Giving It the Old College Try
I tried very hard to take my own advice that I so recently gave to Nuit. I was mostly successful, meaning that I did not come home and decide to retire my stilettos.
But man, that place is tough. I'm just not sure it's worth the effort.
The floor was like ice. I had to change my shoes and still I was constantly petrified of losing my footing. Everyone was slip-sliding away and catching themselves. Even a simple ocho was scary. Forget embellishments.
I had two tandas without any connection to the leaders whatsoever. And then, after quite a hiatus, what I can only figure was a mercy tanda from a very kind teacher. Perhaps it pained him to see me sitting there for so long. I appreciated the gesture, to be sure.
I saw people that would normally dance with me in other venues come over, give me a kiss, say how nice it was to see me, and then...nothing.
Plus, my Tango Cad was there. He came over to say hello, and at that point it was really time to go home.
So, here are the tiny gems I walked away with:
1. I got to see Ms. Tango Hours (who looked beautiful) and we had a few minutes to chat before the line of admiring dancers took her away.
2. I got a great parking space.
3. My hair looked cute.
4. When I'd had all the fun I could take (ha) and got outside, it was raining fairly hard and the air felt exceptionally cool and clean. I didn't put on my coat and I got a bit wet, which felt wonderful.
5. Got in my car and listened to Por Una Cabeza and Desde El Alma, both of which sounded great with the rain coming down.
6. Came home to The Boy, who was all smiles and being a little bit silly.
And lastly:
7. Have given myself permission not to go back there again, and am not going to worry about it, either.
So there.
6 comments:
Hi - what is a tango cad? - Why weren't you getting more dances?
b
cad, –noun 1. an ill-bred man, esp. one who behaves in a dishonorable or irresponsible way toward women.
Just add tango dancer to the basic definition and hopefully that explains it!
About the dancing, gosh, who knows? I'm not a guy so I have no idea. My skirt wasn't short enough? I haven't paid my "dues" yet? I smell funny?
To my mind, this is the place where people can go to play Let's Pretend We Are In Buenos Aires, except that in BA, the people there will actually dance with you. Or at least smile at you. Go figure.
NO! not you, too! it seems my recent bad luck has rubbed off on you somehow. :( i'm so sorry you had a bad time, my dearest tangobaby.
i know exactly what you mean: after a bad night, you are tempted to keep going out until you have a good night... and after a good night, you want another one, so you go out again, the next night. and over and over and over again... a neverending circle.
a delicious, salty, bittersweet, painful, beautiful, addicting, OnYummy circle. ;)
i think, though, the real reason for the sitting lies in the fact that these men may have been intimidated by such a gorgeous tanguera -- the one with the fabulous haircut and voluptuously elegant maquillage, and dances like a portena! over the years, i have discovered that men can be a bit like children... they're afraid of so much beauty, especially after a haitus.
they are all probably hitting themselves in the head, as we speak, regretting they were so stupid as to let you go before you tired of waiting for them!
p.s. i have seen some women wet their suede soles with a bit of water, when the floor is too slippery. is this a dance studio no-no?
i am tempted to try it at this one dance studio, where it's so slippery, i can hardly even walk on it without crashing onto the floor in a split.
Darling Nuit,
Thank you for being my cheerleader but I'm afraid this is not my first less-than-satisfactory experience there.
I just think there are some places that work better for us then others. I know when to take a hint.
And yes, putting water on the soles of your shoes can definitely help to reduce slippage. There were damp towels placed all around the floor, thank goodness, and that's probably the only thing that stopped someone from falling and getting hurt.
Conversely, I went to a milonga outside of BA, in a little town called Mercedes, to their once-a-month milonga. The floor was so entirely sticky that you could hardly move, let alone do any kind of pivot. It was crazy. It was like your feet were stuck to the floor with glue!
The secret ingredient? Coca Cola. The milonga organizers had deliberately poured soda all over the floor before the dance started to make the floor less slippery. Go figure.
Now that I think of it, maybe we should soak towels in Coca-cola instead of water to keep us from sliding around. Diamond Heights has a notoriously slippery floor, too.
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