Architect spices life with tango

By day, you'll find Marco Bagnasacco sitting at a blueprint table in an immaculate Italian suit, carefully drafting plans for office buildings and restaurants.

But at night — look out. The Salt Lake architect's true passion is revealed as he leads one woman after another across the dance floor in a close embrace, cheek to cheek and toe to toe.

The only thing missing is a red rose clenched between Marco's teeth, but even that can be arranged, if his dance partners desire.

Once you've fallen in love with the Argentine tango, says Marco, there is no reason to pursue much else for the rest of your life. That's why you'll find the 34-year-old Italian native teaching others the sensual dance every Tuesday night at — where else? — Salt Lake City's Tango Grill.

"Every time you do the tango with someone," says Marco, "it's like having a new relationship. You might not know their name, but during that five or 10 minutes you enter their world. You can explore a whole new universe without ever leaving the dance floor or having to commit your life to someone."

In other words, it's sort of like speed dating, only with fancy footwork.

Hoping to share his love for the dance with others who might desire a little spice in their lives, Marco recently joined me for a Free Lunch of grilled Argentine chicken at the Tango Grill.

Born and raised in Torino, Italy, Marco discovered the tango seven years ago when friends introduced him to a few basic dance steps.

"Once I tried it," he says, "there was no looking back. When you become a tango person, you just have to do it."

Five years ago, when Marco moved to Salt Lake City to help design venues for the 2002 Olympics, one of the first things he did was look for a place to tango. Through the Wasatch Tango Club, he found others who were as obsessed as he was about dancing until the wee hours of dawn.

Now, with his girlfriend, Lisa, whom he met at a tango festival in Denver, Marco teaches dancers ranging in age from 18 to 70 on a gleaming wooden dance floor that he talked Tango Grill owner Sergio Marticorena into installing in the cafe's basement.

"Even though I'm teaching, I'm still learning, too," says Marco, a stylish man with short curly hair and piercing blue eyes. "Tango is a lifelong process. You learn a few steps, then you hear about a few more. You're never really finished."