Dear Tango Aficionados, If youve been dancing tango for more than a few months, you are probably aware of the many tango festivals scattered thickly around the country.
Most tango festivals in the USA worth packing your bags for go something like this: 1) Welcome Milonga 2) Classes with a teacher or teachers one hopes to learn from 3) Practicas, maybe (hopefully with people you just met in classes, and other new friends) 4) Milongas with good music, maybe performances (more dancing with old & new partners) 5) Sleep/Shower/Eat, maybe in the company of some of your fellow dancers ;) Repeat for two or more days In the United States (except for tango-every-night communities like NYC, SF, Portland, etc.), events like these form the ephemeral central nervous system of the dispersed contemporary culture of tango people converge and meet, form and renew connections, learn, dance, then disperse again, posting the fresh group memories on Facebook/YouTube after everyone goes home. The powerful experiences that these festival-type events provide, so different from so many other aspects of mainstream contemporary USA culture, keep tango aficionados returning at a steady and perhaps accelerating rate. The sheer number of these events, and their rate of increase, makes for a remarkable story. After many years of participating in this festival-driven culture (and getting our hearts and minds blown open in the process!) some of us are wanting to create some additional dimensions to these tango experiences, in a way that embraces and extends the current festival-based cultural experience, but in a transcend-and-include fashion that is designed to foster durable, measurable ongoing cultural progress in tangos shared development, while still offering the classic festival high, i.e., fleeting elusive glimpses of tango heaven, followed immediately by an urgent search for yet another hit, until finally its time for the early bus/train/cab to the airport. A festival organizer recently recommended to me, Put on the event that YOU would like to attend. With that in mind, what we are proposing is an event in mid-July 2011 in Boulder, Colorado which will be a blend of a tango festival and a tango academic conference. We are soliciting your participation. The Festival portion of the event will include: - Milongas with Grade-A DJs in palatial social dance settings, like the majestic Avalon Ballroom, and delightfully funky ones like Boulders Pearl Street Studio and PreEminence Hall - World-Class intensive tango training with acclaimed Argentine maestro LUCIANA VALLE, among others, combined with structured practicas for reinforcing your learning - Beautiful physical settings in Colorados Rocky Mountain foothills - Many opportunities for socializing with tango friends old and new So well still have a familiar-feeling tango festival milongas, lessons, practicas, etc. but the festival will be surrounded and contained by a tango academic conference that will have as part of its focus some interesting and provocative aspects of the USA festival-based culture of tango itself. We invite serious tango-lovers, current and aspiring tango professionals, and experienced tango dancing/performing/teaching/organizing veterans who wish to share the fruits of their work with their colleagues and peers to SAVE THE DATE!! and to respond by e-mail to connect with us as we flesh out the conference side of the event. (continued in Part 2 following) _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l