
students practice Tango in Spanish 43.06, Tango Argentino, photo credit Robert Abel '24
For Noelia Cirnigliaro, Associate Professor of Spanish, to teach language is to teach culture. “Language isn’t the end point, it’s a tool and a means for culture.” Since her arrival at Dartmouth in 2009, Noelia has embodied the institution’s renowned teacher-scholar model.
Over a decade later, she continues to explore ways to expand her curriculum to deepen the student learning experience. She offers various classes related to her field and areas of specialty: Baroque Spain and early modern Spanish and Colonial literature. Noelia also facilitates off-campus language and culture experiences abroad, including as a Director of the FSP. It was during a Buenos Aires-based experience that she discovered the world of Argentine Tango. Experiencing Tango as an ex-pat, though in her home country, sparked a deep interest and curiosity about how Tango is a critical tool to interrogate Argentinian socio-economic and cultural histories and mythos.
In 2019, she piloted an immersive and unique course that centered Tango, taking encouragement from how Dartmouth supports faculty to push beyond their teaching comfort zones. That course is Spanish 43.06, Tango Argentino. She partnered with various members of the community, Dartmouth organizations, and Tango musicians, dancers, and the Libraries to share their expertise to contribute to an immersive learning experience that pushed the boundaries of traditional instruction. This unique collaborative approach created the curricular framework for how to assess the students' outputs and outcomes.