Tango Teaches Valuable Lessons

On the edge of a makeshift dance floor in the cafeteria of the Miami (Fla.) Lighthouse for Blind, 18-year-old Heriberto Puig and 16-year-old Patricia Alvarez join hands and practice their steps together as music from another time and culture fill the room.

In an age of hip-hop, rock and salsa, they and about two dozen other blind or visually-impaired teens were learning the intricate art of Argentine Tango, and in the process found they had gained a whole lot more in terms of physical stamina, social skills and confidence in themselves.

"This class has helped me mature a lot," said Alvarez. "I'm not a big ice-breaker. To start to ask somebody to dance is not my thing, but I can do it now that I've gotten more involved in this class."
The idea for a dance class for blind and visually-impaired teens came from two South Florida women who love tango passionately. Dianne Basha Castro, an interior designer, and Carol Durbin, who specializes in making facilities accessible to the disabled, wanted to share their love of this historic dance with others.

"One day I woke up and it just was like lightning, I knew," said Castro. "I said, I know what I have to do, I have to start a non-profit, and that's a way of giving back to the community.”

Castro called her friend, Durbin, and together they excitedly hatched a plan to secure funding to form The Shimmy Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching tango to the blind and visually-impaired.

The after-school tango classes began in June, and at first many of the teenagers who signed up were a bit shy and hesitant, especially about dancing with a partner. Gradually, the students warmed to the idea, and began to engage themselves in the dance lessons, finding that, indeed, tango was tailor made for them.

"It levels the playing field for them. No one's blind in the class. They're just a bunch of teenagers all working together to dance tango," said Durbin.

Castro and Durbin are convinced their Shimmy Club program for teaching tango to blind and visually impaired teens could easily work in other cities - provided they can get the requisite funding.

They have discussed their ideas with officials in New York City, Philadelphia and elsewhere in Florida.

"I couldn't be more confident that we will hopefully be able to reach other people's lives in the same manner," said Castro.

For the full text of this article, written by Mark Potter of NBC News, click on http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22147757/.