It’s pretty amazing to think that one week ago I had reluctantly agreed to have an angiogram, knowing quite well after a couple of years of denial what the photos would show. The “test” would be immediately followed by an actual angioplasty, which consists of reaching the blocked arteries with a catheter and craftily opening them up with a tiny balloon followed by the installation of a wire mesh (stent) that prevent the artery walls from collapsing again.As we took the first spins last night at the milonga, I definitely could tell the difference of feeling my heart receiving and pumping unrestricted flows of blood, and as the night progressed happiness trumped fatigue while our attention focused on next day’s announced Night of the milongueros.

As we prepared for our brown bag lunch lecture Valorie negotiated with the organizers our participation in the exhibition where local milongueros would be featured. As a returning milonguero thirteen years later, we were thrilled to do an exhibition. We wonder what the doctor would say if he new what I was doing way too soon! But, paraphrasing the immortal words of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Cholo character in Naked Tango, “Alberto only lives because of his tango.”

Alberto and Valorie dance to Recuerdo at the Tango Fantasy in Miami Beach

Once upon a time, thirteen years ago to be precise, we landed in Miami International after having spent over a month in Buenos Aires being born again tangueros. We had been invited to the First Miami Tango Congress being held at the Ramada Inn Deauville in Miami Beach. On another plane flying the same route and almost at the same Osvaldo Zotto and his new partner Lorena Ermocida arrived at the same time. Just a few nights before, we had shared with them the emotional presentation of their new partnership at Almagro, and witnessed the standing room only applause with which the audience sent them off on the first of their many tours around the world.This was the first time I had been to Miami, and I thought that life couldn’t get any better, little did I know what laid ahead for us, but I digress…

Up and coming new kids in the tango scene

The entire week was a full of people, music, shows, and lots of dancing. We seldom left the building and we saw the pool and the beach from the large windows of the hotel.

That was a time when we all were united by an innocent love of the tango and everything and everyone that represented any aspect of it. Above all, our visibility as publishers of El Firulete and hosts for upcoming stars in the San Francisoc Bay Area gave us the opportunity to enjoy the company of an entire new generation of teachers and promoters.

A vocation to lead the way… Can you recognize Osvaldo Zotto, Amy Calio and Lorena Ermocida?

As the day of of our return trip to Miami thirteen years after the first tango congress, the main concern was how I would fare a trip five days after having undergone angioplasty and still working on a low blood count condition. Truthfully I felt some anxiety ready to ambush me as we walked through the airport, and as much as I tried, nothing on the trip to the hotel look familiar, not even the hotel when we arrived. I was convinced that thirteen years ago we had been at another place because I couldn’t recognize anything around the hotel, and the hotel itself.

It was this morning that our gracious hostess Lydia reminded us about our first time here at this hotel. Suddenly layers of memory began to peel off until it was clear that the feeling of deja vu that was haunting me, had a reason to be. We were living the past all over again. Progress has taken over the area, and the neighborhood is a boiling pot of immigrants and locals with a significant presence of Argentines and authentic Argentine food. Holy empanadas Robin, at times it felt (particularly when it came to grab a bite to eat) that we had stepped on any typical Buenos Aires neighborhood.

First impressions, thirteen years later in Miami Beach for a great festival