Synopsis
The story will invite to experience the world’s most passionate and dramatic dance – the tango – as it has never been seen before. Within the international queer community, tango is reinvented as Queer Tango - an intriguing way to dance tango, where nobody takes your sexual orientation for granted, nor your choice of role. Like any other popular dance, it is partly a mirror of the society in which it has developed and from which it emerges. As society changes, how we dance tango changes too.
This film documents three years of a Russian gay couple Misha and Otar organizing events of the Queer Tango in St. Petersburg. They are giving tango classes and introducing an alternative way of dancing to the traditional tango community. Through the winter Otar and Misha are preparing an international festival of Queer Tango. Meanwhile Céline, a founder of the Queer Tango in Paris, is sharing expectations about a journey to Russia with her girlfriend, who is also her partner in the Queer Tango cabaret show. Another outstanding representative of the Queer Tango in London, Ray Batchelor, is reading lectures about the history of Queer Tango and giving football tango workshops while preparing for his trip to St. Petersburg.
Now the best Queer Tango dancers from around the world are traveling to Russia for the Queer Tango Festival in St. Petersburg. A journey they choose to make despite the harsh anti-LGBTQ policies of contemporary Russia, which prove to be a real challenge for both the dancers and the Russian festival managers. By the end of the festival there is a decision to make for Misha and Otar about their migration to Israel. A recent high level of the homophobia in Russia forces many Russian gays and lesbians to leave their families to find a refuge abroad. But when narrow-minded traditionalism and xenophobia are rife in the world, it is important to continue to dance tango no matter what gender, sexual orientation or country you are from.
This film documents three years of a Russian gay couple Misha and Otar organizing events of the Queer Tango in St. Petersburg. They are giving tango classes and introducing an alternative way of dancing to the traditional tango community. Through the winter Otar and Misha are preparing an international festival of Queer Tango. Meanwhile Céline, a founder of the Queer Tango in Paris, is sharing expectations about a journey to Russia with her girlfriend, who is also her partner in the Queer Tango cabaret show. Another outstanding representative of the Queer Tango in London, Ray Batchelor, is reading lectures about the history of Queer Tango and giving football tango workshops while preparing for his trip to St. Petersburg.
Now the best Queer Tango dancers from around the world are traveling to Russia for the Queer Tango Festival in St. Petersburg. A journey they choose to make despite the harsh anti-LGBTQ policies of contemporary Russia, which prove to be a real challenge for both the dancers and the Russian festival managers. By the end of the festival there is a decision to make for Misha and Otar about their migration to Israel. A recent high level of the homophobia in Russia forces many Russian gays and lesbians to leave their families to find a refuge abroad. But when narrow-minded traditionalism and xenophobia are rife in the world, it is important to continue to dance tango no matter what gender, sexual orientation or country you are from.
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