In a Potrero Hill dance studio on a rainy night, three women have a problem. They crowd together on a bench, crossing legs this way and that, hoping to attract a partner. They rise with flutters of excitement only to watch their targets tango off with someone else. Finally, they look at each other as though to say, forget this. They get up and dance together, legs flicking, arms embracing, faces smiling with fulfillment.

Actually, the would-be male partners are imaginary. This is a rehearsal for Tango Con*Fusion, an all-female troupe, and the piece they're going to perform is an audience favorite. Women relate to it, though in real life, the situation doesn't usually end so fantastically. "In a milonga" -- an Argentine dance party -- "it's still taboo for women to dance together," curly-haired Christy Coté says after the run-through, relaxing in the hall outside the Metronome Dance Center Annex with her cohorts. "If we go to Argentina and dance at a milonga, we don't dance together."

Pier Voulkos, a lithe blonde and a former member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, chimes in. "But in the theatrical world, women dancing with women is not that big a deal."

Well, yes and no. Even in the theatrical world, the notion of women dancing tango with women is still titillating -- but that's not why the four members of Tango Con*Fusion do it. As leading Bay Area tango teachers, they knew the difference between leading and following, and they wanted to have it all.

"I love being a follower, but being able to lead, you're choreographing in the moment," Voulkos says.

"We're not trying to exclude men," Coté quickly offers. "But we want the creativity of the leader side."

They weren't alone in their desire for power and control in an intimate but machismo-dominated form. In 1996, a group of women from Berlin and New York began performing together as Tango Mujer, winning rave reviews from skeptical audiences. (Mujer, pronounced moo-HAIR, is Spanish for woman.) Two years ago, inspired by Tango Mujer's example, Debbie Goodwin decided she wanted to start a West Coast all-women tango troupe of her own. She called her favorite female tango dancers in town, looking for women with modern dance and ballet backgrounds that they could bring to a collaborative creative process. Then she brought out Tango Mujer star Brigitta Winkler to teach a private workshop, and Tango Con*Fusion was born.

Now the two groups have joined up for an estrogen-driven tango extravaganza. "Leading Ladies of Tango," premiering Wednesday, began with modest ambitions: a shared bill for Tango Mujer and Tango Con*Fusion at a small San Francisco theater, with perhaps one live musician. But then producer Ted Viviani, best known for his Extreme Tango music evenings, got involved. "An all-female tango show hadn't been done before," he says. "And it's much bigger than any of us thought it would be."

Viviani signed on seven musicians -- all women -- including well-known tango pianist Polly Ferman as music director. He booked the grand Herbst Theater. And he brought in Allyson Manta, former artistic coordinator for two Cirque du Soleil shows, to find the evening's through-line and snazzy up the theatrics. The polish of the final product, he says, befits an idea as bold as "Leading Ladies." "There hasn't been a new concept in tango since 'Tango Argentino,' " he says, referencing the wildly popular show that started a tango renaissance in the 1980s. "That's been the template for 25 years."

The other template has been Luis Bravo's passion-saturated "Forever Tango" -- which, as it happens, returns to San Francisco's Post Street Theatre Dec. 26 for a three-week run. Two of Tango Con*Fusion's four members say they fell in love with tango because of that show. All say they were ripe for the picking when tango found them. "Tango comes to you in a certain time in your life," Goodwin says. "Something's missing -- romance, intensity."

All four women, incidentally, have men in their romantic lives -- Voulkos' husband teaches tango with Coté, sultry-eyed Chelsea Eng had a romance with her first teacher that soured, Goodwin met her future husband at a tango class, and Coté is single but looking. So why not get men to be the followers?

"It takes a whole different mind set to be on the other side of the dance and a lot of men don't necessarily want to go there," Eng says.

"Men don't follow well," Coté says. "And they're too big."

"My husband is 6-foot-4!" Goodwin says.

"When I dance with a man, I feel like, 'I want my little sports car back,' " Eng says.

As for the attention their same-sex dancing has attracted from the lesbian and gay community, Tango Con*Fusion is happy to have it. And they're turning heads far beyond San Francisco: German producers have expressed interest in the show, and the women hope to take "Leading Ladies" on the road.

Meanwhile, men are obviously not missed as the dancers rehearse their signature number, "Embrace," Eng pressing her cheek tenderly against Voulkos', Goodwin's foot tracing Coté's calf before steering her into a dip, all four meeting in the middle of the room to clasp arms and swirl in a circle.

"It feels warm and lovely," Voulkos says of the experience. "You have this intimate, close relationship for three minutes at a time. But it has no strings attached."

Leading Ladies of Tango: Dec. 13-16 at Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets: $28-$45; (415) 392-4400 or .

Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango: Dec. 26-Jan. 21 at the Post Street Theatre, 450 Post St., San Francisco. Tickets: $65-$100; (415) 771-6900 or

For a behind-thescenes video visit with the leading ladies of tango, go to