Fri 8/19-Sun 8/21
Bowling and dancing go together like peanut butter meeting chocolate, Lennon meeting McCartney and Tango meeting Cash. OK, the latter is a bad example but you get the idea.
In a nutshell, that’s the thinking Lakewood native and New York City resident Adam Hoopengardner had when he conceived the Tango Bowl-a-Thon, which is held annually at Mahall’s in Lakewood over three days.
Providing the soundtrack to this year’s 30 hours of dancing will be various DJs: Massachusetts’ Veronika Kruta (Friday), Cleveland’s Micaela Colleen Barrett (Saturday afternoon), Chicago’s Rodrigo “Charrua” Saraibe (Saturday night), Toledo’s Beth Anne Osborn (Sunday afternoon) and Pittsburgh’s Koichiro Suzuki (Sunday night).
CoolCleveland talked to visionary Hoopengardner about his unique Tango Bowl-a-Thon.
What’s the origin of the Tango Bowl-a-Thon?
I run a lot of tango events in New York City so I just wanted to take that home. Five years ago, I came home to visit after my sister had a baby. Also, friends of mine had just bought a bowling alley [Mahall’s]. I’m from Lakewood so I went by just to see how they’re doing. When I walked in I just saw this event there. I just saw all of my friends from New York City, Philly and D.C. and all around there coming to Lakewood. I could see it. So I gave it a shot and what I thought what would happen is I’d get 20 friends come to Cleveland for a weekend. We’d just party and dance tango. I ended up getting more than 200 people that first year.
So what exactly is the event?
It’s basically dancing tango for three days. Generally these events are really focused on dancing and basically you have a room full of 100 to 200 people. Their main motivation is to dance with each other but what happens is you end up with a lot of people just waiting and sitting. I felt let’s do this at a space where if you’re bored, you can go bowl. Or you can go to the bar and have a drink. I wanted it to be a lot more casual and friendly. I really wanted to do something at home to help promote the dance community in Cleveland. I wanted to get more well known nationally.
Has the attendance grown over the years?
It hasn’t grown as much as stabilized. Five years ago when we started this was the only event like it. Now they’re happening all over, so we’re competing with Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor and Detroit. It’s definitely slimmed down, and we’ll probably get 100 to 150 this year. Also, we found a new group of people, and are always trying to recruit new people to come check it out but the vibe is the same. This year is going to really push us to the next five years. I think it’s going to be even better. I think this crowd is starting to understand the vision more.
What is it about the tango that has so many people interested in the South American dance style?
I think everybody has their own reasons. For me, it’s about community. I grew up in Lakewood and went to the Phoenix Coffee Shop, which is now the Root. I grew up around people all of the time just in a community having conversations about anything from politics to life to our families to what we’re doing. Some people get into this because men and women are attracted to one another. Some people get into it because of ego. There are plenty of reasons. But I think it’s really just the nature of humans liking to interact in a mature and intimate environment.
Finally, how sore are you after the marathon?
Yeah, you may want to eat some bananas so your legs don’t get too dehydrated but other than that, you’re not that sore.