PITEÅ- HAPARANDA! THE NORTH OF THE NORTH, WELCOME TO THE NORTHERN POLAR CIRCLE! AND TO THE MIDNIGHT SUN! By Aisha
still to be continued...
Tuesday morning, beautiful sunny day, yoga with sunglasses on by the riverbank, the surface of the river reflecting bordeaux- white houses on the other side and the forest framing the water… hard to believe we are so close to the Northern Polar Circle! And even harder that it is neither a fancy holiday nor a business which brought us to the north of the north but TANGO!
If we talk about the funny ways life has to bright people together or take us to certain places and we play tracking a line from the original point to the destination, we should talk about HOW WE GOT TO SWEDEN AT FIRST PLACE.
Time: some 8 years ago, Friday night ,
Place: Buenos Aires, a traditional milonga, cradle of tango, outside of the tourist center, el TROVADOR,
People involved: Victor , Daisy and Jörgen, a tango enthusiast from Helsingborg, Skåne.
The situation: a Swedish tanguero Jörgen is trying to communicate in English and with gestures with Daisy, an Argentinean waitress, absolutely non English speaking. The miscommunication was such that the help from other dancers in the milonga was asked, only to conclude that NOBODY IN THIS TYPICAL BUENOS AIRES PLACES SPOKE ENGLISH ( which is quite normal, to be honest, why should they?) Then our hero Victor, with his only weapon being a very fractured English, came to the rescue. Up to this day he considers his English very deficient, but 8 years ago it was almost non existing. Nevertheless he could help poor Swede to order the meal and enquire about the tango issues. As a follow up Jörgen ended up taking private classes and eventually invited Victor to his first visit to SWEDEN, HELSINGBORG. Now, who would tell , that we are here, in the north of the north of Sweden, dancing and teaching tango, ONLY BECAUSE DAISY, a typical Argentinean waitress , COULD NOT SPEAK ENGLISH and Victor, a modest tango dancer was IN THE RIGHT MOMENT IN THE RIGHT PLACE WITH SUFFICIENT ENGLISH ( and COURAGE) TO HELP. And he created a bridge between Buenos Aires and Sweden. And this very bridge we use every year to come to Sweden, to Skåne. But this year we have prolonged the bridge and made a jump of a couple of thousands of km northwards to satisfy our curiosity about this mysterious land of Polar Circle, of reindeer and moose, the summer place of … SANTA CLAUS! Shall we not thank tango for bringing us here?
11 km north of Piteå, a charming house by the Piteå river- this is our new residence for about 8 days. From here we venture to Piteå and Haparanda. One could not imagine a better place ( and weather!) for holidays or for a honeymoon trip.

















And we are the privileged ones to dwell here and to take advantage of the beauty of the spot, of a wonderful weather ( who has told us to bring warm cloth to Norrland and Lapland?) and of the… MIDNIGHT SUN!
Only to say that it blows your mind away to have a late dinner ( Argentinean style) like the one yesterday, on a river house, with COMPLETE BRIGHTNESS at midnight! It is so bright you can read a book or play golf, it is definitely TOO BRIGHT to think about going to a milonga and dance tango, and it is A WAY TOO BRIGHT TO THINK ABOUT GOING TO BED! Goodness gracious me, the world turned upside down for us- it is a day during the night! And it APOGEUM OF SUMMER here, when it is a DEEP WINTER in BUENOS AIRES!











Our favourite activity was, obviously, Älv-sauna-tango, which consisted in a sauna session in one of the special houses on the river, then a dip in a water ( it only looks cold and is cold when you get in slowly) and some indecent nude tango ( in order not to offend Scandinavian morality, we put the towels around, just for the picture) completed with some fine cheeses and wine on the bank of the river. The ceremony, habitually, was taking place at midnight, or way after it, with the golden sunrays and warmth that our Skäne friends and students could only be envious of. As we are ' shiny happy' couple we attract sun wherever we go. The proof: wonderful summer in Piteå while it was raining cats and dogs in the south!


One of the ultimate attractions for us was Bölebyn Graveri: a real tannery! Jan is a king and an expert to convert a moose, a raindeer or a lizard into a bag, a coat, a pair of shoes! And it is a long and complicated process, only done in some 3 places in Europe! It has nothing to do with industrial way : everything in Jan's KINGDOM OF HIDE is handmade: from putting the hairy hide into a calcium water to handstitching.... The pieces coming out of the TANNERY are real masterpieces of art! Royal family is one of the clients, no wander...
We got a very inspiring and educative guided tour, by Jan. The smell of the hide is giving us a high...






We were very well taken care of during our ' hard work' s day' . The weather and the food was provided in the well calculated half an hour break between the classes. Always ready to try something Swedish and Norlandish, and definitely everything with berry sauce...














Wednesday was a long and busy day: it started with a 5 a.m wake up to get to the TV studio in Lulea, to have a live programme with our dance and interview ( we had to survive dancing on a brick like surfice on the terrace outside), then rushing to Haparanda for the workshops and private classes plus the teatre performance ... But we had a bonus: a short visit to Finland! We have put our foot on the finish ground for the first time- and hopefully not the last! Our fascination was total just seeing the name of Finland written in Finish: SUOMI- does not look like any European language at all!


















The only rain, but romantic, fell on Saturday night, we were brought to Älv milonga by Jan with his special umbrella. The rain only made the integration better. All the dancers were to experience the real Buenos Aires milonga crowd on the dance floor. They test proved successful! And the smoked salmon with wine tasted even better looking at the rainy river view from the glass house...
















As we were good boys and girls the award came on the final milonga. We were presented with fine authentic tannery items - it gives me shivers when I think this tinnery provide the Swedish Royal Family! Both of us were utterly moved... so....

















... to make it even more emotional we have dance Carmencita ( by Taube) to the general choir singing of all the present. The energy was such, as to inspire Victor and I had no chance even to put my tango shoes on... but who cares! I saw tears in some eyes and from that time on we both LOVE SWEDISH CARMENCITA!






The last workshop's day, Sunday, the organisers starved us and exhaused us with tango classes in order to have a better experience of Pitepalt, the regional speciality ( made of raw potatoes and meat, butter and berry sauce beside). Originally it was a woodchoppers meal, being so caloric and so long to digest. As we have worked hard with our tango, Victor had 3 and me 2 of those palts. Either they were really delicious, or we were really hungry, or was it the charm of the berries..?


















The only ' leisure time' we had was from midnight onwards... One of those ' golden sunny' midnights we were invited for the ' Robinson Cruzoe' adventure.. Rafting on the Delta of Piteå river.... Jan was our capitain, but Victor proved to be a very good assistant ( expert of the Parana Delta in Argentina!)
The cruise was prolonged till 1 30 am, not because of the beauty of the midnight sun landscape, but because we were surprised by underwater sandbanks, which made it impossible to continue, and the way back was difficult to find… The adventure was appeased by the presence of the magic Åkerbärslikör. Besides, it proved that Victor and Jan make a really good joint venture together! They made a promise to each other to do the same expedition in Buenos Aires, in Parana Delta!
When we come back the sun was shining stronger that before and we had our sauna-dive in the river session before going to bed ( 2 am!). Short nights for sleep were our only nightmare in Piteå-Haparanda. We concluded that it would be dangerous for us to stay there during a couple of weeks time. When we asked the locals about this issue they answered: ‘ we do not want to sleep now, we will sleep in the winter’ , that is when they do not see the sun for months… and this exceptional paradise is one big frozen landscape! The Norrlänningar hibernate!
















We have never worked so much with tango in our life! The enthusiasm of the local dancers kept us occupied most of the time: the last class finished only 10 minutes before our departure! Therefore, we classify Norrland, especially Pliteå Tango Association as
number 1 in Sweden for professional organisation, efficacy, attendence of the classes, tango application and discipline!
There are no 1 in our A&V GUINNESS RECORD BOOK for the biggest number of tango classes during the week! And for the longest time I had my high heels on during the day- and night ( I hardly had them off, probably only to go to sleep)
There are also UNDOUBTEDLY NO 1 in SWEDEN FOR TANGO ENJOYMENT! I have never seen any Scandinavians having such a good time, detachment from the outside world ( and other people’s judgements) like up there… Is it because they are so used to Swedish folk dancing? There are sparks while they dance tango! And everybody dances with everybody else: no divisions in clubs, age groups or tango levels! The old dance with the young, the advanced with the beginners, like in Buenos Aires.
By all means, Lapland and Norrland are setting very good tango example and the south of Sweden could learn a lot about tango attitude from them. EVEN THE OUTFITS ARE BRIGHTER, MORE COLOURFUL AND ORIGINAL ( it is not all prevailing black and grey at ALL! The women do not look like nuns straight from the monastery all covered up in the black habits! ) We proclaim Piteå the most genuine and laid back tango spot we know in SWEDEN!



















But all good has an end….at least temporal! We were taken to Älvsbyn to the train station and a 24 hours journey to Malmö and Smykehuk was used not only for moose/bear/reindeer spotting from the train, but also reflections about the human bonds made by tango, about maestro-student relationships overlapping with friendships and about how much we can learn about ourselves and others exploring those very remote corners of the world…. Our conclusion is repetitive: PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY THE SAME, with the same hopes, fears, desires and emotions. Buenos Aires is not so far away from Piteå to make the differences between us. And tango is a proof that we aspire the same thing! We want to be together and communicate!



On a long train journey we had a very nice surprise: our dear Sven from Solleftea was waiting for us at his nearby train station ... when our train was passing by at 4 am! He had a VILE ( the dog) and a bag of goodies with him... Drizzle, 4 am, and Sven, who even wanted to put his military uniform , the way I always wanted to see him... It was such a moving sight.. We are waved good bye by our students-friends in Norrland and even the skies are crying for us.. " Don't cry for us dear old Norrland.." we wanted to sing. In a misterious bag we found a letter:
" Good morning ( and goodbye for this year)
Thank you for letting me videotape your workshps, here comes the result! It will be a good remembrance for all students, I 've already tested it in Harnosand and hopefully later today in Solleftea, I 've called for a practica.
Bypacked is a little bottle for Aisha to keep her warm and two bottles for Victor to keep him cold ( he is a gentleman, he will share at least one). Use the bottom of the bottle as a bottle opener and twist the cap off.
The dark bread is newly baked by me, it is a whole-ryemeal bread. As with the fermented herring, you either like it or not. It is NO FERMENTED HERRING IN THE BREAD, THOUGH. Itis my favourite breat with low glychemic index, I need it to loose weight but still have enough energy to dance tango.
You were entering Solleftea with a " tunnbrodssmorgas" and now you are leaving Solleftea with another " tunnbrodssmorgas"

Enjoy the train ride and I hope to see you next year!
SvenE"