The first time I fell in love with tango it was at City Center in New York, arguably a hyper-stylized somewhat lyricized version danced by Julio Bocca and his Ballet Argentino - a sexy and whirlwind two hours called BoccaTango in which Julio partnered women, ladders, men and tables, all with equal eroticism.

The second time I fell in love with tango it was at Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, the legendary coffee house on Avenida de Mayo with an intimate theater space toward the back where waiters seduce you with Piazzolla and cocktails as you watch a tango show at all hours of the night.

The third time I fell in love with tango it was in Vail, Colorado when I walked in on Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse rehearsing an intense pas at two in the morning during a late-night lighting rehearsal onstage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater.

Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse dance as Damian Woetzel watches on during UpClose: The Art of Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.

All were dressed in black - though sometimes you saw a snatch of black tulle or fuschia chiffon in the wings - and the strains of accordion, piano and bandoneon seemed haunted in the deserted theater, during that strange and lonely part of the night when it’s neither evening nor morning. The effect was heightened by the pitch-black sky, illuminated by thousands of stars the likes of which seemed, in that moment, unique to the mountain. It was magic.

Along with their band and their troupe of dancers, all rehearsing for the next day’s premiere of Romper el Piso, they went until three in the morning even though they had an 11am call the next morning. These Argentinians are absolutely restless! That day, they had participated in UpClose: The Art of Tango, which was moderated by Damian. Other participants included SAB faculty member Suki Schorer - who has been in love with ‘Mr. Tango’ for 15 years, as Damian duly noted - and even Carla Korbes, who was in the audience and did an impromptu promenade with both Damian and Gabriel.

Suki Schorer, Damian Woetzel, Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse speak at UpClose: The Art of Tango as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erica Sheftman.

Both Suki and Damian spoke of the differences between ballet and tango lying largely in the control of musicality and in the dynamic between the female and the male; Suki talked about the many years it had taken her to be okay with allowing the man to steer her and Damian observed that it was a good skill for any man to actually learn how to lead a woman. Natalia spoke - through a translator - of the passion and freedom of expression that tango intensifies, as well as of the closeness and trust that must exist between partners.

Romper el Piso dancers during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.

Click here to watch Damian, Suki, Natalia, Gabriel and Carla at UpClose.

Vail audiences were so lucky to get an early insider’s glimpse at the world premiere of Romper el Piso. Some of it was excerpted at last year’s Fall for Dance at City Center, but the two-hour show was largely created for this year’s festival and featured Hills and Misse, as well as other duets, quartets, and sextets, endless costume changes and interludes like the hypnotizing live performance of Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteno.

Alastair Macaulay boldly announced in the New York Times that as evidenced in Vail, the partnership between Gabriel and Natalia is the most spellbinding in dance today… it seems our leading critic himself has been seduced.

Watch some of the premiere of Romper el Piso here, as well as an excerpt of Natalia and Gabriel here.

Damian Woetzel and Natalia Hills during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.