The Tower Ballroom 11 October 2014

The Tower Ballroom has always been a favourite for dancers. Now that Strictly is a viewing essential the hype surrounding that ballroom has grown and the first gathering of Argentine tango dancers was a sell out. It was an exciting prospect as Maggie, Graeme, Regina and I travelled to Blackpool, with Graeme doing all the driving which was such a generous gesture as I was too tired to have contemplated that journey home.

But what of Blackpool? It has earned its reputation and crawling in with all the traffic passing numerous car parks and past hundreds of coaches, all of which would have deposited their content, desperate to get to the Pleasure Beach, was not a pleasant experience! But we turned North of the Tower to the Hilton. Good clean rooms, a view over the beach to the sea, lots of food for breakfast - perfect for our needs. The 20 minute walk to the Tower was a delight, hardly anybody about and amazingly warm for October. At the Tower and all points South, Blackpool, as we had feared it, began and we did not set a foot there. We found a good Bistro, Phil joined us, and we sat drinking a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and watching the sun set out out of a blue sky down into a calm sea. Was this Blackpool or a Mediterranean resort. Back to the Hilton for fish and chips, made sophisticated by a bottle of Proseco! We changed into our glad rags and we were ready for the Tower Ballroom.

It exceeded expectations! More grand than it appears on TV and the floor was a delight! We had great seats near the floor, thanks to Rosanna and Chris arriving early. A great vantage point for the entire evening. So the venue did it all for us! We found plenty of good partners to dance with, even though the overall standard of dancing was not high. Surprisingly the floor was never really crowded so it was easy to move around even if the floor craft was a bit dodgy! The demonstration dance did not have any "wow" factor and the live band were a little weak. 

The following day we drove along the coast again in glorious spring-like weather for the tea dance at Fleetwood's Marine Hall. What a splendid venue with a stained glass dome directly above the dance floor. Immediately the atmosphere said tango and was so different to Saturday night. It was as good as it gets and part of that was due to Beth-Anne, the most exuberant of DJs.

We all had some great dances and I was thrilled dancing with a girl from Dumfries when at the end of the first track, she said "where have you been all my life"! We had floated round the floor and the connection was great. We had never danced before and it illustrated what tango is about. It is a universal body language and the near perfect dance can be achieved with a complete stranger. At the end of the afternoon, Regina and I descended into the dark side with open embrace, dynamic nuevo moves which were a thrill for us but probably frightened all the purists dancing sedately!

Strangely we said we would not go again but there is no way we could top this weekend! 

The flat, Cornwall and the SWCP

My good friends Ian and Cheryl have bought a beautiful new-build flat near St Austell and easy walking into Charlestown, of tall ships fame. It is on the South West Coast Path and we have walked that stretch. The flat is relaxing and I could just sit and chill out with glorious beaches and coastline enticingly close. There are two balconies with views over a wood and it is lovely to sit and see some wildlife amongst the trees.

I made two visits, one in early August and the other early September. We explored the beach, which is gated and just for the use of the residents of the flats, and the next beach, from where Ian and Cheryl enjoyed kayaking.

We had a lovely in-land walk in the Luxulyan Valley exploring the remains of the clay extraction machinery and the magnificent aqueduct. Ian managed to read the guide book as we went along and gave a very professional commentary. 

The Lost Gardens of Heligan are close and that needs several visits to be appreciated fully. We did not visit the Eden Project but that is certainly on the to-do list.

We managed only a few miles of the SWCP with the highlight being Looe to Polperro. The best feature of Looe is that it has an enormous car park. We were quickly on our way and we were the only people leaving the car park, of any age, that were not carrying a miniature bucket and spade! It is a glorious walk to Polperro,  ascents and descents, great coast line and although only 5 mile we had a sense of achievement reaching Polperro and the Blue Peter Inn. We mentioned cricket and the landlord disappeared for a few minutes and brought us Tribute sponsored white cricket hats and a cricket ball key ring.

Then we had to get back to Looe and the return journey in a boat with a dozen others was a delight and a lot easier than walking!

We had another fabulous walk around Trevose Head on the north coast. So although we only added a few miles towards the 630 needed to complete the SWCP we had made a start from the flat as our new base.

Of course we explored quite a few of the pubs and restaurants in the vicinity. There are a lot of good places to eat these days.

Both visits were blessed with excellent weather, warm and sunny.

Sightseeing in Berlin

We managed some sightseeing, mostly concentrating on the Wall. The East Side Gallery consists of a long stretch of wall with graffiti, some of which are definitely works of art. In other places the location of the Wall is marked with iron poles and this division of the City gave rise to many sad stories of families being split up.
We admired many buildings from outside (Reichstag, as you need to apply to visit a week in advance and go through strict security even then) and a few museums from the inside. Perhaps the City was a little more drab than I had imagined but there is a lot of building going on. Of course it was special to see the Brandenburg Gate and near there was monument to the Jews that perished. 2,800 concrete blocks and a metre square with a metre between then, creating a sort of maze that you can wander about in. The blocks vary smoothly in height, giving a wave effect. Looking at this array you can picture that many people. If all those people were on one block and each block was covered in the same way, then that is how many were exterminated.
Nothing is hidden, the atrocities are there for all to see but is the world remembering and acting accordingly?

Berlin 19-22 September 2014

The Rome 4 became the Berlin 4 but this time Phil could not make it but Bego did. There was not a special event in Berlin but we had heard that there is always a lot of tango to choose from, so we just picked a weekend that suited us. A very early start on Friday and a late flight on Monday meant that we had 4 days for the price of 3. We stayed in the Park Inn Hotel with rooms on the 31st floor of the 35!
Berlin is different, it aims to be moving forward and not harking back to past days of BsAs. The atmosphere in all the places we visited was vibrant and more than anywhere else I want to go back.
On Friday evening we went to the Haus der Sinne, which we hopefully translated as Sin but it turns out to be Senses. It is host to many cultural activities. There was a live band, a trio with a great singer who really put his heart into the songs. Dimmed lighting, much more of a club and we all loved it. We felt at home despite no cortinas and little chance of cabaceo.
Saturday afternoon we danced outside on some rough-ish chip board but the sun shone, a good number of people danced and many more watched and were good enough to applaud! A feel good factor was created.
Saturday evening we went to Tango Loft which is perhaps the most well known venue. It was in an old wharehouse but they had to use a different floor to normal and it was .....rough! The music was varied and although I liked it the least of us, it provided exciting challenges.
Sunday afternoon we found a lovely friendly place (it even had a crèche) and they did have a special event as a 10 piece band played for an hour! They were excellent and that raised everybody and we danced for about 4 hours. This time with tandas and cortinas. Almost reluctantly we moved onto Tango Loft in its normal room. We walked in and my first words were this is a Great Gatsby party! It is a big L shaped room with a grand piano in the middle, with candelabra and large vase of lillies. Settees surrounded the floor with people lounging and drinking wine. We had arrived when they were playing some crazy fast music and people were dancing accordingly. It was scene of total decadence and we loved it! Of course there were strange characters. An Indian gentleman in long white robe, hair tied back and carrying two glasses of wine, both for himself. He did not dance, just walked about, maybe he owned the place. Maybe he was Gatsby metamorphosed!
The standard of dancing was good but not special but the character of all the places we danced in was very special. Berlin is not standing still and not wishing that it was in the classic era for tango.
I must revisit!

Friendship

My friend of 65 years stayed with me for a few days in September and I introduced him to some new cultures, jazz and football! Sadly it is just a year since Denise passed away. The three of us were together in the same class at school from the age of about 11. Ken had Denise as school friend, childhood sweetheart, and wife for all that amazing time. I am so proud to have such a friend for so long, without an angry word between us.

Rome Tango Festival (26 - 30 June 2014)

This is a major festival and the Krakow 5 became the Rome 4 (Regina, Phil, Lorenzo and me). The big attraction apart from the City itself, was Chicho Frumboli. He is a legend and along with Horacio Godoy is taking tango to new dimensions. Regina and I booked 6 of his workshops and he was an inspiration. We are much more Nuevo dancers now! He has a reputation for showing what is to be done and not spending much time helping couples. We did not find this. He is not the busiest of teachers but when needed he was on hand with very helpful comments. His partner Juana Sepulveda was also very helpful. Their demonstration dance on Saturday (in front of my estimate of 700 people) was so beautiful and I do believe there were tears in Juana's eyes at the end!
The pattern of the day was sight-seeing in the morning, workshops in the afternoon and milongas in the evening, or more exactly, at night. We left our hotel at midnight to go to the Saturday milonga! There was not much sight-seeing on Sunday morning!
Our small hotel was perfect, we were made very welcome. We were 10 minutes walk from the Fermi (the well known nuclear physicist) tube station which was 15 minutes from the Coliseum stop. No need to ask direction when we emerged from the underground, just tilt the head back! We managed to take in a lot of the major sites but I would like to return as a tourist but I doubt as a tango dancer. The Festival was too big and the milongas anonymous. Nobody refused a dance with me but I never felt I was part of the proceedings.

Sandbach 14, 15 June 2014

This is a nice event to attend, held in a boy's school with plenty of space for dancing and relaxing. Good, cheap accommodation is close by and there are restaurants in Sandbach itself.
This year the main visiting teachers were Pablo Nievas and Valeria Zunino who were the teachers I used in Buenos Aires. They are excellent and as good a couple teaching as you can find! Vale gives so much detail to the followers that they must be delighted.
(http://nievaszunino.blogspot.co.uk)
A really enjoyable weekend.