The Umbrella Tango Dance Scene

Do you have a secret wish or dream, a fantasy or fancy in Tango?  I discovered to my thrill and amusement that a few individuals fulfilled a long standing dream on a lazy rainy Sunday afternoon at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City.  And I went from Tango Purgatory to Tango Heaven with my first Umbrella Tango, an auspiciously sweet memory for decades to come.

On Sunday afternoon I drove up to the small picnic pavilion at Sugar House Park.  Here food, Tango music, tango addicts, tango wannabees, and tango watchers were to be found.  I mingled but for a bit before I retrieved my jacket from my RV.  It was a wee bit chilly.  A bit more mingling before the rain came down and our cement dance space with 2 grills on 2 ends became a nightmare for tango shoes with suede.

Tova took charge by clearing two picnic tables among a dozen under cover of the pavilion, and then jumping on top to dance with Carlos – damn they are so good.  Carlos cracks me up, always, and not so secretly I let people know I would love to have his campiness with skill.  After dancing with Carlos, Tova announced who’s next?  Others joined her as well as tango adventurers dancing on an adjacent table.  However, it became clear that not all would join the jovial jubilee of Tango gyration – maintaining balance had just inherited severe consequences dancing up on high.

Katherine & Dave in their Magical Umbrella Tango - Photo by Barbara Bagnasacco

Then it appeared – in the definitive rain shower – a couple began to dance while holding an umbrella.

To my surprise, Katherine,  standing and talking next to me as a new-found Tango obsessed comrade sheepishly asked, “Do you have an umbrella?  I have always wanted to dance in the rain with an umbrella.”  I quickly answered, “Yes I do.  In my bag.”  I quickly walked to my bag, and as reached into my bag to get my umbrella out, I realized Katherine had followed me, quickly!  I am accustomed to retrieving what I need and then going back to a tanguera in waiting.  She did not wait, so I understood at that point she was more than a little excited.

Katherine & Dave in Umbrella Tango - photo by Barbara Bagnasacco

And then we danced to 4 alternative songs while we both held my black designer Eddie Bauer compact umbrella.   Within a couple of minutes of dancing, Katherine kicked off her flip-flops, as I kept my Keen sandals on.  I became excited as I did something quite different in Tango.  The rain did pour, and the laughter rose.

Soon our laughter became a salve for my heart with an unknown hurting.  Katherine’s infectious joy began, slowly began, to evoke the sense of missing joy.  And it was not until after we walked off the puddle-filled “dance floor” that I felt slowly, ever so slowly, something slinking into my aching Tango heart.  I did not want to dance with anyone else, nor ask anyone else to dance.  I felt filled with a childlike giddiness, but also forlorn.

What was this slow slinking?  For the past few days I have reflected on what aches so much.  As I travel the western part of the country, I feel in my heart – a serious ache that yanks my focus onto it.  I find that as I feel the ache, I keep coming back to this most delicious of memories – my Umbrella Tango Tanda.  The Umbrella Tango experience is a glimmer of dreams gone by and dreams to come.  I sense I am in a limbo between unfulfilled dreams and dreams I am to fulfill.

And with my memories and reflections I am off to begin the SFTX (San Francisco Tango Exchange) Tango Festival.