Mitali & Alwyn – Tangoing to your heart

Rest in reason, move in passion, said writer and poet Khalil Gibran; This became Mitali Chinmulgund and Alwyn Pereira inspiration to lead their lives. Their passion for the Argentine tango got them to start Tango Deseo in Pune in April 2016. Tango Deseo or Tango Desire, is a place where one can learn tango in a structured form. There are different levels for beginners, intermediates and advanced. Being one of its kind in the city, both Mitali and Alwyn have made their lives synonymous with tango and are on a mission to do the same for other Puneites through this exciting venture.

Coming from diverse backgrounds, Mitali has a double Masters’ degree in life sciences and literature, whereas Alwyn comes from an engineering background with an MBA. “We both realised that we have the passion and the knowledge about this dance form, so why not start taking classes in Pune. We’ve been here for around 17 years,” explains Mitali.

Tango as a dance form originates from Argentina in South America. “It initially started off with men dancing with men to impress the women. It was a much better way to impress them rather than killing each other. It mostly started in the brothels of Buenos Aires where the men danced to impress the women and win them over. From there, it travelled to Europe and spread across Paris, London and Berlin. Once the elites in Europe began dancing tango, it came back to Argentina where it was then accepted by the elite locals.”

Mitali Chinmulgund and Alwyn Pereira

Speaking of her challenges while starting something niche like this, Mitali says that it was initially very easy for her and Alwyn to spread the word, but they didn’t anticipate the misconceptions about tango that followed, “If you see a tango video online then the dancers are in a very tight embrace and intimate, so many women feel uncomfortable joining in. But the dancers in the video are professionals. There is a misconception about tango being danced in a close embrace. In tango, it is a priority to know how close the woman wants to be. It the etiquette of the dance to do it the way women want and it’s not just for men to taken the women for a ride. However, because of this misunderstanding, the men outnumber than women and it becomes a challenge for us to balance things out.”

The classes are taken on weekends and each batch is spread out over five classes in five weeks. Interestingly, the city has a tango community which is very active and meets for a milonga every Tuesday. Mitali and Alwyn see a bright future for tango in Pune as they plan to give out more group classes, private lessons and workshops. They are also starting a special ladies technique class.

Vijayta Lalwani