An overdose of nostalgia

Why a marathon at all? Why Marathon Paradiso?

Recently, there has been a hype about tango marathons. There are encuentros, marathons, i.e. organized tango weekends for social and cultivated tango dancing everywhere. So why another marathon now? And then in Ludwigshafen of all places, a city that doesn’t seem to have much to offer at first glance? You might ask yourself that, and to be honest, yes, that’s what I thought.

Because: I don’t necessarily associate tango with a “social leisure activity”. Rather, it is an attitude towards life. A feeling of romance, playfulness, sensuality, history and love. A feeling that comes over you when you leave the theater after a good movie with beautiful music (I’m thinking of classics like ‘Doctor Zhivago’ or ‘Gone with the Wind’). Such movies create a feeling of remembrance and nostalgia. And that’s exactly what I associate with the tango and intuitively seek out. (At the end of the 80s, the movie ‘SUR’ with Piazzolla’s music brought me to the tango…)

You need the right backdrop for this delightful feeling. A place where old vinyl records are part of the inventory, a place with history, a place that just screams tango.

With the Cinema Paradiso & Arte (in the middle of rather dreary Ludwigshafen), I believe I have found such a place. A place that makes me feel like I’m dancing in a movie from another time. This feeling prompted me to agree to a marathon at Cinema Paradiso & Arte.

It’s not about doing a marathon for the sake of doing a marathon. It’s not about playing vinyl for the sake of playing vinyl. It’s about being able to immerse yourself in this world, in this other time, to treat yourself to an “overdose” of this feeling and this flair, so to speak.

More information at www.marathonparadiso.de