Murphy’s Law dictates that ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong’. This is especially true of open air events, like that planned for Robert Byrne Park, where the weather will sweep in at the last minute and upset everything. So it is important to have a back up venue that you can fall back on should the inevitable happen. Thankfully the nice people from the School of Architecture @ University of Limerick leant us their exhibition space in St Munchin’s church. Initially I was informed that ‘there might be one or two bits and pieces from the previous exhibition’ lying about, but this turned out to be the entire exhibition! Fortunately we were able to clear out a corner to dance away amoung the pictures, plans, models and memorial plaques.
There was a strange kind of vibe. Part of it came from the fact that we were obviously on Plan-B and therefore winging it slightly. Another part of it came through having to pick our way first through a graveyard and then the scattered remnants of an architectural exhibition. All of this served on top of the quiet reverance for old disused churches. Either way people enjoyed themselves.
It was also the first time that I had tried using off-camera flash at a social dance event. I’ve photographed tango with off-canera flash before but the social scene is a totally different animal.
What fun! Tiptoeing through a graveyard to dance in an abandoned church… Wow! THAT’s devotion!
Yes, it was fun! I think because the location was so unusual (and small) people who had travelled from different locations interacted a lot more than usual. Sometimes, at larger milongas people come in with their own gang and each gang commandeers table. It can be a bit intimidating or awkward to go over to a table of strangers and ask for a dance, so often people who travelled over two hours to get there end up dancing with the same people they dance with at home. Because the church was slightly surrreal and small, people from different places got chatting, and, more importantly, dancing.