My body already knew. Tango gave me access to that knowing.
My Story
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, where tango was always part of the cultural landscape. Yet it would take many years, and a life lived across different countries and cultures, for me to discover what authentic Argentine tango had to offer.
Art has been a constant presence in my life. Over the years, I explored different forms of artistic expression and facilitated workshops in which participants used art as an opportunity to discover something about themselves. What interested me most was not necessarily the artwork they produced, but what they encountered through the creative process.
During the 1990s and 2000s, I trained as a course leader in personal development. Although that experience contributed to my understanding of how people explore themselves, I also became aware of its limitations. The approach relied on a narrow set of predetermined distinctions that left little room for individual discovery. I became increasingly interested in experiences that allowed people to arrive at their own understanding, rather than guiding them toward a prescribed conclusion.
My professional life has also included more than two decades as a court interpreter, a profession that requires careful listening, precision, and an appreciation for the complexities of human communication.
Years later, authentic Argentine tango offered me a different kind of exploration. Its distinctions provided a framework, but not predetermined answers. Through the experience itself, I began discovering things about myself that no one had set out to teach me.
I came to recognize that my body had understood things long before my mind could explain them. Tango didn't give me that understanding. It gave me access to it. And with that recognition came the possibility of making different choices about how I relate to myself, to others, and to the way I live my life.
What I found through tango resonated with something that had interested me throughout my years working with art and facilitating workshops: the possibility of creating an experience in which people make discoveries that are entirely their own.
That understanding eventually became the foundation for The Tango State and the creation of Tangopolitan.
What Tango Revealed to Me
When I began learning authentic Argentine tango, I thought I was learning a dance. I had no idea that it would become a way of seeing my own life.
I remember dancing with my husband and suddenly recognizing our relationship in the way we moved together. He directed, I resisted, and we blamed each other when things didn't work.
But what struck me most was what I began to see about myself.
I had spent much of my life adapting, pleasing others, anticipating expectations, and trying to get things right. I was so accustomed to looking outside myself for direction that I had lost touch with what I wanted and what I knew.
Tango made those patterns visible. Not through explanation or analysis, but through direct experience.
It wasn't always comfortable. I often felt exposed, inadequate, and frustrated. Yet I stayed with it.
And every once in a while, something unexpected happened. My mind became quiet. I stopped trying to anticipate or control what came next. I began to listen, and my body responded in ways I hadn't consciously planned.
I began to understand something that would profoundly influence my life:
My body already knew. Tango gave me access to that knowing.
That discovery didn't remain on the dance floor.
I recognized an opportunity to relate differently to people and specifically to my son. Rather than trying to fix what had happened or determine what should come next, I chose to listen, to be present, and to meet him where he was, at his own pace.
I was discovering what it meant to be with another person without needing to direct the experience.
Tango hadn't given me a set of answers. It had helped me recognize how I was participating in my own life—and that I had choices.
I didn't need to become someone else. I needed to recognize and trust what was already there.
That is what tango revealed to me. Not a better version of myself, but the possibility of living more consciously, more freely, and more fully as the person I already am.
Why
I Created Tangopolitan
Throughout my life, I have been interested in what happens when people are given the opportunity to explore, express themselves, and make discoveries of their own.
My experiences facilitating art workshops taught me that the most meaningful discoveries are not necessarily the ones we set out to make. They often emerge unexpectedly, when we become fully engaged in an experience without knowing where it will lead.
Authentic Argentine tango offered me another way to explore that possibility. Its music, culture, history, and unique way of relating to another person created the conditions for discoveries that reached far beyond the dance floor.
I began to imagine how I could make this experience accessible to people who might never consider learning tango.
That idea became The Tango State.
I created Tangopolitan as a home for this work and for the artistic, cultural, and educational initiatives that may grow from it.
My intention is not to teach people how to live, or to suggest that there is a particular version of themselves they should strive to become.
It is to create opportunities for people to recognize what is already present, discover their own possibilities, and trust themselves enough to choose how they want to participate in their lives.
I believe that what we discover through experience belongs to us. No one else can determine what that discovery should be.
Vivi Ortelli