In the very beginnings of Tango in the South West, we used to have ad-hoc dance events in crazy places. A battery-powered boom box, a well functioning telephone tree (those were the days - no social media then!!!), and we’d spontaneously be dancing, with the sun setting on one side and a full moon rising on the other - of Paignton pier! Or we’d sneak into locations such as Dartington Hall and dance until someone kicked us out.
Then there were the Midsummer’s night all nighters, in ramshackle barns, in Littlehempston or Rocombe Farm….those were crazy, imaginative places to be holding Milongas in!
It’s coming up to Midsummer again….
While looking for a place to hold a Milonga somewhere in or near Totnes on June 20th to bring our “Milonga à la Carte” project to my home town, I was reminiscing, with a certain amount of nostalgia, about these wild, spontaneous events with their entirely different energy from an established Milonga. I asked myself, can we still do this kind of thing?
What would be needed first of all, is a well functioning battery-powered sound system that could give a natural-sounding boost to our two Bandoneons. Secondly, we need a beautiful, inspiring space.
So…I went ahead and commissioned a bespoke sound system, portable, powerful and with a high quality sound. Oliver Hehn, who many may know from the Totnes Friday Market as the German baker who has pretzels rotating on top of an old record turntable, is in fact a fantastic sound man. He had another old turntable that he thought would be just the right thing to convert into a sound system for me. Are you sceptical? I was to start with, but I took a leap of faith, bought some very expensive microphones and let Oliver work his magic on a beaten-up looking portable record player.
I’m quite fussy when it comes to amplified sound, especially of Bandoneons, but the result has far exceeded my expectations. What’s more, the system is portable, will amplify several instruments at once, has battery power for around 10 hours, AND it can serve as a DJ desk.
There’s one outdoor space in Totnes that has long-since tempted me to try out as a Tango ‘venue’. Yesterday, one of my students and I took our Tango shoes there and tested it - and it passed! It’s fine for pivoting, it’s wooden, BUT, be warned, it’s no good for high heels. You’d need to wear dance trainers or wide heels.
So all is set from our side…are YOU up for this???
For more info on the meaning of 'Milonga à la Carte', click here
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Last but not least (in fact, VERY important):
*I’m now looking for 30 sponsors for this event, at £15/£10 per person. Once I’ve got 30 people committing themselves, the event will go ahead (weather permitting!). Get in touch if you 'd like to be one of these!
*The sponsors will only be charged if the Milonga takes place.
***All sponsors will get free drinks for the evening.***
