WOW
Queer Tango Boston!
What a weekend!
Friday night 15 people came to the Queer Tango Community Dinner. People took responsibility for all the jobs to maintain Queer Tango Boston after we leave. The new website, www.queertangoboston.com will go live on May 20 with all the info about new classes.
We aren’t leaving yet! All Duro y Vio Queer Tango classes will continue on the current schedule through May 25 (and are listed at the bottom of this email).
Saturday night Luc y Matt, Juan Pablo y Max, Tad y Duro, and Claudyne y Vio performed a non-choreographed tango for Gays for Patsy at their monthly two-step party. We really wowed them. “Sex on the dance floor.” “I was crying.” “I’m hot for them all.” Those were just a few of the comments we received. Thanks to the 4 videographers and we hope to get some help with editing.
Sunday we had a hardworking technique session first thing in the day. Then we didn’t know what to expect at our workshop called “Leading in Heels”, but 7 women walked in, strapped on their highest heels, turned their men around backwards, and looked at us expectantly, tall and serious. So now we know…
Then it was time for the special practica Celebration of Women Leaders. There were 23 of us for this beautiful event, including many enthusiastic men followers (some of whom seemed to enjoy taking their turn as wallflowers). Between every tanda we stopped to hear a story about leading from a woman. We started with the words of the brave Hsueh-tze, known in the early days of US tango as “the woman from Boston who leads”. Some of the other highlights included “when I lead, I always go home happy.” “When I lead, I don’t have to wait.” “Sometimes I fall back into following, but I try to be committed to leading.” Women pointed out that they are sad when they “feel women followers would rather be dancing with a man” and that when they lead it results in being asked to follow less often. And we laughed a lot at the recognition from several women that their assumption that they would be more “sensitive” than men leaders turned out different. We heard from Auriel in San Francisco about the importance of Queer Space and we ended with an inspiring and reflective story from Ute Walter of Hamburg, Germany, from which we learned that the first Hamburg tangos were danced in a Queer Café.
And then, at 8 pm we began a most incredible experience, Boston’s first Queer Tango Milonga. A grand name, which turned out to be a transformative bridge for 50 fabulous participants. Every guest was greeted at the door by a gay person, immediately changing the dynamic. Queen Jeff flaunted her diamonds. Women boldly led throughout the evening. Many men danced together — including men from the straight tango scene, who danced graciously with our new dancers in Queer Tango Boston. We saw a big increase in confidence among our students, not only in their dancing, but also in owning their space. We are all very moved by the vibrant solidarity of the people from the straight Boston tango scene who came to dance with us last night –and said they wanted more– and by the energy shown by the progressive dancers from Western Massachusetts and Providence who embrace the agenda of Queer Tango and drove so far to share this special day with us. We even had a dancer from New York City come for the weekend’s events. We felt the support and energy from friends from the earliest days of Queer Tango Boston during the weekend — Robin, Tibbs, and Joy! And we were thrilled that guys from Living Soulfully (who had a big gay tango workshop with us a couple of weeks ago) came to watch and play. And we noticed that with the Queer Tango gender dynamics, very few people were seen sitting waiting for a dance.
We need to say a huge pink thank you to our fabulous DJs, Elmira and jackie ling wong. Queer Tango Boston dancers’ joyful work made the milonga so elegant and smooth — Juan Pablo, Matt, Jeff, Peter, Ka, Corin, and Luc — who stayed until the very end sharing every bit of work (we thought he was going to tuck us into bed!) Paul called first thing Sunday morning to remind us that he was expecting excessive costumes and to promise to deliver jackie on time. As always, Tad and Claudyne brought so many gifts that we cannot count them. They managed to work the door and taxi dance at the same time through the workshops and then through the practica, and then, with only a short break, they danced the whole milonga as well, as always, sharing their playful spirits with dancers of all levels. And most of all, thank you to the courageous gay dancers and women leaders who are stepping onto the dance floor and expanding it for all of us.
Here’s the slideshow:
