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.