Off to Buenos Aires tomorrow

Tomrrow will be a 'flying' holiday for me. I will be heading out to Buenos Aires, Argentina with Carlos Fontes, who has a Fulbright appointment at the Catholic University there.

My general plan is to connect with my daughter Mariel, relax, heal, learn and dance more Tango, and learn and speak more Spanish. (Trying to work the aging body and brain!). Mariel is a UMass Junior in Commonwealth College and College of Natural Sciences, on the Deans List, and on an API semester abroad program there until June 25th, her 21st birthday!

This is the first time in MANY, many years that I will be away from a home base for more than a month. I am grateful to have wonderful people in and around my home to care for it and enjoy the springtime here, while we head into fall down there.

The basic plan:
Friday: Arrive in Buenos Aires and meet up with my daughter Mariel and do the business of settling in. If we are not too exhausted, Mariel has already invited us to attend a tango event that evening at the Confiteria Ideal, a vintage ballroom.

Saturday, sleep in, and perhaps join my daughter at a monthly Lindy Hop Swing dance event. This is an American dance that has grown in popularity around the world. There is a large community of mostly young dancers in Argentina. I introduced my daughter to this dance when she was 13 and she has shot up to become one of the most advanced and creative dancers on the scene and is able to find community many places world-wide. She has demonstrated and taught vintage social dance moves to the Amherst and UMass community. I have not quite retired to the sidelines, and will get up to boogie and Charleston when the 'spirit moves', albeit usually to the slower, more bluesy music.

A Bollywood Festival Sunday? Apparently there is a large Indian population in BA.

We leave for Patagonia on Tuesday, which is in the Southern part of Argentina. It is windy and wintry there, and we hope to climb glaciers, take in mountain vistas (parts of the Andes), encounter lots of wildlife, perhaps penguins, and visit Tierra del Fuego - the End of the World ( as close as you can get to Antarctica). We also plan to explore the Lake district of Bariloche which is considered to be like Switzerland (It has lots of Germans and European influences).

Patagonia is also known for lamb, beef, beer, and chocolate!

I have long been curious about this part of the world since buying my first Patagonia fleece, although with all the ice and 'roof glaciers we had this winter, you might wonder why we head for more and not someplace tropical :). That will come later.

Between April and May, I will study and explore around Buenos Aires and take mini trips to places like Colonia, Uruguay, Tigre (a delta north of BA), and some ranches - 'Estancias'.

In May we plan to go see Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Paraguay. This spectacular network of 275 falls is depicted in the film 'The Mission, and you can see some images here.

The passing of a Legend - Frankie Manning April 27, 2009

My daughter Mari just called with the news about the death of Frankie Manning, almost 95. I was just about to call her! There was some connection wanting to happen.

While so sad and moved ( I burst out in tears), we both realized that although we will miss Frankie, we felt blessed to have danced, taught, and shared stories with him, along with being inspired and spreading the joy of this dance with him.




Mariel wondered what Frankie might have wished to say that he could not in his last moments, but then we also realized that Frankie had already said what he needed to, contributed what he needed to, and his legacy will live on. What an amazing thing, what an amazing man.



I shared more here on this blog where stories and photos are being collected describing Frankie's effect on our lives.

And here is some information, photos, videos from the assembly we hosted with Frankie at Amherst Regional High in May 2006.

We will miss you Frankie!



PS. Those interested to know more can just Google or go to the Yehoodi site that unites siwng dancers from around the world. News and memories are being gathered there.

Mariel is on a Whirl

Well, just thought I'd post a bit of news about my budding young daughter:

Also check out the Amherst Bulletin

Mariel and I spent about 10 days in Canada - dancing, touring colleges, and hanging at the Montreal jazz festival.

We went to the Canada Day Lindy Exchange in Ottawa and you can see some photos here. There were 150 dancers mostly from Canada and many were friends we have grown from swing camps like Swing Out New Hampshire, Beantown and from other dance national /international dance events. We worked on our French accents and adding 'Eh' to our sentences.

Back in Montreal we stayed in my friend Susan's apartment that she bought for her daughter Ali who is going to McGill. They rent to students, but between summer subletters we were able to find some bed and couch space to crash. The location was fantastic in the McGill 'ghetto' area and near my favorite area 'The Plateau' and close to the Jazz fest. It also was close to Concordia which we checked out.

Our photos are here.

We met up with Carlos, his parents from Portugal, and his 10 year old son. We all would meet for dinner, or crepes and ice cream, some music, and entertainment at the festival, some bagels at the famous place on St. Viateur, and a visit to St. Joseph's Oratorio.

This was a highlight with an exhibit of over 200 nativity scenes, Crèches , made from materials that even ranged from dried fruit, chocolate, abalone shells, shells, various stones, wood, grass, and that encompassed many styles from numerous cultures around the world. If we could focus on creating and sharing more art (and music and dance) I think we would have peace and a richer heritage that all humans could share.

It was wonderful to play so much and take in the joy of the festival. I also got to tango at Mocha Jo's and Studio Tango in Old Montreal. We met up with my friend Phillip from Vt who is living there for the summer. It was good to dance again, including some hot salsa. Montréal est merveilleux!

I will also try to post and link to our videos soon.

The other wonderful part was enjoying a sense of being part of an extended family. Nurturing and joyful.


Now Mariel is off at a fabulous modern dance program - Summer Stages Dance - where she studied and performed last summer.

This year Mariel has a work/study scholarship and last evening I shot out to Concord to see the first performance of their summer series (and drop off misc items such as heating pads, ice packs, laundry detergent, room deoderizer, ace bandages, etc.) We both enjoyed the innovative and impressive dancing of Chris Elam and his company.

I got to hob nob with an old dance colleague Teri Weksler whom I hadn't seen in 30+ years. It was great to name drop and gossip- and feel warmer and less competitive in comparing our family experiences. There just wasn't enough time to catch up (or complain about our teens - and brag!)

Mariel will perform on Saturday July 28th as part of the young choreographers showcase.

I will be coming back from Portugal with Carlos on the 27th and will shoot out to see this of course and the final Summer Stages event.

Hope some will join us!

Love and warmth (ok- not too much) Stay cool!
Alison