How relearning the tango taught me the steps to recover from trauma

‘People have discovered dance after life-changing events – perhaps because dance is the opposite of death’: Nicola Rayner. Photograph: Amelia Troubridge/The Observer

Dance can be life-changing – it’s a lesson we learn every year on Strictly Come Dancing, but it bears repeating. Last year’s winner, comedian Chris McCausland, the show’s first blind celebrity, defied expectations and changed people’s attitude to his disability, while 80-year-old presenter Angela Rippon demonstrated in 2023 that age is no barrier to dancing.

Over my two decades as a dance writer, I’ve tried a little of everything – ballet, ballroom, even breaking, but nothing has moved me like the Argentine tango. And I’m not talking about the version you see on Strictly – that’s the choreographed stage tango, with dancers kicking up their legs in performative tricks; few of us ever get to do that – but rather, the social dance style.