Tango Hiatus

Today many of us would have been at the Victoria Tango Marathon. But alas, it was cancelled for obvious reasons. Two weeks away is the Port Townsend Tango Retreat – also cancelled. So is this summer’s Burningtango near Mt. Shasta. Those were my spring and early summer tango plans.

And the weekly practicas and the milongas around Bellingham have been put on hiatus; and of course, spontaneous trips up to Vancouver are also not an option right now, as even crossing the border is forbidden for non-essential travel. (Even though many of us, I’d imagine, would consider travel to Canada to dance tango as essential.)

So I sit here on a sunny spring morning in Bellingham taking a break from the gardening (that's been keeping me occupied) as I type this, wondering when I will next be enjoying the embrace of tango. This quarantine has been an interesting introspective journey, however it further reinforces my realization of the need for contact and interaction as a basic human necessity.

Yet I wonder what this societal reset will be as we all emerge from our immaculate gardens in Bellingham (and beyond). Some may look askance as they cabeceo those prospective partners across the dance floor, it they choose to re-engage at all. Yet others, and hopefully myself included, will hunger for the magic that we experience dancing tango, and gladly attend and participate in the first opportunity that presents itself to once again dance and cherish one another's company and embrace. And I look forward to that day.

See you all at the next Makeworth. Soon.

The First Post

For quite some time here in Bellingham, we have been discussing putting together a blog where Bellinghamsters could to post their collective thoughts and musings on their tango experiences from both far and near. Over the years I have had many thoughts of tango’s impact upon my life and many of my colleagues and friends have shared these same sentiments.

So this is a call out to the local community to share their writings. Please let me know if you’d care to add a post, picture, or anything of that ilk.

I am sitting here in the office taking a few minutes out of my day basking in the reemerging sunshine after a wonderful weekend at the annual Valentango. This is a wonderful meeting of dancers from (literally) around the world converging upon Portland for a few days of milongas, lessons and workshops.

I have been dancing for a few years, and always look forward to reconnecting with the old acquaintances that I’ve made upon this tango journey, as well as the new friends that I met over this past long weekend  at Valentango.

This blog may evolve into something of substance, or it may not. We shall see.