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It turns out that it takes more than two to tango. To find out just how many, the campus and broader community are invited to a milonga — a tango dance party — on Friday, Jan. 19.

The event in the Phoenix Activities & Recreation Center (PARC) Gym will include an hour of beginner tango dance lessons at 7 p.m. before the festivities from 8 – 10:30 p.m. It’s hosted by Assistant Professor of History and O’Briant Developing Professor Yidi Wu and her Winter Term HST 3708 Argentine Tango class. Argentine Tango is also a musical genre, and a trio from Indiana will two-step from Indiana to ���ϲ����� to provide live music.

Above all, tango is a social dance and intended to be performed in large, close-knit crowds, Wu said.

“Tango is a way to communicate by listening to the music and your dance partner,” Wu said. “That’s what draws me to it. It’s completely improvisational and you constantly switch partners. You don’t necessarily know who you’re dancing with, but because you speak the same language of tango you can dance together.”

Wu’s course includes the history and film of Argentine tango and its cultural significance alongside dance lessons. The form originated in the late 19th century among the working class and Argentines of African descent. It was appropriated and modified by Europeans before being accepted by the upper class in Argentina.

Wu has been a dancer from her childhood but was introduced to tango while studying at the University of California, Irvine. She enjoyed the dance and community around it so much that she sought out other dancers each time she relocated for school and work. In Indiana, she even started offering lessons to create the community she sought and loved.

Now she’s intent on doing the same at ���ϲ�����.

Three of her friends from Bloomington, Indiana, will perform music at the milonga: Winnie Cheung on the bandoneon (similar to an accordion) and keyboard; Janice Lee on violin; and Pablo Zavattieri on bass. Wu is enlisting friends and local tango aficionados from the Triangle and Triad regions, and Cecil Ho of Durham will be a guest teacher and DJ for the Jan. 19 event.

“It might feel intimidating at first if you don’t know how to tango, but that’s what the lessons are for. Bring a friend. You can dance, sit and watch, or just come and enjoy the live music,” Wu said. “I want to create a community around ���ϲ����� where students can continue to tango after the class ends.”