Professor talks tango from Buenos Aires

Daniela Borgialli, a faculty associate in ASU's School of Dance, in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, is competing this month in the Buenos Aires Tango Festival & World Cup in Argentina.

Borgialli spoke with NPR's Viviana Hurtado, host of "Tell Me More," about the dance festival and the lure of Argentine tango.

"There are lots of myths around the origins of tango," Borgialli told Hurtado. She said that while some people say that the dance originated in the slums of Buenos Aires, others argue that it started elsewhere – in brothels, in the suburbs alongside the music, and in places other than Buenos Aires.

Tango history aside, Borgialli says she got her start in ASU's School of Dance, where she was introduced to Argentine tango while pursuing her graduate degree.

"I fell in love," says Borgialli, who teaches dance at ASU and whose father is from Argentina. "It came into my life unexpectedly and it's been this love affair ever since."

Speaking of love, Hurtado asked Borgialli about the tango's romantic, seductive nature, as seen in such Hollywood films as "Scent of a Woman," starring Al Pacino, whose character in the Oscar-winning film says that the tango is simple and not nearly as complicated as life.

Not so, says Borgialli.

"I wish I could say it's super easy. It tends to be a pretty complex dance. ... The people who are most attracted to it are the people who love a challenge always. So it's like, oh, they learn something new and then it's like, 'well, wait a minute,' and then 'how does this work,' and then there's more. The next thing you know like, three years have gone by, five years have gone by, 10 years have gone by and you're still going, 'wait, and there's more.'

"So, here we are in 2012, there's all these little evolutions that are happening in the dance form, so more arguments about how it should or shouldn't be danced."

To listen to the full interview, click the link below.