2532  A TASTE OF TANGO ON A FARM

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 11:49:23 -0700
From: peterwesser <peterwesser@OREGONDUCKS.ORG>
Subject: A TASTE OF TANGO ON A FARM

The following may be mostly of local interest, less so, if at all, to a
wider readership. If the latter, please gimmi a sign and I will never
post such again. Promise!
Happy tangos to all,
Peter

Don't look at me like that, I know very well that tango is an urban
affair. But, there is this fortunate exception. (The dry details are on
Bill's Portland Tango website).
Conrad, a gentleman, a horse farm owner, a smooth and elegant tanguero
even in his ubiquitous blue jeans and suspenders, hosts several
Moonlight Milongas during the summer. The first one of this season
happened on Mai 30th to coincide with a full moon, of course. T'was
wonderful, and most certainly worth the half hour drive out of Portland.
I wondered aloud what are the roots of this wonderful idea, what made it
blossom? Conrad reluctantly told me that he grew up with an interest in
music and dance. As a youngster he played double bass in a
Country/Western band at weekend dances. The pursuit of various ball room
dances followed and then, about 10 years ago, he discovered Argentine
tango. A workshop with Clay Nelson put the hook into him and after that
"there was no turning back to diversions of the likes of fox-trot or
swing."
Alas, on a farm, not all is music and tango. There are animals to feed,
there are tools and machinery that require maintenance and shelter. A
few years ago Conrad re-built the machine shop. Half way through laying
the floor his wife pointed out that it looked like a dance floor. Not
too alarmed, and not at all displeased, he said to himself: "What an
idea!" Of course, we know the Tangoddess was directing his handiwork.
Lucky for us, who now enjoy the Moonlight Milongas, he didn't fight the
Goddess. Mary Ann, Joel, Patricia, and other family and community
members, also under her spell, helped built and organize this little
temple of the muses out on the farm.
Oh my, what an aesthetic pleasure to dance tangos, valses, milongas,
this opportune fusion of the rhythmic/musical expressions of different
cultures, carefully selected by Mary Ann (kudos to her), on this
"machine shop" floor. How pleasurable to move to the complex rhythms
among the many graceful dancers on a semi-sheltered dance floor in the
middle of a meadow, a full moon peeking through the tree tops, and
shadowy figures of horses, seemingly nodding their approval, as part of
the backdrop.
Conrad told me (maybe I imagine that he told me), his horses strut about
more elegantly, almost haughtily, several days after a milonga. And.,
yes, there are four more such milongas planned during the summer months.