I just bought the napkins for my 25th year of dancing tango: A big 25 in silver.
It's going to be a big deal. So I have to start buying things for it now, and preparing. I have 21 years to prepare.
A 25th anniversary is "silver." By that time there won't be anymore silver coins; so I am saving a bunch of 25-cent pieces for each guest (we used to call them "quarters"). That will be a blast from the past to have a silver coin in your hand again.
The flower for a 25th anniversary is the iris. In Spanish arco iris is "rainbow"; so I will have an arch (arco) of irises of different colors when you come in the door and greet me with a tango hug and besitos for the ladies. I will hire taxi dancers for all the girls who come back to tango on that day. But my favorite tangueras will be the ones who stuck it out with me through the years.
I expect and will hope for many women returning to tango on that day. It will be a long process to get women to come back, and I have to start now. Statistically speaking women don't make it past four years in tango. So dancing with beginners is important. As I get to know them will, I will start giving each one of them my invitation for my 25th Tango Anniversary Party. Some twenty years later they will have gotten over some of the rude comments, elitism, and frustration of the lack of dance partners. This party will be full of taxi dancers and agreement among all to dance with one another.
Of course you are invited. I'll put you in my database.
PS:
This genre of writing is called the ironic essay in the future tense. My real purpose is for me to think about what it will take to nurture my tango so that I will be physically and mentally fit enough to be present at my own party. Will I just burn out? How likely is it that you will make it to 25? If tango is an "addiction" you will be "cured" by the fourth to seventh year. But if you see tango as way of being connected to others and joy of movement, you might start wanting to save up quarters too. One thing about this essay -- your being invited was not ironic!
The description of how to get to my party is below.
3 comments:
I'll come to your 25th anniversary if you will come to my 100th birthday party and dance with me. I plan to follow in the footsteps of Carmecita Calderon.
Eileen
@Eileen: I'll be there. Save a Biagi tanda for me and a fast milonga that will warm up your old-lady stockings!
It sounds like a great party. I'll skip the taxi dancers, though. It's lonely to dance with someone who doesn't truly want to dance with me.
New Tanguera
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