STEPPING THE NIGHT FANTASTIC.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

The moon was nowhere to be found, but that didn't stop a small crowd of dancers from taking the ballroom to the Valley River Center footbridge on Thursday night as the Full Moon Tango unfolded under partly cloudy skies about 40 feet above the Willamette River.

"We all love tango music and we love dancing in unusual spots," organizer Ev Marcel said.

Marcel, who runs the You Can Dance tango studio, said she learned about full-moon tangos while living in Boston, where dances take place on a bridge above the Charles River near Harvard Square. Also known as "hit-and-run tangos" or "guerrilla tangos" the idea of dancing in high (and low) places in urban settings has become a global phenomenon with impromptu tangos or "milongas" happening everywhere from Paris to New York.

It's all part of a common bond shared by those who have fallen in love with the Argentinian dance, which combines European, Latin American and African elements, Marcel said.

"When two tango dancers meet," she explained. "You always dance a couple of steps, no matter if there's music playing or not."

There was music on Thursday night - golden age tango from the 1950s trickling out of a boom box resting on a picnic bench. Pairs of well-dressed men and women - and a few women and women - moved gently beneath the orange glare of streetlights while others stopped to watch the action.

"I think it's sweet. It looks very European," said Doe Tabor, a cyclist who happened upon the unusual scene.

Passing bicyclists were a minor obstacle for the dancers who called out to warn the others every time a two-wheeler rolled by. Without stopping their dance, the pairs drifted to the outside of the bridge, allowing the riders to pass.

"It's kind of like tango in general," Marcel said. "You truly never know what's going to happen one step to the next."

The sticky concrete surface of the bridge posed another obstacle for the dancers, who found it difficult to pivot the way they have on a wooden dance floor, but most seemed to relish the challenge.

"They say you have to walk 1,000 tango miles, (to learn how to tango) and here's an opportunity to do that because you can't do some of the more elaborate moves (on concrete)," said Alex Dubedat, a tango dancer with four months of experience under his belt.

Judy Alison had never danced the tango, but she came to Thursday's event at the urging of a friend.

`She said, `We're going tango dancing on the bridge, come with me,' and I have not ever been disappointed with something that she wanted me to do,' Alison said. "She's a good friend."

In the three years that Marcel has been hosting full moon tangos in Eugene, there have been few problems and lots of success stories, she said, including one unlikely pair of teenage boys who stumbled upon the event, and quickly assimilated themselves.

"I'm convinced that there are no set steps in tango," Marcel said. "There are movements that aren't put together in any particular order. You cannot make mistakes. It's very forgiving."

TANGO TIME

The next full moon tango will be held on Aug. 19. The event is free and beginners are welcome. For more information, call 343-7837.

CAPTION(S):

Dancers tango on the footbridge over the Willamette River near Valley River Center on Thursday night.