In the popular imagination of the foreigner, there exists an image of Buenos Aires as the world’s sensual centre of tango, where a night on the town means dancing until the wee hours of the morning with a seductive porteño at an old world milonga.

But those who arrive in the city for the first time expecting to show up at a milonga and tango the night away are often in for an unpleasant surprise. The dance’s endless codes and rituals, known as codigos, make it so that it can take weeks for a newcomer to get a first dance. Vacationers generally do not have this kind of time to wait, and so many turn to a growing service in Buenos Aires: taxi tango dancers, basically dancers for hire.

“For a lot of people, they’ve been bitten by the tango bug and it’s their dream to come here. It’s almost like a pilgrimage,” said Rachel Sloan, a native Brit who runs a tango taxi company called Tango Taxi Dancers. “Some of them go away terribly disappointed. And we’re trying to help them avoid that.”

Instead of braving the milongas solo, foreigners can hire a dance partner to accompany them. This allows them to bypass the intimidating process of asking or being asked to dance, known as the cabeceo, or “head nod”. This gendered ritual dictates that a woman first stare at a man with whom she would like to dance, and if the man reciprocates the interest he will stare back and nod. The woman must nod back to confirm, and then the man approaches the woman’s table and waves. The woman stands up, approaches the man on the dance floor, and then they dance.

This process can be intimidating to novices.

Richard Miller, a 60-year-old Chicagoan, did not even dance during his first two-week trip to Buenos Aires in 2007, despite going to milongas every night. During his second trip, however, he came with a group of Americans who hired taxi dancers, and combined with his increased skill level, he was able to score a few dances.

He now just finished his fourth trip to Buenos Aires, and has come to appreciate the cabeceo.

“I think the cabaceo is an appropriate custom that we ought to do outside of Buenos Aires, that we ought to do in the U.S., because it protects women as well as men from embarrassment,” he said. “It helps people find their magical dance.”

Foreigners looking for taxi dancers usually contact agencies or individuals through the Internet, through ads published in tango magazines, or through word of mouth. Some agencies have the client and dancer meet beforehand and go together, some meet right outside the club, and other individual dancers will meet the client before but then enter the milonga separately, as if they do not know each other.

Diego Ramírez, who runs a company called Buenos Aires Tango Taxi Dancer, organises four taxi tango couples who often accompany groups of foreigners to milongas. He said the average client is 35 and older, majority women, and at an intermediate or below level.

“With each person or group of people it’s totally distinct,” Ramírez said.

But one thing most of his clients have in common is their curiosity about the codigos. “They ask a lot about the customs, the language of tango,” he said.

Sloan’s company uses a pool of about 30 dancers, renting them out individually or to groups based on clients’ preferences for age, skill level, and language. She said they purposely retain dancers of “all shapes and sizes”, from early 20s to late 50s.

“They work with us because they want to look after tourists,” said Eduardo Amarillo, a tango teacher who co-runs the company with Sloan. “They don’t need the money for their lives, it’s an extra job. It’s more for the pleasure of being with foreigners, and for tango, than for money.”

Ramírez said that it can be quite evident to other dancers at the milongas when travelers have hired taxi dancers.

“It’s really obvious when it’s a group of people and foreigners and they send a young couple of 25, and there are distinct age differences,” he said.

But Sloan said that most porteños accept the place of taxi dancers – who she said have been around since the 1920s – in the milongas. There are a few, however, who do not.

“Some people really don’t like it, but it’s the same with everything in life,” she said. “I think some people really make a living preying on foreign women, and this reduces the pool for them. Some people genuinely don’t like foreigners.”

There is also the “escort” stigma. Sloan said that they have had to make it explicit that the services they offer are strictly professional.

“We don’t like when people ring up and start asking how much the extras come up to,” she said. “People get things out of context….There was one woman who bit Eduardo’s ear and said ‘Eduardo, what’s happening with us?’

Ramírez has also experienced overly aggressive clients, but said that being straightforward can solve issues before they arise.

According to Miller, this behaviour often stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of tango.

“Uninformed or misinformed people want to call tango sexual,” he said. “But it’s not – it’s sensual.”

Lead Image: Tango a San Telmo by Andrea Balducci

When one normally hears a tale of another’s travels, often the stories seem too ridiculous to be considered true and it is questionable that they are only designed with the purpose of entertaining an audience, as opposed to reciting true facts that have occurred.

However, when in discussion with my overly handsome, eccentric, gay, promiscuous, but ever so enchanting artist-friend, Ricky Kruger, 25 from Toronto, Canada. I quickly realised my naivety as unusual things can indeed happen and this tale that I kindly choose to share with you, promises to entertain with absolute certainty and is very far from anything mythical.

Ricky decided to come to BA as a split-second decision to pursue his dream of painting the beauty of another city. When asked by his friend Kat if he would accompany her to Buenos Aires, he simply dropped everything, replied ‘yes’ and made his move down south. Along with him, he had one small suitcase, a paintbrush and pallet, US$500 - which quickly withered to US$300 due to one to many Caipirinhas - and lack of ability to speak any Spanish.

Feeling vulnerable at the realisation of how crippling no money and an inability to communicate could be, Ricky was about to give up on his dream just one month into his trip, until he conjured up a plan to fight a battle against linguistics, sober up, and focus. He might not have had a grasp of the language, but he did have another very special talent, which he was not going to let waste away in this foreign territory.

“I offer erotic massages, and dinner dates, I’m looking for businessmen in particular because I know they will be able to afford my rates! Oh and I speak no Spanish,” was the content of his advertisement accompanied by a topless photo of himself grinning with two thumbs in the air. Stepping into old habits, Ricky decided to go back into the field that initially bought him to Buenos Aires - hard labour working as a male escort, strictly dating of course!

People responded promptly to his short advertisement on the internet and so the dates began. A few people backed out at times, but mostly foreign businessmen here on vacation, called upon him to give them company across a dinner table and in return he happily collected up to US$100 for a few hours ‘work’.

The ‘erotic massage’ part itself was only a ploy for attention, Ricky, who claims to be no fool in the bedroom, was certainly puzzled at what this actually entailed. Most men did just ask for dinner dates, but one wanted the full package. Eager to provide an excellent customer service, he did not back down to his date’s demand, he obediently followed him back to his house and “let his hands wander everyplace he knew they shouldn’t have”. With no previous experience, his rather amateurish performance turned out surprisingly well and after an uncomfortable 35 minutes he was another US$100 up.

After a few more days of exchanging conversations with clients, eating exquisite food and paying off the overdraft, Ricky, easily distracted by monotonous routine was feeling rather ungratefully sad at the ease of this project. Luckily, amongst another day of checking responses to his proposal online, he opened his inbox and was faced with what he described as the “magic email”: “I want you to myself for three days, I want tours of the city, I want to go on dates, and I want massages. For all of this I am willing to pay you US$1000.”

In a rush of excitement, and no loyalty towards his other customers, Ricky cancelled all plans for the week, making himself completely available for his mysterious fan. He was ready to do just about anything for that sum of money.

To his disappointment however, lathered up with aftershave, and dressed in his best outfit, fingers moisturised and ready to go, he was stood up. The mysterious fan remained a mystery as he was a no show. In a rage of anger Ricky responded with a hearty email: “I am really disappointed you did not show up, I was ready and waiting, I could really do with the money. How could you?” (A basic summary of course)

After an apology from his possible client and still no date at this point, they continued to exchange emails, Ricky only participating in this virtual relationship in hope that he would eventually get the cash he longed for. They discussed interests, hobbies and reasons for being in BA. Ricky was informed his mystery man was an investor with properties in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Ricky informed him he was a painter and a young free spirit in search of some money to survive in the city. As the conversations thickened the mystery man proposed great interest in Ricky’s paintings, explaining that he wanted to buy the art work to place inside his new properties. Impressed with the work Ricky had showed him, the agreement was made impersonally where Mr Mystery offered to buy one painting for US$1000, having only seen it photographed online, there was to be no three-day date and certainly no massage.

The only catch was collecting the money from another stranger in person; the mystery man gave Ricky solely an address and a warning: “Do NOT drink with this man under any circumstances!”

They went to a bar of course and Ricky bought the first round, thinking he could afford to be generous. Amused by this grey-haired 50-something man, he sat patiently on his date, watching alcohol seep through every pore of this mans body whilst he embarked on an emotional journey throughout their conversation. He laughed, he sang, he shouted, he cried, but he didn’t utter a single word about money.

As the night drew to a close, Ricky, usually not shy, hesitantly plucked up the courage and said politely, “I’m not here for your personal pleasure; I am here to collect the money for my paintings.” This triggered tension between the two, the lonely man feeling rejected and confused at the idea of giving US$1000 to his date, left the bar stating he had no idea what was going on, and left Ricky to pay the bill.

Definitely bemused by this mans acquaintance, Ricky wasn’t sure whether he was angry at what had just happened. He was $100 down, missed out on other dates, and still had no sign of the promised treasure. Another angry email was indeed due and was followed by a swift reply from Mr Mystery. It was very apologetic and stated that another meeting had been arranged for him with this friend and now there would be no cock-ups! He even offered him one of his beach houses to live in rent-free next summer as a space in which he could expand his artistic skills.

Upon second meeting they got on very well, the painting was sold, and after some running around Ricky did receive his survival money. The previously drunk man invited Ricky for a better suited lunch instead where they ate luxuriously, without wine as an accompaniment and before his departure Ricky left with a handy sum of money and a very satisfied smile on his face!

He expects to move into his beach house this summer and will continue to create more masterpieces. He is still friends with the slightly random alcoholic man. But the orchestrator of all this, the mystery man who composed the god sent email still remains anonymous. Ricky is still in BA both painting and continuing his escort services that led him on this bizarre but fortunate adventure.

The moral of the story? In the words of the man himself: “Do everything you’re not supposed to and amazing things like this will keep happening. It was my stupidity, lack of money, no food, desperation, and of course good looks that got me here!” Strange but so true.