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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — When Catherine Julius visited Argentina a few years ago, she found opportunities to dance the tango day and night. It was glorious.
But the nurse from Plains Township can’t spend all of her time in South America, so she does the next best thing — teaching tango classes and organizing dance parties called milongas for a small but dedicated group of fellow dancers.
“It’s something to do for myself. It’s something that makes me feel elegant,” said tango student Andrea Lafoca of West Pittston, who has been taking weekly classes with Julius and fellow teacher Dr. Terry Bauch, of Mountain Top, at the 1, 2, Step Dance Studio “near the giant cow” on Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard.
No longer a beginner, Lafoca sometimes attends the beginner class in addition to the intermediate classes so she can help out as an extra, experienced partner.
The tango is a classy dance, she said. Glancing at her teachers, she added, “when Catherine and Terry dance together, it’s beautiful.”
The instructors — who are dance partners; not romantic partners — have a simple reason for teaching. While neither one of them needs a second job, they want to expand the circle of people who are familiar with ballroom dancing so they can build more of a tango community and have more opportunities for dancing.
The more people who attend the milongas they organize at local restaurants, for example, the more willing the restaurants are to let them use the space, explained Bauch, who is a cardiologist.
Julius teaches other ballroom styles in addition to tango, explaining she told her nephew who recently got married she’d give them a choice of what she’d teach him and his bride for their first dance: waltz, tango, rumba or foxtrot.
The young couple chose foxtrot, she said, and received many compliments.
“I love teaching people dances for their weddings,” she said. “However much you put into it, you get out of it.”
During a recent intermediate level tango class, the students practiced pivoting, transferring their weight, and tilting their legs and hips to the correct angles.
“Stand up tall,” the teachers reminded them.
“It’s a beautiful dance, but the hardest to learn,” student Jerry Zvirblis of Scranton remarked.
“Don’t say that,” his friend Jean Tosh, of Mountain Top said. “You’ll scare people.”
Actually, Julius said, there’s always more to learn. That’s part of the art. “I’ve been doing this for 18 years and I still feel there’s always something more to learn or to perfect.”
As the class came to an end Bauch showed the students a video of his former teacher, Daniella Arcuri, who has danced on Broadway, and said he hoped to arrange a local workshop that she would teach.
That might happen within the next few months, Julius said.
Meanwhile, Bauch encouraged the students to practice their dancing outside of class time. After all, he said, “You wouldn’t take golf classes and never play golf.”
Interested dance fans can check out nepatango.com to learn more about classes and the milango events, which are held periodically at Theo’s Metro and River Grille.
