Why I Dance Tango?
While visiting Buenos Aires for a three-month visit in 2020, the pandemic struck Buenos Aires and the world in March. Argentina closed its doors to the outside on March 24, 2020. Everything, everywhere in the world, closed. Cities, milongas, transportation, airports, restaurants, stores, health clubs, and museums. Our lives were forever affected by this world closure. Closed. Our world came to a standstill. My world was limited to my 25-meter apartment. I decided to stay in this little one-bedroom apartment on Guido in Recoleta for the pandemic.
Why, you ask, did I decide to stay in Buenos Aires? My answer is simple and yet complicated. For many years, I wanted to change my life up. I no longer wanted to be that person I had become, living on a small isolated island in the Pacific Northwest, running a contemporary art gallery I founded in 1985. My expression at that time was, ” I Am Finished here”!
MANY PEOPLE RETURNED TO THEIR COUNTRY
As many people I knew returned to their homes in other countries, I extended my apartment lease. My landlord was a wonderful Argentinean woman who had relocated to Canada years before. During the pandemic, we kept in touch regularly; she was invaluable as she introduced me to a few other people. Her weekly conversations were a fabulous addition to my week, as I didn’t know many people.
When I decided to stay in Buenos Aires for the quarantine, I lived in a small one-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor. We were only allowed out of our apartments to shop for food, medicine, or walk your dogs. Fortunately, in the world, the population of pets quadrupled because of the access to the outdoors that a pet offered to many people who otherwise were confined to their homes.
While living in this apartment, I decided it was necessary to learn Spanish. I found my online teacher with the help of my landlord. She was a friend of a friend that my landlord knew. We met online 3 days a week for approximately one hour. My mind was opened to the world of Spanish; There are many discernible differences in the Spanish language, both spoken and written. The process of learning a new language is both tedious and exciting!
As a woman with an active/curious/engaged mind, I needed another project. For years, as a gallery director, there was never any time for me to develop my artistic skills, as I represented about 35 artists full time. With the pandemic, this was finally possible to do. I had been working as a photographer in the gallery, taking classes about light and composition for years.
Time to develop
Finally, I had the time to develop my skill set. Many other photographers had given up using a digital camera a few years before. Tired of lugging heavy equipment around, the decision to change equipment was easy. The phone I used was a Samsung 21 Ultra. The phone’s capabilities were fantastic, especially as I prefer shooting a short field of focus.
Living in my little apartment, I needed a project to work on, inspire me, and sustain my world visually and socially.
So, Why do I dance tango? The photobook was born. I had to learn to use Lightroom; I had to learn to edit and manipulate photos. I learned how to print. I had to learn how to format a book. I needed to find a printer in Buenos Aires while living under quarantine. It was a large learning curve!
In June of 2021, I received the first copies of my book. That moment was exciting. This is my first time publishing my work in a book format. After receiving 50 copies, I started to donate the book to many organizers with the intention that they would sell the book. Using the proceeds to support the people formerly employed in the world of tango, as these folks could not work for almost 2 years, and at that time, the government of Buenos Aires did nothing to support all those unemployed people.
JUNE 2022
In June 2022, I discovered a much better European publisher and reformatted and reprinted with a bound cover and great quality paper.
In this book, Why I Dance Tango? The idea of this book is for people who danced tango in Buenos Aires before 2020 to remember these places, by seeing the photos and reading the essays written about those times, as many places are gone or closed.
Today, dancing tango is very different in BsAs.
THE CONTRIBUTED ESSAYS
If you remember those days, pre 2020, then this book is for you as it is a bit tango history with essays by contributed by Paloma Berrios; Maestros de tango with her partner, Maximiliano Alvarado Florida, USA; Liz & Yannick Vanhove, Maestros de tango from Belgium, Julia Doynel; Organizer of Sueno Porteno BsAs: Nancy Roberts organizer of San Miguel Tango festival now in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Christine Sampson, Tangera living in New Zealand; Jan Sheeley, tangera living in the Seattle, Wash area and myself Ruth Offen, Tangera living in part time in BsAs and Barcelona.. All words are the intellectual property of their writers.
HOW TO ORDER:
The soft-bound large format glossy paper contains approx 50 pages with color & b/w photos with contributed essays from many Tango maestros and organizers worldwide.
Printing is currently a few days out. Shipping times will vary by region,
Price $ 30 plus shipping
And if you live in or visit Buenos Aires, personal delivery and dedication are possible.
