Just a quickie because I’m really tired and won’t have time to write for the next few days.
It was a three hour drive, 187 miles, from Farmington to Albuquerque. That would be arduous if it wasn’t for the incredible landscape I drove through…truly breathtaking!
Practica at Lloyd Shaw’s was great. That floor is so nice to dance on, brand new oak and a perfect finish. I danced with four women in two hours and three of them were Russian. I love Russian women: so open minded and dedicated to perfection. The cost was only $2! The session was over before I knew it and I felt it a shame to have to leave but there was a milonga later, so I had that to look forward to.
I got a hotel room that is clean and cheap. The cost of living around here is really low. They also serve a free breakfast so I’m saving money left and right. $40 for the hotel, $25 for gas, $7 for both the practica and the milonga and this doesn’t look like such an expensive tango excursion.
Milongas de las Puertas is housed in a huge warehouse on the northwest side of Albuquerque. The event wasn’t well attended but I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Two of the Russian women I met at Lloyd Shaw’s were there and I danced with them most of the night. Sometimes, however, a tango event is more about the ambience than it is about the performance. This place has ambience in spades!
The name means ‘dance of the doors’. Inside, there is a large open space. The ceiling is at least forty feet high and there are two big ceiling fans that look like propellers from a 727. There are dozens of doorway frames lining the walls and that is the purpose of this place: to sell doorways. Not just any door frames, these frames are the size of the ones from the Sistine Chapel. The size of the doors makes you feel small and insignificant.
The music was traditional and very, very good. The DJ danced all night with the ladies. Lee, the owner, stopped to talk to me. He said tonight’s crowd was light because of a more popular event in Santa Fe. This is funny because there were two excellent tangueras from Santa Fe who attended tonight’s dance, so whatever was going on up north must not have been good enough for them.
All in all, Albuquerque seems to be as good for the ladies as it is for the men. There are lots of single women to dance with here and there are lots of men, from all walks of life, who seem to have found them. I can’t wait to see what the coming year brings!
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