February is a gray month with little too sun, but there will be heat aplenty in West Philadelphia as the University City Arts League hosts Tango Month in time for Valentine's Day. Kicking off this cultural phenomenon will be Lesley Mitchell's one-woman art show, Picturing a Dance, featuring paintings, books and works on paper. The show opens Friday, February 8 with a reception at 5:30pm and includes short tango performances followed by an Argentine Tango Lesson at 7:45pm by Lesley Mitchell, Kelly Ray and members of the Tango community. UCAL's gallery is located at 4226 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

See our calendar of Tango events at UCAL.

Recognized as one of Philadelphia's pre-eminent instructors and practitioners of Argentine Tango, Mitchell's Picturing a Dance fuses her two life-long passions -- visual art and dance. Works include oil paintings on board, one of a kind artist's books in mixed mediums, and other works on paper using collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, and monotypes. All works explore Tango's images and poetry and are titled in Spanish (with English translations) after tangos or tango lyrics that express the full range of human emotions and situations. Mitchell states "I am trying my best to preserve the sadness, joy, and sometimes the narrative of the original"

Educated as a painter and printmaker at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Mitchell has shown her work in many Philadelphia venues, including the Art Alliance, Zone One Gallery, University City Arts League, and area university galleries. She taught printmaking and works on paper classes at the PA Academy & Beaver College. Mitchell specializes in social dance specializing in Argentine Tango. With her partner, Kelly Ray, she offers classes at several locations including UCAL and organizes dance parties, festivals, performance events and dance tours to Argentina.