Miguel Angel Zotto and Daiana Guspero

I went to a class with Miguel Angel Zotto earlier this month. I must admit I was bowled over by the name partly but in the end, it was actually his dance partner Daiana Guspero that made more of an impression on me. Part of the class, was spent split into men and women practicing a sequence of steps. Daiana kept moving us around which was great as everyone got a chance to see the step work up close. At one stage, I was directly behind and to the side of her as we practiced the steps and OMG, what a horrible contrast! ;-) She was so steady and sure on her axis, it looked like she was one of those artists drawing dummies that has a metal stand through its back. She was perfectly straight while I looked and moved clumsily and crookedly! This class has convinced me undeniably about the benefit of having mirrors during a class.

Some people are quite critical of Zotto’s style, saying it is too ‘stagey ’ to be proper salon tango. Certainly, the following piece shows some of his usual tricks. See what you think.