October 8th, 2005. This then is the last tango@verde that I will be hosting. As I leave for the greener pastures of my heart I am glad to have been a part of such a wonderful community.
My thanks to Jess for allowing me to use her painting.
tango@verde is a series of milongas (tango dances) that are held almost monthly at the Verde Gallery in downtown Champaign. It has largely been a labor of love for me. I had the very good of fortune working with a very supportive staff and enjoying one of the best ambiances one can hope for a tango setting in the form of a dynamic art gallery.
Verde milongas have been a great learning opportunity for me. I try to put together playlists for a kind of milonga that I myself would wish to participate in (which usually ends up being a little Piazzolla-heavy, if I can be forgiven for it). I view the dynamic university environment in Champaign-Urbana to be an excellent catalyst for innovation, and aim to please a community that is young, dynamic, and open to research and experimentation by its very nature.
For your joy and amusement I put together below the fliers of the earlier tango@verde events. (Click on thumbnails for a larger image.)
Melih Sener (gmail: allostery)
October 8th, 2005.
This then is the last tango@verde that I will be hosting.
As I leave for the greener pastures of my heart I am glad
to have been a part of such a wonderful community.
My thanks to Jess for allowing me to use her painting.
September 17th, 2005.
This back-to-school tango@verde is retooled as a hurricane-relief event.
In the aftermath of devastation
I am reminded of how much we have to be thankful for.
I am grateful to Sharon for the
image and words.
August 6th, 2005. Summer... is coming to an end. What we need is a milonga
to match the thunderstorms we had been having lately...
July 16th, 2005. Another Gordon Conference in July and another flier skimped on because of academic obligations. This one was a delightful meeting between the Purdue and Champaign tango communities. My thanks to everyone who drove all the way to dance with us.
June 18th, 2005. I find that Tanya's painting
reflects the myriad of colors found
in this lovely tango community.
May 14th, 2005. A festive milonga for a festive time: end of finals and lots of
birthdays accompany us toward the summer.
This one is for the silver linings of all our clouds.
Mar. 12th, 2005. Thanks also to the delightful CU tango community, this one
turned out to be a wonderful anniversary for Tijen and myself.
Feb. 12th, 2005. "Moments. Her moments, my moments..." Beckett
Tango can crystallize moments into stories. Perhaps some of your tango moments
will be there at the end to cheer you - or to taunt you.
Jan. 15th, 2005. This has delightfully become a sort of
winter tango reunion in Champaign-Urbana, what with everybody returning
from dancing in other places and all.
Oct. 29th, 2004. Day of the Dead Milonga.
I had a certain Heaven and Hell theme in mind
while planning this, mostly along the lines of William Blake and Salman Rushdie:
"The universe was a place of wonders, and only habituation,
the anesthesia of the everyday, dulled our sight."
Sept. 25th, 2004. I had the good fortune of working with David Liu
on this flier and learned some valuable pointers on poster design. He has
an excellent
website
that has some inspiring tango pictures. Also, the poetry is local
this time, thanks to my good friend Sharon.
Hmmmm... due to my heavy academic calendar, I think I skimped on a flier around July sometime...
June 26th, 2004. The image is David Liu's again and the poem depicting tango as a mandala (Tibetan sand painting that is blown away as soon as finished) belongs again to Sharon.
May 29th, 2004. The Mock Turtle. Well, tango need not be serious all the time...
April 29th, 2004. Maria Castello and Jacques Saint-Cyr
(who are among my favorite instructors) blessed us with
some wonderful performances and their cheerful presence.
The quote by Borges tells how tango feels like to me at the best of times.
(Well, since it doesn't always work that way here is the whole of the
Dreamtigers for a perspective.)
March 27th, 2004. An exhibit with floral paintings and floral arrangements
of a local florist right at the coming of spring? It was only too natural to
resort to Neruda here...
Jan. 30th, 2004. Who would have thought that there would actually be a song called
"Una Verde Milonga" with lyrics that fit well? Thanks to Riccardo (then at Purdue)
for bringing this to my attention.
Dec. 13th, 2003. In my humble and untrained opinion Beth Darling's exhibit
was perhaps the most enjoyable to view and dance around. She had also
joined us during the evening for dancing.
Nov. 8th, 2003. The night of full moon and a lunar exclipse!
It was too tempting to play Piazzolla's
"Balada para un loco" at least once; and Ferrer's lyrics are only
too fitting.
April 12th, 2003. The first tango@verde. Gently threading into
uncharted waters of DJing for a large audience. I still get goosebumps...
Sept. 9th, 2002. This is the night that started it all,
actually at the McKinley foundation before the time of Verde:
my long time dream of a tango night with a healthy dose of music
that matters and challenges.
I got a lot
of support for it from enthusiastic friends.
The quote is one of few direct tango references found in Borges
and was sent to me by Tijen, who by my good fortune is wise
in the ways of such things.