yes closed, ears open, they begin. His chest presses against hers until their upper bodies meld together, hands clasped at one side. A few steps of simple walking. A sway. The rhythm of their glides, pauses, and footplay echoes the music. By the end of the dance they haven’t looked at each other once. They don’t need to—they can feel each other’s heartbeats. This dance of seduction isn’t in the hips or the legs. Argentine tango is in the heart.

It’s a change from traditional American partner dances.The foxtrot and swing are charming, but they don’t allow for the intensity, sensuality, and physical closeness of the Argentine tango. This classic tango brings two people chest-to-chest, heart-to-heart. The follower must learn how to sense movements in the leader’s chest. Hand signals—directing with an arm, a push on the back, a squeeze—are usually considered cheating in good tango. The tango connection is the art of merging two bodies together so they move like one creature. That connection is developed by simply practicing walking chest-to-chest. Then comes the embrace—the tango hold is like a long hug. Depending on the height of the dancers, the follower’s head rests against the leader’s neck. It’s a position not often seen outside the bedroom.

The dance itself has explicitly sexual roots; its earliest incarnation, the milonga, was performed strictly by prostitutes and their pimps (see sidebar). This fast, flashy dance gradually smoothed into the tango, a more elegant dance that relies on the dancer’s connection with both the partner and the music.

This simplicity is entrancing to watch because of the bond that dancers develop, and it’s even more entrancing to dance, literally cheek-to-cheek. In a culture where “Let’s go dancing” often means, “Let’s go to a club, stand two feet away from each other, and wiggle our hips,” the tango encourages a connection many Americans have shied away from.

“With tango, you finally get to connect with somebody, really experience somebody else,” says Greg Estes, who has taught tango in Oregon for four years. Estes blushed maddeningly the first few times he tangoed in close embrace with a partner. “This dance gives you the chance to just hold somebody. You never get to do that any other time in this country except when you’re making out.”

Because of the common American practice of learning steps, not connection, some American dancers come to the tango expecting fancy figures. This is the group that often learns a few flamboyant moves and then loses interest, having never experienced the intimate connection that the Argentine tango offers. “They’re like virgins. They don’t know what they’re missing,” says Elizabeth Wartluft, a tango instructor in Eugene, Oregon. “Once they feel it, they return back for more."