Tango instructor Max Gonzalez watched as Peter Russell and his boyfriend crisscrossed their feet while gliding in a circular pattern. The gentle sound of their feet scuffing the wooden dance floor offset the funky new-age tango music coming from the speaker.
Two years ago, the couple didn't know how to dance the tango at all. Now, the pair is among Gonzalez's best students. Russell even assists Gonzalez's gay tango class held every Monday at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore in Mount Vernon.
"He couldn't even dance the first class," Gonzalez, 33, said about Russell, a 45-year-old landscaper from Baltimore. "Now he's a star."
The center's gay tango class allows for low-cost, healthy and safe activities for the LGBT community, according to Andrew Ansel, its programs manager.
"The center for a few years has been offering classes that offer [participants] the chance to enrich themselves, culturally, artistically, holistically," Ansel said. "The benefit to people in the community is that you are in a comfortable, secure setting where you don't have to worry about what other people think."
A visitor can sense an immediate comfort level in the class. Gonzalez and the students have a good rapport, and he jokes with them, making them feel at ease.
"Let's be playful," Gonzalez said as he observed the students attempting a dance step that went in a zigzag formation. "It doesn't have to be clean. It can be dirty … in the right way."
The members of the class giggled.
Gonzalez's Monday class for beginners has five students. Most of them have never danced the tango.
"I was always scared of the tango," said Mike Johnson, 42, who works at a local bank in Baltimore. "I don't want to learn things I'm not good at."
After tackling belly dancing and salsa, Donna Brown is taking tango — a dance she said she has always wanted to learn. Brown, 59, a cook from Baltimore, said she welcomed a class geared toward the LGBT community after years of being "the only gay girl in class."
She added: "I would probably like to dance with a woman. I feel more comfortable."
Danielle German, 35, a researcher from Baltimore, said that being able to dance with someone of the same gender is a plus.
"You don't get to see that often," she said.
Like many of the other students, Russell, who works as an assistant instructor during the class, said he was first attracted to the tango because of the music. A trip to Argentina several years ago cemented his desire to learn the dance.
He signed up for one of Gonzalez's classes two years ago and has been hooked ever since. He took his current boyfriend, Richard, to a class on their first date.
"You can see the best and the worst of someone early on," Russell said with a laugh.
Tango is also another way for couples to express and celebrate relationships, said Gonzalez, who is from Argentina.
In addition to the comfort level that the LGBT community might feel as a result of dancing in a welcoming environment, Gonzalez's method of teaching students to both lead and follow makes them better dancers, he said.
"Technically, they will improve faster," Gonzalez said.
"The good thing about open roles is that they have more understanding and feeling for the dance," Gonzalez said. "They become more creative. They know exactly what the other person expects."
The class also teaches the students a new aspect of socialization not often found in American culture, according to Gonzalez.
"They learn how to relate to others," he said. "They have to be closer to a person than normal. They have to be close to another person without the expectation of hooking up. It is tough for Americans to participate in tango."
And while there are students who come to the class as a romantic couple, the vast majority attend by themselves with no expectation of romance.
"I'm glad it's just dancing," German said. "There's no romantic part."
The fact that Gonzalez is able to teach singles to dance is another draw, according to Ansel.
"Max is a great teacher. His teaching style definitely facilitates better social interactions with people," Ansel said. "People can be in that social setting and they don't have to go to a bar."
Although the class is geared toward the LGBT community, Gonzalez has found that his classes have been fairly mixed.
Carla Zelaya, 30, a researcher from Baltimore, is straight and enjoys being in the gay tango class.
"I absolutely love this class," she said. "Max is a great teacher. I'm becoming a better dancer because I learn how to lead and follow."
At the end of the day, Gonzalez wants the focus of the class to be on the dancing.
"I need them to be accepted as dancers," he said. "I'm not trying to impose sexual orientation."