Una ignorancia sagrada: aprendiendo a no saber bailar tango en Buenos Aires

Abstract

The article explores and criticizes the relations between initiation, secret and sacred knowledge -concepts that in terms of performance theory are translated respectively as the training or performers, the relationships linking what is shown and what is not shown, and the acquisition of competence- in the context of tango lessons in Buenos Aires. Knowing how not know to dance is a central part of the performative competence acquired by women attending those classes. Under the light of concepts outlined by Michael Taussig (1999) in Defacement: Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative the "not knowing" how to dance tango by women is interpreted as a sacred ignorance that preserves the magic powers of the tango and the place of men as the sole creators of women’s mobility.