Several amazing
things evolved from this extraordinary dancing event. First, I admitted to myself that I’m more
suited to dances other than ones that require legs that go on
forever. A friend of mine, lovingly and
thankfully infrequently, calls me Stumpy-a sort of 8th Dwarf-ish
friend of Snow White. Second, despite
the fact that stumps do not suddenly sprout, I want to learn this amazing and mesmerizing
blending of musically induced/societally acceptable body blending. The music is alluring, the intensity of the
milongueros palpable and the results amazing.
About 100 people
were present with about 35 or 40 arriving for the first hour in which a free
lesson was given. The long legs and some
mysteriously intense-looking men arrived later.
Ilona put all the Tango Trainees through an initiation. The explanation of Tango being a feeling
before being a dance was a difficult concept and by the looks on many faces it’s
obvious we need another lesson. However,
amateur passion notwithstanding, by the end of the hour we were rather blended,
semi-intense but actually tango-ing. Several
of us boldly proclaimed that when we purchased the right shoes we would (pick
one) have great legs, graceful gliding ability, restored youth, Latin passion and of course one of
those mysteriously intense looking partners who would magically make it all
happen.
When the next
Milonga is scheduled at the Turner Center, I’ll be sure to blog its date and
time. Meanwhile, you can do some homework
by watching, Scent of a Woman, True Lies,
Evita, Assassination Tango (this one is a rather unknown move in which
Robert Duval proves the exception to the rule:
mysteriously un-intense looking men with bowed legs make excellent tango
dancers.) or any number of movies in which Tango is impassionedly performed.
See you on the dance floor.
Congratulations on your first tango lesson! I also took my first class with Ilona. She is genius at making it accessible to everyone...no matter what their leg length. What matters most is willingness to learn, connecting with others to share the joy of dance and having fun. I saw you out there, Carole, and you were embodying all three of those qualities.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this beautiful space with the tango community and thank you to Ilona for thinking big, taking a risk and inviting us all out to play! I'll be back for the next one.