For almost three months now I have been living in Buenos Aires meditating on this question. Perhaps, like the dance itself, enlightenment is an endless pursuit.

For the time being, the common denominator, I have calculated, is a search: a search for truth, a search for a connection, a search for “perfection” (in an embrace, in a partner, in one’s own dancing) all the while struggling to maintain a sense of flow: the perfect medicine for those with a tendency towards restlessness. The possibilities for individual reasoning, however, remain hopelessly exponential.

One of my tango teachers, all of seventy three years old, says matter-of-factly “es un baile atrapante.” It is a dance that pulls you in. When I ask him how this works he simply shrugs his shoulders and throws the question back at me. Yes, the dance is like a magnet, but it’s not as simple as that. Everyone has varying levels of attraction to the dance, but the question still remains: why?

It has been said that tango is “a sad thought danced,” “a vertical expression of a horizontal desire,” and it is often described as being “passionate” “fiery” and “seductive.” All signs point to the emotional. Whether they admit it or not, all tango dancers are drawn to the dance for emotional reasons: they remember the past through Pugliese, Gardel or D’Arienzo, they forget the present, they search for the Zen of connection in another’s arms, to mend a broken heart, or to salvage a waning relationship.

Despite the social changes that accompany time, tango has survived. Seventy years ago the youth and community of Argentina went to dance halls to socialize. During the pauses in between songs, young men and women had exciting moments to exchange words with one another, hearts beating rapidly at the possibilities, prospects, and potentials created in the space of a ‘tanda.’

Today the pauses are still there. Whether or not the contemporary dancers know why, they still respect them, taking the moments to get to know their dance partners. The young women of today are not accompanied by a family member or elder, and tango is not the only means anymore to socialize, but it continues to serve as an environment where a shared passion of the dance translates into a world where people of all ages and backgrounds come together and pursue their emotional “search” for something.