"Summary of an Interview with Christy Coté"
by George A. Nicol
San Francisco, California, USA
Mariposa Argentine Tango Club, San Francisco, California
Christy Coté started dancing when she was thirteen years of age. After five years of ballet lessons, Christy went on to study jazz dance. She studied at the Institute of Contemporary Dance in Boston while she was going to college. She also loved dancing Disco and the Hustle in Boston clubs.
When Christy was twenty she moved to San Francisco where her parents were living. She went to an Arthur Murray Studio to inquire about classes. The next day she ended up teaching there. She says laughingly that it wasn't because she was so talented as a ballroom instructor, but more because they were desperate for teachers. When she got her first student she said she was very afraid that he would find out she only knew one more Foxtrot step than he did. She ended up working at Arthur Murray for five years during which time she learned ballroom and social dance from the staff and visiting instructors. She also got to teach Latin, Swing, and Hustle at a professional level.
At that time she also danced with the Poole Dancers, run by Gary and Gloria Poole, a disco and jazz oriented dance company. She says that one of the company's big sellers was a Star Wars piece where the men were dressed like Darth Vader and the women where dressed in silver body suits with big stars on them. She says she has fond memories of that time because it was great fun and a major learning experience.
She also worked in the travel industry during this period. After Arthur Murray she worked as an independent instructor for different studios. She also worked with one dance partner, Dante, for about twelve years. They hosted dance parties, special events, and taught regular weekly ballroom classes.
Christy spent the next five years as a competitive ballroom dancer with her new partner Larry Janssen. They competed in the American Rhythm category which includes dances such as Cha Cha, Rumba, Bolero, Mambo, and Swing. They spent the majority of their time on the West Coast competing in the National Dance Conference of the American Circuit.
About 3 1/2 years ago Christy decided started taking Argentine Tango at the Metronome Ballroom, where she taught private classes. After a month of classes she headed to Buenos Aires with a group of friends. She thought she would go sight seeing while her friends took Tango lessons. She didn't want to hold her friends back because she was still a beginner.
On the second day she went to a Tango class, then she went the next day, and the next, and finally she extended her trip by a week to continue taking daily Tango classes. She says by then she was totally hooked on Tango and what she was learning about the people and their culture.
She also went to language school for three months to learn Spanish to get a better understanding of the culture and the Tango. She said that although she also liked Cha Cha, she never would have considered going to school to learn a language like she did with Tango. One of her first fond memories of the Argentine culture was going to a barbecue. There were about 25 people there. As she came in, following the Argentine custom, each one, proceeded to kiss and welcome her. It was one of the many things that impressed her and made her feel connected to the culture. To this day Christy greets people she meets with a kiss in Argentine style. The day she got back from Argentine she heard about a class with Carlos Gavito so she signed up. After the class he danced with her and she thought "... this is really it."
Although Christy still teaches some ballroom, Tango activities represents about 85% of what she does, including about 40 to 45 hours a month giving private lessons. She works mainly with the Allegro Ballroom in Emeryville, but she also teaches Tango at Swing Central in Redwood City, at the Mariposa Tango Club in San Francisco, The Ballroom Dance Studio of Sacramento, and the Broadway Studios in San Francisco where she teaches as a guest teacher, not to mention the many other performances and special events in which she performs.
Christy met Victor Meneses, her co-host at the Mariposa Argentine Tango Club Milonga on Thursday nights, in Argentina on her first trip. It was there that he told her he wanted to start a Milonga when he got back. Smiling Christy says that one of her first questions to Victor was whether he had enough Tango CDs. He assured her that he would buy some while they where in Buenos Aires, which he did. Now they run one of most successful and fun Milongas in the Bay Area.
Performing is one of Christy passions and she likes to perform as often as possible. She choreographed the routines she uses in her performances. Lately she has been performing at least once a week. The hard part she says, however, is keeping up with the Tango community because they are such a tough audience. She has also traveled and taught all over the U.S. including Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland OR and aboard the Costa Victoria cruise ship. San Francisco is by far, she says, one of the major hot spots in the U.S. Christy hopes to do more travel in the next year or so including the Philippines and the 2nd annual "Tango at Sea Cruise" aboard the SS Norway for which she is planning a trip now.
For the future, Christy plans to continue teaching, performing, and working with high level Argentine maestro performers since her partnership of the last few years with Pampa Cortés has ended. For example, while Daniel Lapadula was here recently, Christy was able to work and perform with him and they are planning other work together including the "Tango at Sea Cruise" this December.
Christy says that Argentine Tango has been the biggest thing in her life and it's the thing for which she has the most passion. For her, it is all encompassing, it has become her social and professional environment. It is also her creative outlet and now her life style. When she dances the Tango with someone with whom she enjoys dancing, she says she goes into a trance and only comes out of it when the music stops or when the applause begins. She says anyone can experience that feeling but it requires more than just learning steps. One must be enveloped by the whole experience of Argentine Tango.