3620 Tango Safaris: Tango In Scandinavia, Part 1
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 13:56:01 +0200
From: Brian Dunn <brian@DANCEOFTHEHEART.COM>
Subject: Tango Safaris: Tango In Scandinavia, Part 1
Dear List,
Deb and I are nearing the end of a six-week tour that included Massachusetts
(Boston Tango Festival, teaching in Northampton), TangoCamp Sweden 2005,
Copenhagen (Tango Marathon Copenhagen, various additional milongas, mostly
outdoors), a visit to Malmo's tango scene, and a week-long "Tango Intensivo"
teaching engagement in the woods of southern Sweden, wrapping up with
dancing, teaching and performing in Chicago starting this Wednesday night.
This is the second year we have traveled to Scandinavia for tango (last year
also including Berlin and the huge Finnish Tango Festival in Seinajoki,
Finland). It is fascinating to experience the differences and similarities
between different branches of world tango culture. This is sort-of a summary
message, with follow-on messages or links to new entries (with pictures) on
our website to fill in the gaps.
We've had an incredible time in Scandinavia. Social tango dancing has a long
history here. Many of our students in the Tango Intensivo had been social
tango dancing for 8-12 years. In many of the cultures, social dancing is
part of the cultural foundation here transmitted to all the children. In
more rural parts of Sweden, Denmark and Finland, this transmission has
continued unbroken, while in more urban parts and in Germany, the social
upheavals characteristic of the sixties let the learning of traditional
social dance fall somewhat out of fashion for awhile.
The fascination for tango here is fueled in part by these midlife
Scandinavian urbanites discovering for the first time the interpersonal
impact of social dance, while their country cousins never lost the knack. In
many parts of northern Scandinavia, EVERYONE, it seems, found their spouse
and fell in love at the local dances. The large group of Finns who we fell
in with at TangoCamp Sweden reflect this unbroken visceral connection to
social dance roots, even if their attraction to Argentine Tango has led them
far beyond the relatively narrow confines of the Finnish tango dance form.
TangoCamp Sweden 2005
When Julio and Corina visited Colorado for the Memorial Day Tango Fest in
Denver, we mentioned to them that we would be seeing them at TangoCamp
Sweden. Julio was effusive in his praise of this event, of its setting and
organization, and of the high skill level of the Scandinavian dancers (three
levels of "advanced", with the highest being described with "You should be a
teacher of advanced students"). We got to enjoy being students again, and
letting someone else worry about organizational details. Midsummer Milongas
every night, of course: there's only three or four hours of semi-darkness
before the sun starts rising again. I had memorable dances with tangueras
from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Turkey,
Greece, Slovakia and Iran.
Copenhagen Tango Marathon
We returned from TangoCamp and were somewhat surprised to find a
lower-profile but very satisfying event being put on for the seventh time
(one or two per year) in Copenhagen, our home base for this tour. Local
teachers have cooperated to bring in some out-of-town teachers and provide a
great set of lessons and milongas in one of the local cultural houses. Best
of all - two hours of open practice per day on a nice floor!
Midsummer Outdoor Tango
Because of the long gray winters and frequent rains even in the warmer
months, Scandinavians develop a special relationship with sunshine and
outdoor living when the weather improves. There are several outdoor tango
venues in Copenhagen in city parks. At some events, minutes after the
"official" tango dancing ends at 10pm (i.e., the city power is turned off),
the "Volvotango Milonga" begins at the same spot with the same dancers,
powered by car batteries, headlights and boomboxes, for as long as dancers
want to continue.
Copenhagen-Malmo Axis: the Oresund Bridge
While many milongas close starting in mid-June because the hosts go on their
long European-style holidays (six weeks vacation!), in Denmark and southern
Sweden an active tango community continues with almost one event per day,
and sometimes two or three. Malmo and Copenhagen are joined by a new
bridge/tunnel now, transforming the social interactions locally. This has
created a much more active tango scene in Malmo than the size of the city
would suggest. Some expatriate Argentines in residence lend a taste of
Buenos Aires to some Malmo events.
Tango Intensivo Sweden 2005
We had contracted last year to return this summer to teach a week-long
intensive tango seminar in a private camp in Sweden for a group of Danish
tango dancers. The students were "self-recruited" from the Copenhagen tango
community in a low-profile networking process based on personal
relationships. We ended up with 11 couples, all of whom had been invited by
someone else who had already decided to go. We taught two lessons a day for
four days, then one lesson a day for an additional two days, with parties,
movies, and/or social dancing every night.
LOTS more to say about this incredible event, its organizers, and our
heart-opening experiences there, in the next installment!...along with
comments about tango style differences, DJ playlists, social codes, and
more. But we leave Copenhagen tomorrow, so there's lots to do!
All the best,
Brian Dunn (& Deborah Sclar)
Dance of the Heart
Boulder, Colorado USA
www.danceoftheheart.com
