I've always been drawn to the Coventry Carol. The hauntingly beautiful semitone dip at the beginning of the melody; the way it lingers on that raised seventh at the end of the first and third lines. Ooo - it makes me go all tingly just thinking about it.

I can't remember quite how my reflections on this entrancing fourteenth century Christmas lullaby became a tango but it just kind of took on a life of its own.

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At first glance it might seem a curious thing to pair the Christmas Story with a tango, but perhaps they have more in common than it might first appear...

I would like to take a moment to depart from the heavily sanitized version of Christ's birth with which we are so often presented, and consider the life that Christ went on to live, what He stood for and how people responded to Him.

Just as Christ was born in a stable, so too the tango was born in poverty. Originating in the slums of Argentina (which was one of the wealthiest countries in the world at the time) the tango spread among the poor like wildfire. Very much associated with slavery and with immigrant communities, the tango gave voice to the poor, and center stage to the oppressed, and expression to the disenfranchised. Here was a dance that brought people together and revived their broken spirits.

Tangos hold in juxtaposition: a tightly controlled restraint and a freedom of expression, which together create an incredible emotional intensity. So it could be said that this dance in some sense encapsulates the struggles of the oppressed who are both expected to conform and denied their voice and freedom of expression. In the tango we very much find a dance that revives the Spirit and sets people free. No wonder state and religious authorities the world over repeatedly tried to ban it!

When we look at the man that Christ became - helping the poor, healing the sick, freeing the captives, raising the dead, giving voice to the oppressed.... we see a tremendously powerful figure. A man who, by doing the right thing, very much rubbed the authorities up the wrong way. And just as Jesus's truth and teachings had an authority and power that terrified the leaders of His time, so too this dance seemed to hold a power all of its own. The tango too, faced great opposition from those who wanted to dominate, to control and to oppress the masses.

So, for all of these counter cultural parallels, for everything that Jesus's life and this 'forbidden' dance have in common, I offer you 'A Christmas Tango'.