Once Lisette changed venues to a more southern location (Just Dance Ballroom in Oakland), the event's name was changed to 'Milonga Rubia al Sur' accordingly.
.
.
.
#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevent #sundayfunday #milonga #milonganight #socialdancing #bailemos #embrace #tangodancers #bayareatango #oakland #keepdancing #dancingislife #weekendrecap
Last Saturday, Saturday Dec 17, @abrazoqueertango Last Saturday, Saturday Dec 17, @abrazoqueertango hosted their Holiday Bash with performances by @mirabtango and Miranda at @tangodome, a cool art gallery and dance space at 951 62nd St in Oakland.

🏳️‍🌈 Abrazo Queer Tangois a volunteer-run organization, and after expenses, all funds are used to pay for their events and offer discounts to students and folks short on cash. To help the org break even in 2022 and fund its 2023 programs, last Saturday's event was positioned as a fundraiser with a sliding scale $20-$40 for folks to choose how they'd like to show their support, offering a sweet night of performance, community and great music in a magical location. 

Missed the event yet still would like to support Queer Tango? Donations always totally work! Please write *donation* in the comment via your favorite method:
Venmo ➡️ abrazo-tango (Karen Curtis)
Paypal ➡️ abrazoqueertango@gmail.com
.
.
.
#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevent #specialevents #milonga #saturdayvibe #socialdancing #bailemos #embrace #tangodancers #bayareatango #queertango #oakland #keepdancing #dancingislife #weekendrecap
💫 #motivationmonday is not over yet so here is 💫 #motivationmonday is not over yet so here is a quick recap of the International Day of Tango at @greatnorthernsf last night! 💫 Milonga hosted by @julian_tangosf with DJ @loco_chung. 
.
.
.
#diadeltango #tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevent #specialevents #milonga #sundayfunday #socialdancing #bailemos #embrace #tangodancers #bayareatango #sanfrancisco #keepdancing #dancingislife #weekendrecap
This Friday night in the heart of San Francisco, t This Friday night in the heart of San Francisco, tango dancers and the public who are curious art lovers had a unique experience with live music performed by local tango musicians and the strategic mix of TANGO • VALS • MILONGA • ALTERNATIVE music by DJ @jonas.aqui of @jxtango at @drawingroomsf_annex, an art • gallery • studio in the Mission district – a free event by the collaboration of @chetangosf, @drawingroomsf and @artistmigration. 

Artists featured:
Sumi Lee (piano) @sfsumi
J Ramada (bass)
Basma Edrees (violin) @basmaedreesviolin
Verónica Freidkes (vocal) @veroverofreidkes

Check out our stories and story highlights for snippets of the performances and tango dancing around art pieces!
.
..
.
❣️ about Che! Tango SF❣️

All events created by Ramada Salieri and Elaine Chiu are dedicated to providing an inclusive and friendly dancing and learning environment in San Francisco and the Bay Area regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other characteristic or trait.

ONGOING EVENTS
Che! Milonga: Every 1st and 2nd Saturday of the month 
Che! Música + Milonga: Once every quarter on a 2nd Saturday
Milonga Uno: 3rd Saturday of every other month
.
..
.
❣️ about The Drawing Room SF ❣️

MISSION
The Drawing Room connects community through art to help improve the overall human condition by making art accessible and part of the daily fabric of our lives. 
.
..
.
❣️about Artist Migration❣️

ANTI CAPITALIST ART
Artist-led curatorial project providing performance and exhibition opportunities to international artists.
.
.
.
#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #concert #milonga #specialevent #onenightonly #livemusic #fridaynights #art #tangomusic #contemporarymusic #contemporarytango #womenintango #womeninmusic #artislife  #tangomusicians #musiciansofinstagram #sanfrancisco #california #bayareatango #sflovestango #jxtango
Those who came out to @tangolabruja last night had Those who came out to @tangolabruja last night had an epic evening of dancing and live music with three highly skillful tango musicians’ improvised music – Trio Tangazo, a dynamite tango trio made up of Sascha Jacobsen (bass), Seth Asarnow (piano), and Adrian Jost (bandoneon). 

~~Fun fact~~
Sascha, Seth and Adrian all performed at La Bruja previously - either with other tango ensembles or in duo - but it was the first time all three of them taking the stage together!

📍 @berkeleycityclub 
.
.
.
#tango #concert #milonga #milonganight #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusic #improvisation #travelingmusician #musiciansofinstagram #california #berkeley #bayareatango #tangomusicians #tangodancers #socialdance #dancingislife #sflovestango
🥧 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so @milongamalevaje 🥧 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so @milongamalevaje is closed for that matter, but here is something different & fun from last Thursday 😉 with DJ @jonas.aqui, courtesy of hosts @tanguera_e, Ramada Salieri and Adolfo Caszarry.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!
.
.
.
#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #milonga #milonganight #tangoevent #tangoalternativo #alternativetango #tangonuevo #embrace #bailar #bailemos #socialdance #partnerdance #tangodancers #dancingislife #bayareatango #sanfrancisco #sflovestango
✨ FRIDAY NIGHT TANGO ✨ It’s been awhile sin ✨ FRIDAY NIGHT TANGO ✨

It’s been awhile since Milonga La Genesis (hosted by @julian_tangosf) has live tango music. Last night LEO TANGASSO QUARTET was in the house, featuring @leogassomusic from Montevideo, Uruguay on bandoneon,  @smurfetteshum on piano, Stella Bonilla on violin,  @digsmahler on double bass.

(🎥 @tangonnection, edited by @sflovestango)
.
.
.
#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino #specialevent #bayareatango #tangomusic #livemusic #tangomusicians #bandoneon #piano #doublebass #violin #quartet #onenightonly #milonganight #sanfrancisco #sflovestango
👏 The all-female tango ensemble, 𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨, wrapped up their 2022 concert tour at @alameda_elks1015, playing for a full house of guests at the @housetango Community Milonga.

𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨 is a collaboration between powerhouse female tango musicians @sfsumi (piano), @heynisolera (bandoneon), and @teagbby (violin). Their concert on Sunday featured guest bassist @fabricanfabricant and vocalist @teresatam.sing.

~~.~~.~~.
The mission of 𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨 is to present contemporary Argentine tango through virtuosic artistic performance and educational events.  Sumi, Heyni, and Teagan originally bonded in Buenos Aires, drawn by a mutual love of tango music, as well as by a realization of the inequality of professional opportunity for women in the tango genre. They studied under the same maestros and performed with prestigious tango orchestras in Buenos Aires.  They now frequently perform around the world, including in their respective adopted cities of San Francisco (Sumi), Washington, DC (Heyni), and NYC (Teagan). All of the musicians also produce their own music. 
~~.~~.~~.
.
.
.
#tango #concert #milonga #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusic #contemporarymusic #contemporarytango #womenintango #womeninmusic #travelingmusician #heynibando #tour #beautifulwomen #musiciansofinstagram #sanfrancisco #california #berkeley #oakland #bayareatango #tangomusicians
🎉 Saturday, October 22 marked the grand re-open 🎉 Saturday, October 22 marked the grand re-opening of Vecher Tango at the Russian Center of SF!

After a long pause of two and a half year, the magnificent grand ballroom was filled with tango energy again. What made the occasion extra special was the incredible performances by another visiting master couple @javierchikk & @moiracastellano. To top it off, @virginiaychristian "Los Totis" joined Javier & Moira on the floor for a mixed maestros dance!

Shout-out to our dearest friend Davood Yazdani, Julia Schiptsova of Tango Element, and all the local organizers for making this weekend feel like a mini tango festival in San Francisco!
.
.
.
#tango #argentinetango #argentinetango♥️ #tangoargentino #milonganight #tangoperformance #bailar #bailemos #bailando #tangoshow #tangoevent #tangodancer #tangocouple #specialevent #onenightonly #tangophoto
✨It's a star-struck tango week in SF!!✨ @vir ✨It's a star-struck tango week in SF!!✨ 

@virginiaychristian "Los Totis" have been teaching in San Francisco (brought to you by our very own Davood Yazdani who's in collaboration with Julia Schiptsova of Tango Element!) And we were mesmerized by their fantastic performances last night at the special edition of @milongamalevaje at @verdiclubsf ! 🤩👏
.
.
. 
#tango #argentinetango #argentinetango♥️ #tangoargentino  #tangoperformance #bailar 
#bailemos #bailando #tangoshow  #tangoevent #tangoperformance #tangodancer #tangocouple #specialevent #onenightonly #tangophoto
💫 Exactly a year later, 𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨, an all-female tango musician collaboration, has returned to the SF Bay Area!! 

Last night they took the audience on a magical journey to Buenos Aires with a concert-milonga at @tangolabruja in Berkeley. Check out our stories to see more snippets of their performance!

𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨 is a collaboration between powerhouse female tango musicians @sfsumi (piano), @heynisolera (bandoneon), and @teagbby (violin). The concert last night featured guest singer @veroverofreidkes.

The mission of 𝙇𝙖𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙨 is to present contemporary Argentine tango through virtuosic artistic performance and educational events. Sumi Lee, Heyni Solera, and Teagan Faran originally bonded in Buenos Aires, drawn by a mutual love of tango music, as well as by a realization of the inequality of professional opportunity for women in the tango genre. They studied under the same maestros and performed with prestigious tango orchestras in Buenos Aires.  They now frequently perform around the world, including in their respective adopted cities of San Francisco (Sumi), Washington, DC (Heyni), and NYC (Teagan). All of the musicians also produce their own music. 

Catch them for the rest of their tour!
🔸10/20 (Thur) 10pm, World Folk Jam concert w/ ten other world music groups, Oakland
🔸10/21 (Fri) 7pm, Sebastopol Center for the Arts
🔸10/22 (Sat) 7:30pm, Sunset Music and Arts, San Francisco
🔸10/23 (Sun) 3:30pm, houseTango Community Milonga @ Alameda Elks Lodge, Alameda
.
.
.
#tango #concert #milonga #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusic #contemporarymusic #contemporarytango #womenintango #womeninmusic #travelingmusician #heynibando #tour #beautifulwomen #musiciansofinstagram #sanfrancisco #california #berkeley #oakland #bayareatango
🤩 𝓜𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓪 𝓕𝓲𝓪𝓽 🤩 𝓜𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓪 𝓕𝓲𝓪𝓽 𝓛𝓾𝔁 by the @berkeleytangoclub (ATCB) returned to the #ucberkeley campus earlier today, with DJ Prashant! 🎶

The ATCB is a Registered Student Organization of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), comprised of University of California Berkeley students, staff, alumni, and members of the local community who love tango. Their mission is to develop a student tango community at UC Berkeley fit to carry the flag of this generation and the generations to come.

They currently hold classes and práctica every Sunday and a milonga (Milonga Fiat Lux!) about once a month. Whether you are just beginning tango, or have been dancing for some time, you are welcome to join. They aim to hold high-quality events to prepare students to become active members of the Bay Area tango community, and to provide a safe and welcoming social dancing environment.

📌 Mark your calendar for the next Milonga Fiat Lux, a winter edition🎄
𝟮–𝟱𝗽𝗺 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟰
See you in 𝟮𝟰𝟬 𝗘𝘀𝗵𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 of UC Berkeley!
https://m.facebook.com/events/1713049302422431

For more updates:
Email: ucbtango@gmail.com
Facebook: @ArgentineTangoClubBerkeley
Instagram: @berkeleytangoclub 
.
.
.
#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino #tangoargentino♥️ #tangoevent #milonga #socialdance #partnerdance #bailemos #bailar #bailando #dancing #tangodancers #berkeleytangoclub #bayareatango #sflovestango
Load more Follow us

Connect with us

RSStwitterfacebookinstagram

Get updates to your inbox

Subscribe to SF Loves Tango

* indicates required

Categories

  • Guest Post
  • Interviews
  • Learning Tango
  • Live Tango Music
  • Milonga Spotlight
  • Musings
  • SF Festivals
  • Special Events
  • Tango Clothes
  • Teacher Spotlight
  • Visiting teachers

Recent Comments

  • xiaomin on Saying Hello
  • Jeffrey on Saying Hello
  • maika on Saying Goodbye
  • Gigi Jensen on Saying Goodbye
  • William Ward on Tango Festival Survival Guide
  • Randall Crane on Tango and the Feminist

Privacy Policy Copyright © 2023 SF Loves Tango