Still learning to tango

Through tango, we have a gripping story of the seduction of imperialism. In order for the dance to be appropriated, it had to become less the dance of touch, and more the choreographed dance of exotic associations with difference […]. Hence, what is generally emphasized in the story of tango is the eroticization of two bodies moving together rather than the improvisational touch necessary to this movement. The story of tango thus becomes halted within images more like that of Fai being taught his “follower’s” steps than in the final image of Happy Together where Po-Wing dances with the man in the tango bar, continuously exchanging the roles of leader and follower.