Credit: Gabriella Barnstone
Over 5,000 miles from the streets of Buenos Aires an unexpected tango community is flourishing in upstate New York. Led by seasoned dancer and instructor Ellen Jo Chrystal, a class held in the Pine Plains community room, above the library, has become a magnetic gathering point for tango enthusiasts from across the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Chrystal has been teaching tango in the region for more than 20 years. Her journey began in the late 1990s when she was captivated by a scene at the Sandra Cameron Dance Studio in Manhattan. She recalled being “mesmerized by a couple dancing” as she watched through a glass door. The leader of the two did what is known as a parada, where the leader stops the follower’s foot, and the follower, in a very deliberate way, walks over the leader’s foot, and they continue dancing. “There was something about it,”Chrystal said. “And it just hit me.”
From that point on, tango became a central part of her life. “Luckily my family didn’t need me at the time,” Chrystal said, recalling a period when she immersed herself in classes, workshops with world-renowned instructors, prácticas (where people practice tango) and milongas (more formal tango dance events). “That was all I did.”
Her passion for tango took her to Argentina, where she further refined her skills. “If I didn’t have kids or family, I would have moved there,” she said. Around 2004, she quit her job, sold her apartment and went traveling. When she returned, she moved upstate to be near her family and quickly found a tango community in Woodstock, N.Y., led by Ilene Marder Hinchey, a musicologist known as “Rubia del Norte” within the Argentine community. Although Woodstock Tango had a robust following, it eventually lost its space, creating a need for a new weekly class in the area. Chrystal began teaching in New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, Hudson and eventually at the Garage Dance Cooperative in Red Hook, where she met many of her current students. However, the studio closed last year to make way for a cannabis dispensary.
Credit: Gabriella Barnstone
Initially, Chrystal considered taking a break from teaching, but Pine Plains resident Bobby Kennedy stepped in. Kennedy had been taking classes with Chrystal in Red Hook for only four months and was disheartened when he learned the classes would end. “I had gotten hooked, even though I was a beginner,” Kennedy said. “I enjoyed the community, I enjoyed the dancing, Ellen’s instruction and, of course, Audrey’s cooking.”
Kennedy referred to Audrey Jurutka, who ran the práctica following Chrystal’s class at the Red Hook studio and now runs the one in Pine Plains. Jurutka is known for her generous home-cooked “snacks” at the práctica, which are often more like full meals. She met Chrystal at a tango event in the Spiegeltent at Bard College 10 years ago. When COVID-19 hit, Jurutka was managing the Garage Dance Cooperative and started a once-a-week tango práctica to keep the space going post-pandemic.
After the Red Hook space closed, Kennedy scouted out the community room in Pine Plains and decided it was perfect. He reached out to Amanda Wyant, assistant to the Pine Plains town supervisor, who was enthusiastic about the idea. “So far, the classes have been going brilliantly,” said Kennedy. “We have local students coming not only from Pine Plains, Millerton and Red Hook but also Valatie, Columbia County, Saugerties, Hyde Park and Connecticut.”
Tango happens at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday and lasts three hours. For Kennedy, it’s more than just a dance — it’s a stabilizing force in his life: “I’m still a single man with two dogs and two cats, working from home, so the social aspect is really important to me. The alternative is hanging out at a bar. This is much more active and engaged. It forces me to get out, move, and talk to people.”
Jurutka agrees, emphasizing the community aspect. “It’s a community. It keeps me sane. It’s good for your heart, mind, and soul,” she said.
Chrystal believes that while tango is challenging, it’s also beautifully simple. “It is one of the most challenging social dances,” she said “It is also, in many ways, the most simple dance — embrace and walk together with your partner and the music. That is the basis of the dance. But it has such deep elements within the music, and because of the improvisational nature of it, one can never feel that one has mastered it. It always challenges and opens new insights and discoveries.”
Classes are held every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Pine Plains community room, above the Pine Plains Free Library, 7775 Main Street. Práctica from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Snacks provided.
Suggested Donations:Class: $15, Práctica: $10, For both: $20
For more information contact: tangohudson@gmail.com