Dancing under the Stars

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. Friday night was SOOOO fun. My professor at school let it slip that her brother is a tango dancer, so after class I approached him with my broken spanish to ask him about it. Matias was entirely humble, and totally downplayed his dancing abilities, but told me he was going out Friday night to an outdoor tango event, and invited me along. At 10:30 we met for dinner and drinks with his first dance professor who, I found out later, he started taking lessons from over 10 years ago. Suddenly I was conscious of the fact that I was going dancing with a very serious tanguero. Over 10 years of dance lessons?! What the hell was I in for?

The dancing started around 11:30 at night. It was in one of the bazillion little Plaza's here in Mendoza. It really wasn't much in terms of music - just a boom box and some CDs - but it was special because it was so impromtu and small-town. Everyone knew each other - I even knew half of them from Wednesday night - and no one was really in charge. People had brought CDs from home, and were just playing whatever they felt like. The weather was perfect - just a warm breeze and a clear-as-crystal sky, and I got a 4 hour private lesson from an absolutely incredible tango dancer. Whoo hooooooooooo! It was SOO fun. I told Matias that I suddenly understood the need to close your eyes, listen to the music, and just follow. I don't think I could actually teach any step to someone at all, but I can say quite surely now, that I can dance a little tango. Granted, I had the advantage of dancing with the father of all leaders, and have no idea if I'd be able to follow anyone else, but whooo hooo anyway. Matias's teacher told me I will win money dancing tango one day. I dunno if that's true, but they were both impressed. That made me happy. I think I'm in love with Tango.

Dancing was followed by an ice cream (at the heladeria Matias swears is the best one in town) and a walk through one of the larger plazas. Mendoza is proving to be quite the romantic city. So many stars, perfect warm night breezes, summer scents, and little park benches with couples snuggling everywhere. It feels like a movie sometimes. And there's always a little bit of tango music somewhere off in the distance, with a couple dancing that sad dance in the moonlight. Mommy and Daddy - I've found the city you should retire to. It's quiet, tranquil, and beautiful without loosing sight of what it is to be a city. I think it's probably got a population 10 times that of Princeton, and even though the square footage of the city is also about that much bigger, the peace and tempo match Princeton. Only there's wine and it's much warmer. What more could you want?