Art draws people into it, and as something more than entertainment, be it drama, music or any of the established forms. Dancing is one of the forms that can be experienced as both a spectator (and ballet might be considered the pinnacle, there), and as a participator. Those of us who dance tango (and I'm nearly one of you) will also recognise the intensly 'internal' aspect of the dance: there is much more than can be observed, indeed there maybe little or nothing that would hold the attention of a viewer, let alone be considered art.
An anecdote (while it's fresh in my mind). I was at a thinly attended social dance last night, and the DJ usually plays a couple of AT songs for the sake of the few who dance a little tango (not very authentically, as it happens, but BR dancers do like to dabble). On came Canaro/Maida's Poema (not an obvious choice for such a setting), and no one got up. I swallowed hard, and invited a BR dancer (not a tanguera) of a good standard to 'come for a walk with me to music', and we were the only couple on the floor, and off we went. Just walks, weight changes in place, little rocks, and small turns (more or less ocho cortado) but very gently (there isn't much you can follow if you have never danced tango, and don't know how the lead/follow process is meant to work). But we made a nice, simple dance. What made it work was the connection: this was someone I dance with very frequently, and she is used to the 'feel' of my lead, but she had never danced in CE before, but she followed very competently (all things considered).
Now here's the interesting thing. Not only was it obvious, the moment the music stopped, that our dancing had been watched intently, but a small group from one of my current BR beginner classes came over and asked, with obvious and genuine interest, what it was that we had been dancing. I explained, and a lady asked how my partner knew what steps to dance, and I explained a little further. 'It was lovely', she said, 'we must try that'. And they did. They asked the DJ to play it again, and now six of us got up: four of whom had never seen, let alone danced social tango, and we went a little walk around the room, stepping with the gentle beat, making some double-time steps with the music. There was a lot wrong with it (!), but afterwards, the ladies were all but glowing with satisfaction, and the men looked as though they had just experienced a breakthrough in their understanding of the nature of dance. 'I wish we could have filmed that', one of them said.
If only all art was as accessible.
