Located on Penn Ave in that section of Pittsburgh that strongly
rivals New York City’s Greenwich Village, the RJW Law Office & Dance Emporium is an enigma
that baffles those trying so hard to be baffling. A tango gathering takes place
here called the Unblurred First Friday
Habeas Corpus Milonga and I absolutely love it. The Big Apple and Philadelphia simply cannot compete with this event as it is in a class by itself, a
spectacle to behold, a sight to be seen, one of the Seven Great Wonders of the
Tango World, even more wondrous than tango at the Temple of the Living Goddess
at Heart-Path Retreat Center in Pojoaque, New Mexico.
Friday night here is one big party for several blocks. Loud
music is blaring up and down the street, vendors and local artists are hawking
their wares as young, drunken, tattooed adults with purple hair and pierced
everything wander about like the spoiled Americans the whole world has read
about, envies and imitates.
The facility is a small, street-front law office that has a desk
and a few banquet chairs placed against the wall. There are documents lying
around and pinned to the walls, the kind you are likely to find at a place
where a lawyer works: titles to cars, legal forms, petitions, etc. The door is
always open except when Rich comes upstairs and closes it. I’m not sure why he
does this, it probably has something to do with the legality of the whole scene
but it makes the tiny space full of dancing couples too hot to bear and the
door opens again as soon as he departs.
Downstairs there is an old bicycle repair garage that has been
converted into a larger dance area that opens up to the back alley. There is an
anteroom at the bottom of the stairs where there are two couches so dancers can
change into their shoes. There are also two tables filled with drinks and food.
The food, I believe, is always some sort of homemade dish of Latino origin:
tacos, empanadas, enchiladas, etc. and there is a jar if anyone feels like
donating to the cause.
The tango upstairs is always traditional and of the highest caliber.
People wander in from the avenue out of curiosity. Sometimes it is a couple who
hear the music and see the dancing and are inspired to be romantic. They join the
crowd, realize that they don’t know how to dance after a few awkward minutes
and even more collisions and then make their way downstairs to sit on the couches.
There are other stragglers, too, that join the gathering, uncertain what to
make of the place and waiting in vain for someone to approach them with a sales
pitch to buy something or to join the club. It is a sales pitch that never
comes and that, I think, is what baffles people most about this milonga.
Downstairs there is almost always some Nuevo music playing and
an odd mixture of talented dancers and total beginners.
There is a philosophy that keeps this place going. I can’t
really say what that philosophy is except that everyone is welcome and that
tango is danced here and that the definition of tango is open to interpretation
and all interpretations are respected. I can say that this place is a refuge
from the party outside, where overindulgence is expected as well as the
auditory assault of the loud music and the hypocrisy of the revelers dressed in
grunge clothing mass produced in China just for them.
I’m not a lawyer but I think habeas corpus means that we are
here for you. If you are tired of the false premises of the party and would
just like a chance to dance and heal your bones, maybe even heal your soul, the Unblurred First Friday Habeas Corpus Milonga is the place for you. Everybody is welcome here, always and without
conditions.
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