3477  Final exam for BA

Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 23:09:40 -0400
From: Michael <tangomaniac@CAVTEL.NET>
Subject: Final exam for BA

I've heard and read so many stories from so many people about dancing in small spaces with limited vocabulary at BA milongas, I decided it was =
time for me take a test to see if I could do it --before traveling 10 hours and 2 time zones from Washington, DC.

Spring is the time of the year when students take final exams before the semester is over. I returned today from the Denver Tango Festival =
expertly organized by Tom Stermitz. My motivation for traveling 2400 KM was to take my "final exam" in the States and see if I could navigate =
the very crowded floor at the Mercury Cafe. Come to think of it, it was crowded in the Grand Ballroom for the Saturday night milonga at the =
Double Tree Hotel. If I succeeded, I passed my final exam. If I failed --then my teacher owed me 7 years of refunds on dance lessons. No matter =
that I've danced AT for 7 years, dancing in very small spaces is completely different from anything I've experienced. In fact, I rarely, =
if ever, see dancing in small spaces as a workshop at festivals. (I don't read the agendas for every festival so some could have it and I =
missed reading it.)

As for how I did, each woman I danced gave me her own score. One woman in particular, Lois, took the breath right out of me -- and I have =
asthma!!

I encourage all dancers to practice in small spaces. Some milongas in the States are very crowded, I remember reading that there were 400+ at =
the last Portland, OR festival. As the great Carlos Gavito told me in Washington, DC "The more you know, the less you need." It's only now I'm =
starting to understand what he meant.

Thank goodness I don't have to go to work Tuesday and I was able to get a nonstop flight back to DC from Denver. On the way out, I had to change =
planes in the Venus Flytrap of the Mid West, Chicago, where planes go in, and never seem to come out.

Thanks again, Tom.

Abrazos,

Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
8 weeks to NY Tango Festival (www.celebratetango.com)
8 months to retirement eligibility
BA next year