Friends, Colleagues, Dancers,

Here I am, a dancer, still, after all these years.

70 years on this planet, 50 years in Dance and Community building, 45 years in Body-Mind Centering guiding my understanding of movement practices, 40 years in Tango, 30 years with Pilates as core training. I’m beginning to plan some kind of celebration for the Summer of 2027. :)

I’ve danced my way through Afro, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Contact Improv, Tango, Swing, Salsa. Along the way, a Master’s in Ensemble Dance, that is, dance as a group skill.

My interest has always been communitarian; I studied Green Technology when it was called Appropriate Tech. I’ve helped build communities, and more specifically dance communities, during 40 years of travel and 20 years of teaching in High Schools and Colleges.

I’ve worn my entrepreneurial hat, because I’ve had to. Early in my career I wrote dozens of never-funded grant proposals, and eventually decided, and I’ve stuck to it, that I would self-fund all my projects. I toured for many years, stumbled into, or was called to, Argentina and the Tango. I’ve organized tours, and festivals, created a catalog company, employed large numbers of staff, and during it all continued what I think is best described as accidental anthropology in my study of dance.

All of which has led to the Archive. I filmed many of my experiences during the Tango’s modern revival. What has been digitized, edited, or somewhat edited, about half the collection so far, is up and running, where you can see the Tango through the eyes of its modern revival, giving you a window into the soul of the form and the elder community that survived the dark politics of Argentina, and the younger one that reemerged with the democracy.

Throughout the 40 years of this project I have had to learn many jobs, technical and historical, dance and film, preservation and archiving, editing and organizing the material. Every time I thought I was nearing the completion of the whole project, I found that there were yet more jobs to learn. And all the while I've been aging out of the ability to nimbly adapt.

My body has suffered the constant injury and recovery of a dance career; traveling lifestyle and diet, car accidents, being the victim of a gang attack. All these have taken their toll. In my later years: renovating my house and caring for my elders, more car accidents, falls, COVID and the vaccines, a shoulder dislocation, and years of decline with AFIB.

This, the constant demands of this ever-evolving set of technical needs and skills. I have kept up, I believe admirably, the project being important to me, and to the Tango’s ongoing revival. But I have also aged out of learning the latest round of tasks in maintaining our online presence, and in organizing and preparing new digital material.

It is time for the passing of the torch to a younger generation of dancers interested in preserving the Archive, and hopefully giving it a chance to flourish into the future.

So here is our first newsletter under new leadership. I introduce you to Phoenix, who will lead the next era of building the Archive both online and here at my Tango House. She will lead a team of staff and volunteers, and manage our relationship with the virtual world.

I will still be involved in offering the context and history for new Archive content, helping make decisions when I understand the technical needs of the process, but also surrendering as I must when the work is beyond my comprehension.

I remain busy writing volumes of my legacy, fiction and non-fiction, historical and invention. With my elder care responsibilities completed, now I am the elder. I will do some touring again, only now as one of the still-living master teachers. And you are invited to come and study here in beautiful Western Massachusetts, one of the nicest places on the planet.

Also please note that there are multiple ways you can support the project and mef. Be a regular user of the Archive. Subscribe by the year. Become a Supporter or Patron Subscriber, which would be so helpful right now. Volunteer, either here at the Tango House or virtually, and come visit in person to train with me.

Lastly, in this age of the Internet, you can use your voice to let people know that my Archive is happening, and to bring attention to it. This is crucial.

There is nothing like health challenges to bring one back to the body, to living on the land and in the here and now. During my 50 years of professional road life I have met so many of you as students, friends, colleagues, and organizers.

It saddens me that you are all so far away, and that keeping in touch has been mostly impossible. Please know that I live in a constant state of gratitude, gratitude that I still survive and thrive, that my life here is good, that the work I’ve done has been successful, and the ripple effects have left an enduring legacy for my work.

Thank you for whatever part you have played, or will continue to play, in my journey.

Take it away, Phoenix!

Wishing for Community, and for Peace, Understanding, and Cooperation in this challenging world.

Daniel Trenner

Florence, Massachusetts

Fall 2026