Wango or Twaltz?

Thon wasn't the only place to dance on Friday night.

Having had my fill of the Thon line dance and the "Green Eggs" band's performance of "I like big butts and I cannot lie" on the Thon stage, I decided to check out what other dancing opportunities there were on campus.

Most fraternities were at Thon and apartment parties were pretty low key. So I crossed my fingers and headed off to LateNight at the HUB.

After a game of "Jumbling Towers," a very disappointing Jenga-clone, and some quality canvas-box coloring time, I discovered there was, in fact, a dance competition going on upstairs: "Night at the Apollo."

Unfortunately, while I was coloring my canvas box, I had missed the dancing part of the show. As I arrived, awards were just beginning. And from the way the crowd was reacting, it looked like I missed a pretty awesome show.

The dance groups "UDT" and "Forensic Science" were up on stage and the crowd was having a cheer-off between the two of them. People were drumming and yelling, and one guy even lifted a chair into the air. But at last, UDT was declared victorious and presented with the candy-cane colored trophy.

It was still early, so I left in search of another dancing opportunity. I heard it was tango night for the ballroom dance club at the White Building, so I headed over.

The group had taken over one of the gyms and decorated it with red lights. Strange French accordion music was playing. And a surprisingly varied group of people were enjoying a very sensuous Argentine tango.

Actually, I had no idea that it was tango at all until I asked one of the group members about it. Everyone was basically hugging and gliding around. I asked, isn't tango supposed to involve dramatic turns and roses in teeth?

No, she said. That's International or American tango. This was Argentine tango.

I asked about the Waltz music in the background. If this was Argentine tango, shouldn't the music be more, uh, Argentinian?

She said you could do Argentine tango to pretty much any song. In fact, she said, you could even combine tango and waltz together.

So that would make it "wango," right?

I don't think she was sure how to respond to that. But she did point out the older man dancing with the woman in fishnet tights. He was apparently a master of the tango-waltz.

And looking at the couple gliding across the floor, I had to agree. Clearly, a wango master.

By this time my companion was having a hard time explaining to potential suitors that she was not well versed in the way of the wango - or "twaltz," as she called it - so we headed out.

I had had my fill of dancing for the night, but my head was buzzing with ideas. Surely, the robot could accommodate a little Latin flair?