The Temptation to Tango

About the Book

You are invited to tango, the world's most sensual and intimate dance, through the stories and memoirs of two American tangueros. The Temptation to Tango: Journeys of Intimacy and Desire will take you where no other book on tango ever has. Short fictional pieces enter the world of tango through the dancer's eyes, heart, and skin; expository pieces provide background with lively accounts of tango's history and evolution, of personal experiences learning to tango, and of the pleasures and challenges of adding tango to our own lives. Alternating fiction and non-fiction the way we have is the only way to capture the multiple voices of tango. Ours is not a "how-to" manual or an historical treatise, but a tour of the erotic steam of crowded late night dance floors as well as the frightening challenges to body and heart.

The Temptation to Tango: Journeys of Intimacy and Desire is divided into four parts: "The Lure", "The Reality", "The Challenge" and "The Reward". First, we explore tango's romantic allure, mysterious origins, and exotic dark side. The first short story is about a Catholic priest whose hidden life of tango is exposed. Next, we focus on why tango is so hard to learn; the stresses on the body and inner-world of emotion. We investigate the cultural issues around dominance and submission. Six more short stories tell tales of couples and singles who take-on the tango with very different goals and results. Even after mastery of the dance, challenges abound: the tango scene and how to fit into it, the intimacy factor and how far to take it, and the impact on established relationships. What one can get from persevering along the arduous tango trail is sensual and emotional fulfillment, rewards frequently lacking in our society.

About the Author

Irene D. Thomas, Ph.D. made a career in academia and educational publishing and later found a midlife hobby in ballroom dancing. Like others before them, though, once she and her husband discovered Argentine Tango, they never looked back. Today they introduce others to the joys of tango and whenever possible follow the tango trail around the country. This book grew out of a passion to tell the story of what happens to Americans when they take on this fascinating and provocative dance form -- and the culture that goes with it. Her essays about tango, mostly drawing upon her own experience, provide a contextual background for her friend Larry Sawyer's tango stories. Together they may have created a new genre, combining fiction and non-fiction in an original format.

She lives with her husband on the Mendocino Coast of Northern California.

Larry Sawyer pursued a working life of Land-Use Planning and the rather dry writing of environmental impact reports before letting it go in favor of romance and adventure on the Mendocino Coast. After learning all of the commonly found partner dances in the U.S., he and his wife found Argentine tango in the late nineties. Soon after, all dance classes they took were tango. Travel within the States or abroad now includes a search for tango in the local area. Obsession with fulfillment is a wonderful thing, especially if all you lose along the way is your foxtrot. His stories represent a return to an earlier passion for writing fiction.

Larry also lives with his wife, Harriet, in Albion on the Mendocino Coast.