Queridos tangueros del centro de Illinois,
Summer is here and the U of I Summer Sesson II only started today. Because of
the time of year, I expected a low turnout for the June milonga this past
Saturday. To my surprise, we had 49 people attending the workshops and
milonga, second only to the 51 people we had at the April workshops and
milonga! It is obvious that Tango Fever has infected our community and there
is no cure! However, the recommended effective treatment is to dance tango
'til we drop, which is what we did last Saturday.
I am certain that the workshops with Maria Castello and Jacques St Cyr at the
White Street Arts Center contributed greatly to our enthusiasm (muchas
gratias to Joe and Carlota for organizing these successful workshops at short
notice). The level of interest in tango in our community is phenomenonal. If
you're an innocent bystander reading our announcements from a safe distance
behind your CRT, eventually you too will be bitten. There is no effective
vaccine. However, the relationship between the tango and the human host is at
worst described as commensal, but more accurately described as symbiotic.
I have received some feedback on the music program at the milonga. Apparently
there was some confusion about the cortinas. No one tried to dance to the
brief segments by Purcell, Gershwin or Coltrane. However, some people tried
to dance to Piazzolla. I once read that at Buenos Aires milongas, they
sometimes use Piazzolla to clear the dance floor. Instead, I got disappointed
looks when dancers were interrupted in their fantasy tango performances. One
tanguero suggested we should have a tanda or two of fantasy tango. What do
you think? Please respond to the list. Several of us rotate music programming
duties so we should all hear your preferences. My opinion is that a lot of
fantasy tango is too fast for safe dancing, but I think a carefully selected
tanda or two of fantasy tango music would be great. Also, I've noticed that
for the sets of tropical music, a lot of people dance to salsa and merengue,
but fewer to cha-cha. When I've selected swing numbers in the past, there
have been even fewer people on the floor. Other than salsa and merengue, what
dances would you like us to have at the milongas? (only appropriate ones - no
country and western, please, unless it is sung in Spanish) Please reply to
the list
Anyway, keep up your enthusiasm. The tango epidemic is spreading.
Leonardo
El Leon del Tango
TangoLeon@aol.com
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