Tango Times
Eugene, Oregon
March 24, 2006
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Tango Center Fundraising Auction!!!
Saturday night
March 25, 2006


This Saturday the Fundraising Auction and Milonga will take place! Jennifer Rondeau, Dennis Clay, Rebecca Rorick Smith, and Greg Bryant have all been working around the clock to coordinate the outpouring of responses in the tango community to make this auction a success.
For a complete list of auction items, which is continuously being updated, go to www.tangocenter.org.

at The Tango Center
194 West Broadway

Join the vibrant community of downtown Eugene for an unforgettable night of auctions, music, dining, tango dancing, performances, and fundraising.

* 7pm - 8:15pm: Silent auction perusal & refreshments. Open dancing on the floor.

* 8:15pm - 9pm: “Introduction to Tango” class with special teachers.

* 9pm - * 9:30pm: Performance and dancing

* 9:30pm -10:30pm: Live auction

* 10:30pm - 2am: More performances and dancing. Silent auctions.

Performance director: Rebecca Rorick Smith
Auction items so far include: airplane rides, original sculptures, tango lessons, Architecture design, French Villa vacation, posters, CD's, services, massages, manicures, dinners, restaurant gift certificates, raft trips, spa certificates, horseback riding, books, tutoring, concert tickets, masks, photographic services, photo equipment, exotic package evenings, etc. For additional details, please see www.tangocenter.org

The Local Face of Tango


Tom Heneghan

Photo by Demetrius Gonzalez
Many of you have experienced Tom Heneghan’s Jedi-esque concentration and breathing exercises on the dance floors of Eugene. If not, he’s easily recognizable by his formidable beard -- just walk up to him and asking him for a dance. He can be seen just about any night of the week dancing heartfelt tandas with Jean Heneghan, another wonderful face in our local tango community. Tom radiates a profound sense of emotion, and when I have danced with him I’ve felt his intense desire to make a connection before even moving. I must admit, sometimes dancing with Tom, especially when he is showing me something new, I just don’t get it. I say “Tom I’m stuck!” and at these times he is ever so gracious. He is patient, thoughtful, and even when it is all going wrong willing to just work it out, or when necessary, let it all go and just start over. When I approached Tom about being this issue’s Local Face of Tango, he replied with a beautiful email. So much of his voice is here that I’ve trimmed it down but want to give you his words directly, as I cannot transmit Tom’s spirit as well as he does himself.
Enjoy! ~~ Erica Whitty, editor

"When I was six years old I saw a tango performance. The connection I felt between the souls of two people was wondrous. It became a fantasy of mine to dance tango, but I never considered it a realistic goal. A childhood illness, then as a young man, being too close to explosions and gunfire left me almost deaf. Half a century later Jean, the woman who had put up with me for several decades, asked me to learn to dance just enough to dance with her at her office Christmas party. I took Ballroom I from Elizabeth Wartluft a couple of times. In the noise I was hearing called music, I had no idea what you where supposed to move your feet to.
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Tom: continued from previous page ...
That something was so obvious to other people that no one could explain it to me. Eventually I got enough of a clue to try Ballroom II. Then Elizabeth put up a sign saying that she was going to teach a tango class. For the first few years I took comfort in the knowledge that I performed a valuable role in the tango community. No matter how badly someone danced, they could always look over at me and say to themselves “At least I’m better than that guy.” Elizabeth never gave up on me though. She led me through one epiphany after another until I could dance.

Tango developed in Argentina during a time of social uncertainty and fear, it was, and still is, a safe way to connect to the soul of another person. The connection I had felt from the tango dancers of my childhood was what I desired, but also feared. When Carlos and Maria Rivarola were here Maria told me ‘You are the best dancer here, but you are cowardly.’ Several people, imagining that my feelings would be hurt tried to make me feel better by explaining that she did not speak English well and must have meant something else. I had felt the tinge of her disdain. I knew she meant cowardly. I was letting my fear of connecting to the soul of another person rule my dance.

Soon after that I had a very profound experience. I was dancing with Olga at Café Perugino. I was not dancing very well, but in an instant I experienced myself going right through Olga’s soul to the consciousness that creates the universe. Then Rebecca finally broke the curse I had placed on myself. She grew exasperated with me for not really paying attention to her. Tango is not a technical exercise. When I finally summoned enough courage to touch her soul the experience broke apart my ability to filter out the souls of others, and for a time I was consumed by experiencing the suffering of strangers. I have regained some equilibrium, and I am now learning to dance with the soul of my partner, and perhaps to touch their connection to the infinite…. Maybe someday I’ll be able to figure out where our feet are supposed to go."
















Saturday March 25 Auction !!
Some of the items
Sculptures by Denis Grace

5 private lesson package with Rebecca

the first Eugene Saturday Market poster

Architectural Design Services by Demetrius Gonzalez

3 CD set - The Best of Alternative Tango Music by by Demetrius Gonzalez

5 Private Lessons with Demetrius Gonzalez

3 Airplane Rides with Dennis Clay

4 1/2 hour foot massage sessions by Jay Rabe

Dog grooming sessions by Susan Tindall

Old Tango sardine labels

In-home manicures and pedicures from Nicole McKenna

Argentine-style Tango dinner & evening in Corvallis with Peter & Marcia

Mckenzie River float with Lunch by John Dubin

Handy-man & Intellectual service by Matteo Luccio

Suite for a night at the Marriot Residential Inn

Tango instruction by Andrew McCollough

Horseback Riding Lessons with Kelly Halverson

Spanish lessons, Tango lessons with Marisela Rizik

Professional Photographic Lighting System

Flute lessons

SAT or English tutoring

Apple Mac tutoring

Ten Tips... book by Paula Prober

Authentic Chinese dinner by Yifang Qian

4 Hours of Housecleaning done by an M.D.

2 Tickets Eugene Ballet
In May featuring Pink Martini

2 Masks from Latin America

3 Tango Portrait Sittings with Ev



TANGO BOMBS!!!
Saturday, March 25, 2006


Coordinated by Rebecca Rorick Smith

We've got the posters. We've got the boom box. You provide the bodies and bring your hats and fringe and outdoor heels. Be on time- the bomb waits for no one.

12:00 NOON Saturday Oakway Center --
outside on the green in front of the food court.
by 12:15 we leave...

12:30 pm at Starbucks on 13th St. next to campus.
by 12:45 we leave...

1:00 Library at 1:00pm
(indoors if they will let us, otherwise outdoors).
we leave at 1:15pm and walk to…

1:30 Kesey plaza on Broadway. We stay for a while, show off, and disperse into thin air...

The appeal for this in is the timing. Andrew M. and I are driving if anyone would like to carpool. If there is another vehicle for this operation let me know soon. Anyone who would like to ride with me, I will be leaving the Corner house by 11:40am Saturday.





Eugene's Tango Scene & the Web

Go to tangocenter.org, were Eugene's Tango community is embarking on an online experiment, to define & run the Tango Center. You'll find discussions and working papers on everything from organizational structure to finances & fundraising. And the latest events & projects!

This is a great networking and communication tool, and an ideal way to organize and share ideas. The interface is like a blog, and as it is used and people share feedback, we will be able to make amendments and refine the mechanics of the tool - but not without YOUR feedback! As we mobilize to raise money and restructure the Tango Center's management as a community, it is important not to overuse and abuse the ETango list that is really meant for announcements and ad hoc communication. This is especially important in considering our out of town list members who do not need, nor are interested widely in, internal communication. We would like to move to using this interface for internal communication, so please give it a try! ALL feedback is encouraged!

Last Week in Review

by Erica Whitty



Live Performance by Mood Area 52

The performance by Mood Area 52 last Saturday was wonderful! The milonga was very successful, and the dance floor crowded. A heartfelt “Thank You!” to Mood Area 52 for their inspirational music and help fundraising for the TC.

If any one else has any leads on live music, or musicians interested in learning to play for Tango dancers, please contact me! Live music is a wonderful way to attract people to milongas, and invigorating to dance to for the whole community.
Tango Prana, A Way of Life

I participated in Marisela Rizik’s Tango Prana seminar last Saturday and it was a truly transformative experience.
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Tango Prana: continued from previous page ...
As a group we explored the psychological, physical, emotional, and musical elements of tango. Marisela also prepared a document outlining her observations and philosophy gleaned from her own personal experience, tango, yoga, and creative forces. We read her writings aloud together, commented on how they resonated within each of our own lives, and affirmed our commitment to ourselves in life and in tango. We also did actual tango dancing! After considering how life is composed of interconnected elements and distinguishing how tango needs to be in the present, in its own mental place, we each took the time to relearn how to physically and mentally commit and connect to our partner. I could write more, but my point is to encourage each member of our tango community to be open to trying this wonderful seminar, which I hope Marisela will offer again. You may also contact her directly for additional information or personal consultation. You may reach her at 485-6647 or email: TangoBohemio@aol.com


Tango Berretin Fundraising Milonga!

Thanks to the fundraising heroics of Gregory Randolph and the wonderful job DJing by Steven Payne and EVERYONE else involved, the Portland tango community came together and helped us move closer to our fundraising goal! They raised $840!
Andrew Burt Workshop Cancelled

He's fallen ill. No afternoon seminar Saturday.
Adam Hamilton to assist
Rebecca Rorick Smith Saturday


Rebecca will teach the "Introduction to Tango from Zero" class at 8pm Saturday March 25, 2006. Her assistant will be Adam Hamilton, Alex Krebs' young protege, orginally from from Reed college, and now a full time instuctor at Tango Berretin.



Gift certificates from Adam's Place

Gift certificates from Ring of Fire

Gift Certificates from Excelsior Restaurant

1 week in a beautiflu 300-year house in near Auvergne, France.

Massages from Catherine Inocencio

Rebecca Oswald CD's

Tango shoes. Dance shoes.

Spanish paella dinner for six

Southern Indian "comfort food" for four + Tango (if desired)

Swango lessons by Mark Roberts

Masks by Loreen Heneghan

Real estate appraisal services

Middle Eastern feast, with belly-dancing

Skirts & dresses from India

Your portrait by Susan Jerde

Romantic French dinner for four




  This project has associated with:
   'the tango center community'



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