Albuquerque Tango Festival: 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!

                I've been in need of an intense infusion of tango dancing and high-quality instruction for a long time and this weekend I finally got it! It seems like forever since I danced so intensely on top of so much classroom activity; my body was definitely not ready for it or perhaps I’m just getting old.  

               I arrived at the Friday night milonga late, 10 p.m., dancing started at 8. The huge ballroom of the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town was packed! There were two dance floors, a big one and a smaller one off to the side. There were over 200 dancers on the larger floor and I knew very few of them. It was an awesome sight to behold, so many people all dancing tango!

               I mostly danced with my partner probably because the music selections were excellent and I didn’t want to miss a chance to dance with her to some of my favorite songs that I hadn’t heard in eons. The music during the entire event was superb except for a couple of tandas during the alternative milonga. When I wasn’t dancing I was ogling all the beautiful ladies dressed to kill and moving so very gracefully.

               The skill level of most of the participants was very high as was evident in the near complete observation of the codigos(codes) of tango. The one codigo that was practiced with near uniformity, was the manner in which couples entered the line of dance. Nearly all the leaders took the time to make eye contact with an approaching leader before moving onto the floor. I was very impressed by this and the behavior made me aware that a milonga was much more than an individual experience, it was a group activity and the group’s collective mood was dependent on the actions of all it members.

               I think almost all of New Mexico’s tango population was in attendance and I am pleased to see that I haven’t even scratched the surface of the many tangueras that there are here with which to dance. The festival’s website forecast the attendance of 500 milongueros and I think they reached that number easily.  

               Saturday was 30 hours long and I’m not kidding. With the one hour clock setback and a milonga running until 5 a.m. this was a marathon of tango.

               This day began with Albuquerque’s (IMHO the nation’s) premier tango orchestra, Qtango, performing for a milonga during the brunch hours. We arrived early, not wanting to miss a minute of dancing and we didn’t. I can’t say enough about this band! I implore anyone who enjoys tango music to seek out these extremely talented musicians who are incredibly passionate in their performance of tango music. I danced with such vigor and creativity that I felt spent afterwards.

               I’ll comment separately on the classes I attended taught by master dancers Alex Krebs and Yvonne Meissner. I will say this now, however, the two of them increased my knowledge about tango and improved vastly my ability to enjoy this dance.

               There was an alternative milonga around dinner time that had me on the dance floor almost the whole time even though there were a few tandas I did not particularly enjoy. I did find the change of venue challenging and it sparked my creative juices which would pay off on Sunday.

               Sore and tired, I needed a long nap and came back to the evening milonga refreshed. I’ve never seen so many well-dressed tangueros and tangueras in one place…ever! There were hundreds of them and the music was phenomenal! At 2 a.m. I happened to glance at my watch just in time to see it switch back to 1 a.m. and Daylight Savings Time. My body groaned and I had to pace myself in order to keep up with my partner who was having a great time dancing with a plethora of leaders from all points of the compass.

               We didn’t leave until 3 a.m. but I had mostly hung up my shoes the second time I saw 2 a.m. Slouching on the table to keep my back from hurting, my eyes were riveted to the crowd of dancers who were still going strong at this late hour. What a pleasure it is to see a beautiful woman with a smile on her face as she is moved about the room in the embrace of a leader who is equally pleased. There were a lot of happy faces that night but I am certain there were twice as many unhappy feet the next morning.

               After Yvonne Meissner’s class on embellishments Sunday afternoon there was a milonga for beginner’s. It was here that I probably had my most enjoyable dances of this event. Teaming up with novices and experts alike, both strangers and familiars, I finally broke out of my tired routine and attempted movements buried in my bones and in my memories during the course of 6 years of lessons, practicas and milongas.

               I recalled the ‘Chuck Sacada’ combination from my early days at practica in Stroudsburg, PA. I led barridas in every direction possible and had the best rotation on a shared axis that I ever had in the execution of a colgada!

               I managed to crawl back later that evening for the Sunday night milonga but to tell the truth I was beat and couldn’t wait until it was over. It seems that 6 milongas in 48 hours was all I could handle. I think the next time I attend this event, and I will not miss the next one for the world, I am going to have to train and build up my endurance.

               That’s all for now. Check back later for my report on the excellent instruction under the tutelage of Alex Krebs and his wonderful assistant, Rachel Greenberg, as well as the teachings of Yvonne Meissner.

(For a more in-depth looking into the mind of the Kayak Hombre and his thoughts on tango, buy his book: River Tango, now available on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/River-Tango-perri-iezzoni/dp/1453865527 )