“Italy seems to me like a very well organized country,” said the man at the milonga in the middle of our tanda.

“Italy? Huh? Organized?  What makes you say that ??” I asked him.

“Well because it’s in Europe.” was his response.

I laughed and said, “not exactly the same…”, before embracing him for the next song.

Maybe he needs to take a look at this: 

Here I am! It’s been a great week, as my friend from Le Chemin du Tango has been assisting me in conquering the milongas of Buenos Aires. We’ve gone to Canning last Monday (loved it), Nino Bien last Thursday, La Baldosa with her Italian friend to see Julio and Corina perform on Friday, and that same night we continued to La Viruta, which I ended up really, really liking, particularly because I got to dance Chacarera and also because it has “The Ghost” in a very unexpected way, Maipu 444 on Saturday followed by a smaller milonga somewhere in San Telmo. Sunday I was at Porteño y Bailarin with other friends.

I exhausted myself. I could never live like that long-term, but when a cool chica is in town, it means we get to be each other’s company at milongas and become friends, and that is something to be savored. So bring on the sore feet!

I finally finished the monster project. I’m taking the rest of the week off with no work.

And the BIG news is…

I have changed my ticket and will remain in Buenos Aires until April 26th. Yup, I’m staying a bit longer. I have found a room in a beautiful home and I will move in this Friday.

My Italy ticket (I was supposed to go to Italy in April), will be pushed back a few months so I can have a Seattle summer (Seattle summers are very special), and then in September I want to MOVE back to Italy, like I was supposed to do in the first place. !! It will be such a luxury to work in the same time zone as my clients.

So that’s me, the jet-setting gypsy soul who lives between countries.

I guess there’s a beauty contest in Italy this fall, for tangueras. I got the e-mail this morning - it’s purpose is to find the most beautiful tanguera in the Italian milongas. According to the website I was provided, the winner for the group aged 17-33 gets a free trip to Buenos Aires. The winner for the group aged 34 and up gets a trip around the Mediterranean.

Hmmmm I wonder what their motive for that was? Why can’t the winner from the older group get a trip to Buenos Aires as well? Why the Mediterranean? I mean HELLO, they already LIVE in the Mediterranean. I just find that a little strange. And a trip around the Mediterranean costs as much as a trip to Argentina, so I’m not seeing any cost effectiveness here.

The contest involves a tango with the partner of your choice, to the song of your choice… followed by a tango with the partner of the judges’ choice, to the song of their choice. Followed by a talent contest of sorts - you have sing, act, play an instrument, something like that.

And I imagine that your dress of choice probably can’t cover too much skin. At least they didn’t say anything about a swimsuit competition.
If you’re in Italy and want to enter the Miss Tango Italia (rolling my eyes) contest, go here.

This is an Italian-made video that I’ve just discovered, called “Perdizione”.  For me it’s nice to see because I recognize the names of the stores from when I was living in Italy - Ipercoop, Mediaworld, etc… a touch of nostalgia in a weird way.  The two characters in this, are definite Tango addicts.  Makes me feel a little better about the time I discreetly did a boleo while leaning against the copy machine at my last job.

Enjoy!

[youtube=[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=-629zssP21Y]

I’m doing some translation work at home tonight, and thought it would be nice to have a glass of wine beforehand, as a way to separate my daytime work from my nighttime work.  What a lovely ritual, I say.  Normally I go for the Tuscan wines, as an homage to the birthplace of my soul, but tonight I thought an Argentine wine would be wonderful.

I chose something I’ve never seen before: A grape called Bonarda.  It’s a grape brought to Argentina by Italian immigrants.  I was surprised when I found this out - an Italian grape the I, l’Italiana-Americana, didn’t know about?

Here is some information on the Bonarda grape.

Cin cin! (pronounced “cheen cheen”)

Katie and I met when we were living in Italy, she in Firenze and I in Perugia. During a visit to my town, we went to a milonga, where she realized that Tango would be something rather nice to have in her life. Now that she’s back in the States, she has decided to commit to it. -It helps that she “accidentally” bought a pair of Tango shoes (fate, perhaps?)… Keep an eye out for possible updates on her blog (which focuses on Italy)… she’s a real gem. Katie, welcome to the world of Tango.

Katie (in white) and I (other chica), starting our day in Piazza della Repubblica, a Firenze

I’ve discovered a dancer I really like, Luca Ferrari of Napoli. I hope it’s alright with him if I post this video below from his youtube channel. It’s beautiful and reminds me so much of dancing in Italy. Ahhh, the Mediterranean Sea behind them…

I miss all of my Tango friends in Perugia!! I miss driving to Rome all’improvviso to dance at Milonga dei Serpenti. Maybe when I’m there in the spring, I’ll visit Napoli, which seems to have a nice Tango community.

Ok, that’s it.  I have my private lesson scheduled with Ney & Jennifer, and it will take place in 18 days from now.  Woo woo!

I’m excited to meet them, particularly Ney, for a couple of reasons.  One, their dancing is beautiful. Duh.  Two, Perugia.  

See, a while back, while still living in Italy, I had e-mailed Ney asking if he would add a link for Umbria’s tango community to his website.  He sent me a very nice response - and added the link to his page.
Coincidentally, just a couple of months later my friend Helaine, who started Umbria Tango, invited Ney and Jennifer to Perugia to perform at their Friday night milonga.  (They were already to be in the Capri Tango festival as well as Florence, so it seemed opportune.)  Naturally they went…

I’m just dying to know what they thought of Perugia and its ever so warm Tango community. 

Oh how happy I am to have received an e-mail from Miss Tango (she always hooks me up somehow) letting me know about this great blog in Italian, about Tango.  Sounds perfect for me…!  Looks like I’ll spend my Thursday night leggendo, reading, before I dance tonight.

I always get excited when people find something inspirational in Italy. It’s not hard to do of course, but anyway.

Here is a nicely written blog entry in which a Tanguera goes to a well-known milonga in Rome.