Announcements #1 – March 5, 2024
Announcements #2 – April 18, 2024
Announcements #3 – April 23, 2024
Announcements #4 – May 4, 2024
Announcements #5 – TBA
Announcements #1 – March 5, 2024
Hello all!
The Utopia Encuentro is less than 75 days away!
We have a few spots left for single leaders and couples. If you haven’t already, pre-register asap so you don’t miss out on our fantastic DJs, scrumptious food, upgraded sound system, and cushioned floor to keep you dancing all weekend long! You can find more information on the webpage: Utopia Encuentro 2024
We are also pleased to share our DJ lineup for the weekend.
Thursday evening – DJ Mark Mindel
Friday afternoon – DJ Juliana Thutlwa
Friday evening – DJ Artur Paulo
Saturday afternoon – DJ Euan Park
Saturday evening – DJ Marcelo Rosensaft
Sunday afternoon – DJ Andy Stein
Sunday Evening – DJ Kipp Chynoweth
Be sure to check out of DJ’s bios here on FB or on the website: DJ Bios
And if you haven’t heard already, we are delighted to announce that this May we will dance to an upgraded sound system on the smooth, spacious and 1/2″ foam cushioned dance floor all provided by Mark Mindel of Impulse Tango! Please join us, and our feet, in enthusiastically welcoming Impulse Tango to the Utopia Encuentro!
We will have some more exciting information coming later this month for the milongas, including vendors. Stay tuned!
Abrazos,
Team Utopia
Announcements #2 – April 18, 2024
Hello all!
We are 29 days from the Encuentro! We are hard at work preparing for your arrival in Durham. We can’t wait to share a beautiful and memorable tango weekend with you all.
If you’re not on facebook, below is a recap of our most recent announcements. We will have a few more announcements with more of the on-site details very soon, so stay tuned!
Vendors
We have four lovely vendors who will be joining us for the event:
- Natalia Kansburg will bring the beautiful dresses of her Ambiente collection: “One of a kind hand made clothing created exclusively from recycled garments and fabric remnants for environmentally conscientious consumers.”
- Kristine Hansen will bring her vintage tango graphics, “most from pre-1925. They come from treasure-hunting sources all over the world.” Check out here website here
- Abbas Rakhshani will bring us his Rufous Men’s Tango Clothing and Accessories.
- Oscar Casas will return bringing his paintings with him.
Shoe exchange
For those of you looking to either “re-home” some gently-used shoes, or for a great deal on gently-used shoes: We will have a shoe exchange at the encuentro. It will be do-it-yourself style: we’ll have a table set-up where you can place one shoe from the pair you’d like to sell/exchange. Tie a note to the shoe with: size, brand name, heel height, your name and contact information. If you see a shoe you like, contact the owner, and ask them to bring the second shoe so that you can see/try-on the pair.
Event website
Many details about the event can be found on the website.
Abrazos!
Jae, Aidan, and Colleen
Team Utopia
Announcements #3 – April 23, 2024
Only 23 days to go and we are working hard to make sure everything is set for your arrival at Utopia! Below we have a few reminders we’ve posted on facebook so that you can help us make a magical weekend for all.
Códigos
At an encuentro, following the códigos, the dance etiquette, is an essential element for everyone to have an enjoyable and safe time. All Utopia Encuentro participants are expected to follow these códigos diligently. Some key códigos we expect tangueros at Utopia to follow include the cabeceo and mirada, close embrace dancing, respecting and navigating safely into and around the ronda, respecting our tango DJs by keeping chatting to a minimum while on the dance floor, absolutely no teaching on the dance floor, and exiting the floor during cortinas.
If you need a refresher of the códigos, you can find a nice summary here: https://www.siempremilonguero.org/tango-codigos-codes/.
While it is helpful to know and follow the codigos, the reality is one does not need to memorize the códigos to make magic happen if our actions demonstrate some core values and principles. Kindness and humbleness, are the foundation of the códigos and guide our attitude and actions towards our fellow dancers, individually and communally. Grateful and generous dancers bring forth cabeceos and miradas which fill our souls with happiness and delight in each tanda. A curious and joyful spirit elevates the atmosphere of the event. This is how one experiences Tango Utopia!
Our hope is to give you a little piece of utopia during our time together. We are working hard to provide the place, the food, the wine, and the music for you to enjoy tango in, but it will take all of us focused on these important values to experience a weekend of bliss.
Seating
To aid you in successfully implementing the above códigos at the Utopia Encuentro, we would like to share with you the seating arrangement we designed with our 200+ dancers attending in mind.
As you find in many encuentros, we will have both separate designated seating for leaders and followers, and some mixed seating. This year, these designated seating arrangements will be grouped and alternated around the room (rather than having leaders on one side, and followers on the other, as we did last year). Our hope is that this will allow greater proximity and ease the cabeceo/mirada.
Rows of chairs and tables will be available around the entire dance floor with entrances to the dance floor at the corners and in the middle of the long side. Leaders, please look for recognition from leaders dancing in the ronda to know they have seen you and it is safe to enter the dance floor. While on the floor, be cognizant of admitting other couples onto the floor and into additional lanes as needed. Be mindful not to linger at the entry points and maintain a similar distance between the couple in front and behind you.
Dual role (open role) dancers
We have 20+ dancers joining us who both lead and follow! To help you distinguish these amazing tangueros and tangueras early on in the weekend, we will provide these dancers with a yellow flower or ribbon to help them stand out as able to dance either role. Dual role dancers may make use of the assigned seating to help indicate the desired role they wish to dance for the tanda.
Volunteers
There is an outstanding team of volunteers who have dedicated time from their weekend to help make sure things run smoothly. There will always be a volunteer on deck during the milonga should you have any questions or concerns. Volunteers will be given an apron to wear during their milonga shifts for easy identification.
Announcements #4
Hello all,
Only 11 days to go! Here’s a few more announcements for the Encuentro.
Foodies
Calling all foodies! Durham has some great restaurants. Here are a few favorites of Colleen’s (R = reservations recommended):
* Dashi – ramen (R)
* Mateos – Spanish (paella, tapas, R)
* Mothers and Sons – Italian (R)
* M Pocha – Korean street food (R)
* M Sushi (R)
* Toast – lunch (great soups, panini and crostini)
* Rose’s Noodles (farther away – 15 min walk – but fantastic)
* Viceory – Indian/British Pub
* Mkoko – Ramen (courtesy of Cecil Ho)
* Luna Rotisserie and Taproom (courtesy of Keiko Sapp)
Tumblers
With less than 2 weeks to go until the Encuentro, I will have to admit, I was starting to get a little nervous that the tumblers we got for you all had not yet arrived! But lo and behold, when I stepped outside my front door this afternoon to go for a walk, there were five big boxes awaiting me outside.
Just like last year, we are trying to minimize the number of single use or disposable wastes created at the event. One way we do this is by providing each of you with an insulated tumbler which you can use for water, tea, coffee, wine, or whatever your poison of choice is when you go to a milonga. If you’re like me and drink a lot of water, I would also suggest bringing a larger water bottle to stay hydrated. Bonus points if you add your name to it just in case it finds its way to a lost and found pile.
We appreciate you all helping us reduce the amount of waste created and hope you enjoy your multipurpose drinkware wherever your tango travels take you!
Pre- or post-milonga
We have had some feedback from some of you wondering if there’s more tango going on locally around the Encuentro.
If you are coming in on Wednesday before the encuentro, or staying Monday after and want to dance more, you’re in luck! We are considering adding a pre- or post-milonga if there is enough interest from all you who will be here. The pre-/post-milonga will NOT be at the Encuentro venue, so if it happens, stay tuned for the location and time. “Evening” will likely occur somewhere between the hours of 4p-10p. It will be a more relaxed and casual setting than the event.
Please fill out this poll on When2Meet: https://www.when2meet.com/?24895089-mnvBu. You may indicate one or both milongas. Please only fill out the day(s) that you will be able to attend should we make it “official”. There is a similar poll on facebook, you only need to fill out one of the polls if you’re interested. You do not have to fill out your name if you wish to remain anonymous, however it would be helpful to me if you could at least put your initials.
Announcements
If it’s been a little difficult to keep track of the emails for you (or if I’ve missed you on the emails list up to the point, apologies), I’m right there with you. I have added all the announcement emails to a webpage on the Utopia Tango website. You can access it from the bottom of the Encuentro webpage, or bookmark this page.
Abrazos!
Team Utopia
Jae, Aidan, and Colleen
Announcements #5
TBA