Tango in Todi!

Todi is host again to the European Tango Championships which started last night. We have had lots of movement in the piazza: watching the dance floor laid over the pavers, seeing the lighting system go in, and so on. Given that the opening was last night, we rushed out after dinner so as not to miss anything.

The thing was, there was nothing to miss: the opening night consisted of a dinner at the hotel Fonte Cesia for participants. Okay, tomorrow, then, we decided.

We picked up a program, and I have to say that this is the most useless program ever. It lists all kinds of possible workshops, lessons, dancing sessions...which look fabulous! It even lists the room number! However, sadly, they don't bother to list in which building said rooms are located. There is a "competition stage tango qualifying round" mentioned (maybe in the piazza?) listed for today from 4-7:30. Was anything happening in the piazza at those times? Nope. Luckily for the participants, I might add, because it was hot as blazes, and any dancers would have been sliding off each other because of the sweat.

Nothing daunted, we stepped out after dinner. And there was music! Hurrah! we thought. Well, yes and no. They were checking sound, but nothing appeared to be happening, really. After asking a fellow who might know (the tango shoe salesman who was hanging out with his wares), we discovered that the dancing would start at around 10:30. Actually, it was closer to 11. Yes, 11 p.m. To start the activities.

Michael and I had a great time watching the dancers and critiquing their moves, outfits, and shoes. They were actually fantastic, for the most part. We found it really interesting, though, that there was no effort made for the partners to have outfits that looked good together...very few couples didn't clash with each other: Hawaiian shirt on the man with a clashing floral dress on the woman sort of thing. Maybe because it was a "free dance" so it didn't matter? In any case, we were surprised.

At midnight it was still going strong, but we started getting a bit tired so came home.

I think my feet will be twisting around each other all night.

Love,

Alexandra