More Than Two Can Tango Museum curator brings new dances and entertainment to community By Jeanie Senior milonga—a two-hour tango dance party. “I would just jump on the train and The tango venue at Maryhill boasts go to Padua,” Lou says. “There was tango It’s after 6 p.m. on the last Saturday of wide windows that overlook the there and in Venice. There was tango the month, and the strains of tango Columbia River. everywhere. It’s around the world. Such music rise from the education center at “The view is just spectacular,” says an amazing dance.” the south end of the Mary and Bruce Lou Palermo, the force behind tango Although tango originated in the Stevenson wing at Maryhill Museum. at Maryhill. “Close your eyes, you’re 1880s along the River Plata, which forms Welcome to Tango Night, a popular in the music, and the rest of the world the border between Argentina and monthly event that started in March and disappears.” Uruguay, its popularity rapidly spread continues through October. It has been Lou, the museum’s curator of education, outside South America. drawing tango aficionados from as far has worked there since May 2016. Raised There is a difference, Lou says, away as Seattle, Yakima, the Tri-Cities in upstate New York, she has been on staff between the version with exaggerated and Idaho—as well as local folks from at museums in Los Angeles, Houston, movements, which she calls show tango, Klickitat, Sherman, Wasco and Hood Cleveland and Little Rock, Arkansas. and what people will see at Maryhill, River counties. Lou, a former flight attendant, enjoys which involves small, graceful moves. Museum members pay $5 a session. travel. She says she also loves to dance, “When you’re a beginning tango per- Nonmembers pay $10. The fee pays for especially tango. She calls tango a jour- son, don’t come in with the expectation an instructor for the hour-long lesson, fol- ney, not a destination. you’re going to be dancing with the stars,” lowed by a break for wine, cheese, crack- She spent a month in Venice a few Lou says. “That’s a show. Come to have a ers and a sweet. Ending the evening is the years ago. wonderful social experience to music.”

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Clockwise from above, Lou Palermo, Maryhill Museum curator of education, looks on as dancers enjoy Tango Night. Instructors Jay Rabe and Megan Pingree demonstrate movements. Lou readies wine and soft drinks for the milonga—a two-hour dance party. Dancers stay after the hour-long lesson to practice and socialize. Lou says participants build on each nonverbal negotiation between open The couple lives in Mosier, and Sheila lesson. or close embrace. Cultural aspects, she says it has been fun to dance at the “One of the beauties of tango is that cautions, can influence people’s comfort museum. you are in sync,” says Jay Rabe of The with the close embrace and may take Maryhill’s last Tango Night for 2017 Dalles, who joined Megan Pingree in some getting used to. begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, October 28. teaching and demonstrating moves at the “There’s a profound connection with a “That’s our big fancy dress-up night,” July session. dancing partner when it’s heart-to-heart, says Lou. Part of Jay’s lesson was to help dancers and the man leads the tango with his Some people wear tango dress at get comfortable with the tango practice chest,” Lou says. the monthly events, and several men that assigns one partner to be leader, the The number of dancers at the tango and women wear dancing shoes. Thin other follower. sessions has ranged from 30 to 45. leather soles are preferred, and women’s Lou calls Megan an amazing, brilliant There is a vibrant dance community shoes often feature high heels on silver dancer and an excellent teacher. in the Gorge, as the website gorge- or gold leather. Vintage shoes are highly Megan has been dancing tango for dance.com points out, with its crowded favored. more than two decades. She describes monthly calendar of events. The com- “When you listen to big band music, the difference between open and close— munity includes a sizable group of tango your feet start tapping,” Lou says, trying or heart-to-heart—embrace. enthusiasts. to explain the magic of tango. “With salsa She nods when a man asks, “If I try Sheila Dooley says it is nice not hav- music, your body starts to shake. Listen it close and it isn’t working, is it OK to ing to go all the way to Portland for to tango, take a deep breath and close back off?” tango sessions. She has been coming to your eyes and melt into the music. It’s Megan says dancers can have a Maryhill with her husband, Phil Swaim. like nothing you’ve ever experienced.” n

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