Pants Off Dance Off

Chas Gale may have danced his way right into a jail cell. On April 8, a jury of five women and one man convicted the tango teacher of unlawful sexual contact.

As reported in this cover story last August, Gale had been accused of touching a student’s vagina and placing her hand on his penis while her eyes were closed as part of his “relaxation techniques.”

Gale had already pleaded guilty to dropping his tights and exposing himself during another dance lesson with another student. The jury was told not to take that plea into consideration in reaching their decision on this case.

“The fact is, we have two women who were in a vulnerable place in their life,” deputy district attorney Shelley Becker told the jury.

On June 4, Gale will be back in court for sentencing. Although this conviction won’t affect his probation in the previous case because it involves an incident that occurred before the plea deal, Gale now faces up to two years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Last year, Chas Gale’s name was taken off the list of endorsed tango instructors on Tango Colorado’s website. Soon it will be on a different site: the state’s sex-offender registry. -- Luke Turf