Montreal Tango Rendez-Vous '06 - L'Academy milonga

Last time I was in Montreal a lot of people suggested I should attend the L'Academy, Montreal's oldest milonga held Sunday evening. Since I couldn't make that time, I made sure I made it this time.

The venue is well designed so there is no walking on the dance floor, you can watch the dance floor from the bar, it's intimate and it has a lot of character. Sadly, the floor is a nightmare to dance on. It's either extremely sticky, or extremely slippery. At the beginning of the night it felt like there was glue on it, later is was so slippery, one could "skate" on it. And from talking with the locals, it doesn't seem like that night was an isolated incident. That's quite a shame. I was impressed on the attendance though, it was really crowded and it's taking place on Sunday evenings, with people presumably having to work the next day.

The level of dancing ranged from total beginners to very advanced, unlike "Air de Tango" at Moka Danse where there were hardly any beginners at all. What really surprised me was the apparent inability of some people to take no for an answer. I was accompanied to the milonga by D, she just wanted to watch, but she is not a tango dancer. I explained to her the whole cabaceo thing and despite her avoiding eye contact with men and despite the fact she removed her shoes, she was asked to dance repeatedly. And when she declined, explaining she is not a dancer, they still tried to talk her into it. Repeatedly.

I danced a bit, and under normal circumstances I would've been quite happy with the way it went, but after the "tango moment" earlier that day (see the previous blog entry), none of the dances felt very special. With one exception that is, Sherri, one of the instructors in Montreal (I met her and her husband Stephane when they taught a boleo workshop in Providence a few months back) stopped by at my table to say hi and asked if we could dance the next tanga. I must say, I was very flattered as she is an exquisite dancer and as such, she certainly can get the pick of the litter anywhere, especially in her home town.

I was praying (even though I am not religious ...) for the next tanga not to be a milonga as I still struggle with that dance. The Gods listened and they got me a waltz. I would've preferred a tango, as my waltz on crowded floors is not really something to write home about, but I guess one can't have everything. And for the second time that day I experienced that calm, completely relaxed, warm embrace. Montreal is awesome... I think my performance was overall adequate but a few times during the tanga, when the ... stars aligned (as in, I was able to walk without slipping, or stepping on my own pants, when there was a bit of space to move and I managed to "nail" a few musical phrases), it pretty awesome. My friend D was taking pictures with my camera and from the few shots she got of me dancing with Sherri, I like this one (on the right) the best. I think D caught one of the moments where I was doing some really fast side steps using the shoulders to mark the crescendo in the music. One of the times when I "nailed" it.

So, I guess I joined the ranks of the ... "tango moment" junkies. We spend countless hours practicing, thousands of dollars in lessons and travel costs for that 10 minutes of tango nirvana one gets once in a while when everything just falls in place. Looking forward to the next one...