2454  A taste of tango in old Europe (II).

Subject: A taste of tango in old Europe (II).

On my way to Amsterdam, to catch my flight home, I stopped over in Nijmegen
to check out that famous tango salon "El Corte," which, according to Alex
in Portland was the inspiration for his "Berretin" tango salon. In turn,
the Eugene Tango Center is fashioned after the Berretin. Three degrees of
separation?, or, rather a straight line connection between Nijmegen,
Portland and Eugene?
I arrived on Friday afternoon , May7th, and called from my hotel to inquire
about the milonga schedule and direction to El Corte. Eric answered and
warmly invited me to attend the evening's practica, but also to come by any
time in the afternoon to chat and simply hang out.
After taking an afternoon nap I got there around 10PM and Henry, one of the
teachers and hosts, and all-around good guy, greeted me like an old friend.
Eric was teaching a class. The practica, for which there was no charge,
started right after the class at 11.00 and lasted till 1.00. I had a few
good dances, especially so with a charming German tanguera. El Corte seems
to be a magnet for German tango addicts.
This tango salon is the brain child of Eric and has been in operation for
about 15 years, 10 years in the present location on Graafseweg. This makes
Eric an early mover, a pioneer of sorts, in the worldwide revival of the
Argentine tango.
The social aspect of tango was very much in evidence the following night
when students and teachers gathered at the salon for their end of season
party. Not open to the general public. During the aforementioned
practica, someone, pssst, told me about this impending party. On my way out
that Friday night I said good bye to Eric and expressed regret that there
was no milonga or practica the next night, sob, sob ... my last night in
Nijmegen. He said, I'll make an exception and invite you to our party. My
surprise at hearing about the party was feigned, but my delight at the
prospect of dancing there the next night was genuine.
The party was like the old "tango den" in Eugene ...times ten. 320
invitations went out and, seems to me, close to 300 people answered the
call. People brought food and drinks galore. We enjoyed delightful
performances by students, performances of the musical and dancing kind which
complimented the social tangoing, visiting and eating.
I didn't do much of the latter sort, but tried to catch as many dances as I
could. It's difficult to choose partners as a first time visitor to such a
large community, no matter how friendly the community. At least that's true
for me. The shoes are not always reliable indicators of the skill level,
and the observed (desirable) dancers often not available, either dancing
already with their companeros, or eating and visiting, as was the case on
this particular night. Needless to say, the dance floor -which is separate
from a lounge, and the general, quite large, hanging-out room --was
comfortably crowded all the time. The general movement in the direction of
line of dance was surprisingly good, that is, good given the number of less
experienced dance students partaking. Methinks a compliment to the teaching
that's going on there. I had some nice dances and some good one's. But
then...the tangoddess gave me a friendly poke. This happened as I ambled
about and my eye caught two women relaxing and chatting. Earlier, I had
observed them dancing together, comfortably connected to each other and to
the music. I could not, or didn't want to ignore that poke, took a deep
breath and with it generated enough courage that let me ask the "lead,"
tall, dark haired and wearing high heels, for a dance. She graciously
consented. We connected well almost immediately. After the first tanda, I
made an unspoken promise to offer up several candles to the tangoddess for
her poke and continued blessings. She responded most favorably and warmly,
because many tandas later I became conscious enough of my surrounding to
look at my watch. I estimated that more than an hour filled with tangos,
valses and milongas had past during which I (vaguely) had expected my
pareja, my partner, to say thank you and walk away. But, no, the tangoddess
kept us dancing together for another half hour or so till the last phrase of
"la cumparsita" drifted gently up into the rafters of El Corte.I thanked my
pareja (Monique?), the good people of El Corte, especially, Eric, Henry,
Komala and Stefan, and called a taxi. I owe the tangoddess a dozen long
burning candles!!
The next night I was in Amsterdam, which also has a reputation for
exceptional tango events. However, I did not feel compelled to explore
these possibilities and instead went to the "Concertgebow" and listened to a
piano recital. Mikhail Pletnev played Schumann and Tchaikovsky, a
different wonderfulness ...

Happy tangos to ya all,

Peter
Portland, OR