The Argentine Tango found me twice. The first time was during a visit to Tulsa’s Dia de Muertos festival in November 2006. As I wondered around bumping into dancing skeletons and people with faces painted like mimes from hell, I walked into one of the art galleries where, as fate would have it, there was a demonstration of Tango being done by the local community. As I watched, I found myself standing next to a, some might say, slightly vertically challenged lady. We chatted a bit, and I even walked around the floor with her. This person turned out to be the one and only Karenna Angelica Lamonica, of Casa Tango. I took a card, left the gallery, and never thought about that meeting again. More accurately, I didn’t think about that meeting again until August 2007. That’s when I walked into Casa Tango for an eight week basic Tango session. This was Tango’s second attempt to ensnare another helpless victim. And this time it worked.
Daniel speaking on the language of default expectations
In September during the classes I began to hear about some sort of Tango event called Meet in the Middle happening that month. While it sounded like a lot of fun, I just didn’t feel that with my limited experience I would get much out of it, and I was only three weeks from my first of two hip replacements, which would hopefully move me out of the Walk Like a Zombie Tango division. The hip replacements worked and since then I have attended three MitM’s, in 2009, 10, and 11.
Tango is alive and well in Tulsa, and here's the proof!
This year Tulsa had around 35 dancers attend this great event. Meet in the Middle is a three day Tango festival held in Mt. Vernon, MO., which is about 40 miles or so east of Joplin, just off of I-40. Mt. Vernon is a classic small town of about 4000 folks. As their website says “small enough to know your neighbors, yet large enough to hold events such as Apple Butter Makin’ Days”. Kinda says it all, doesn’t it. As in all previous years the event was held at Murray’s Vintage Venue, a great old two story building built in 1893, now owned and restored by event director Karen Whitesell, who also runs a stained glass business on Murray’s first floor. The second floor, with it’s high ceiling, warm tones of dark and light brown and yellow’s, and a copper colored ceiling, is perfect for an intimate and elegant milonga for about 100 dancers.
And a few more dancers from around the country.
Karen has kind of a funny way to do crowed control. Basically she just feeds you until your too stuffed to move, so that way there’s usually room on the floor anytime you need to dance! Kidding aside, Karen does provide excellent catered meals throughout the weekend, snacks, and of course, the famous ice cream truck visits on Saturday and Sunday. All of this dinning is made very enjoyable by keeping a relaxed time table for the workshops and activities.
Karen and Gustavo share a moment.
So there’s time for workshops and activities? Why yes, yes there is. First up, Gustavo Benzecry Saba and Maria Olivera, of BsAs. Gustavo has a very methodical and clean approach to presenting class material. They walk out the basic rhythm of the figure, then divide the class and look at the details of the material, then combine the class for practice and refinement. Basically, just what any good teacher does with a variation here and there. This year Gustavo and Maria also did a video presentation of their new DVD that combines Tango terminology with short video clips.
The reason for the classes? The milongas!
This was my first time to do workshops with Daniel Trenner of Northampton, MA. Daniel is something of an acquired taste. He has a very extensive background in academic style dancing as well as Tango, and has developed a very personal way of teaching dance. In this post I will simply say that reactions to his material and teaching style was very divisive, no middle ground to be sure. This is not to say anything bad or good about the classes, but just a general reaction by the students to the concepts he presented, and his approach to teaching a class. Just so you don’t think I’m trying to duck out here, I will say that I’m more convinced than ever that each social dance follows the same technical conventions (and this idea is the cornerstone of my teaching philosophy), and I felt that Daniel’s classes made understanding the simplicity of the techniques more challenging than need be. Hmm, how tactful. I will save a more thorough discussion of what I thought about the ideas presented in those classes for a future post, where I can spend more time explaining my thoughts on the matter. Daniel also had a nice video presentation called Tango: History and Mythology, & Tango: Characters from its modern revival. The videos were great to watch just to see the look and approach to Tango over the past few decades.
And a practica or two just to get ready.
New this year was a beginners Tango boot camp taught by Janey Smith of Kansas City, and assisted by Eli Leserowitz of New York. About eight to ten classes were held over the two day event and finished up with a short demo by the students Sunday night. While I was not able to look in on those classes, judging from the student demo, the boot camp was major success.
Classes, practicas, and milongas, oh my!
So this was my third MitM, and it has rained on two of those occasions. The first time was a is there any space on the ark for one more type of rain, a downpour that lasted well into the evening. This last MitM was a softer rain but steady and just as effective at messing up the outdoor fun. Each year MitM is held in conjunction with the Not so Square Art Festival, which, of course, is set up in the town square over the weekend, and two of those times I watched the artist scramble to load up and head home after having just set up. This also made it difficult to do our street dance demos that is a part of MitM. But Karen always manages to keep things moving and make the best of a soggy situation. BTW, the rain does not keep the ice cream truck away, or the dancers from lining up for our free treats. Choco Taco for the win!
The building, the room, the dancers, and...the embrace.
So there you have it. Another great MitM, and I’m looking forward to next year already. For me personally the Milonga Traspie classes with Gustavo was worth the price of admission. That and being able to steal a move or two off of the video that I shot of their demos. – Chau!
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
