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BA TANGO REMEMBERS BOB MORETTI

BA TANGO REMEMBERS BOB MORETTI

 

We are mourning the passing of Bob Moretti on June 22, 2005, just days before the start of Nora's Tango Week 2005, an event he co-founded with Nora Dinzelbacher in 1997.

As co-producer, Bob kept the Tango Week plane flying through the cross winds of contentious Tangueros, tumultuous artistic temperaments, and tired feet.  He had a way of quietly working in the background, so that the Tango could take center stage.

Tango was a passion that came to Bob early, as a child growing up in New York City. But his love for Tango went unrequited for a very long time. Bob waited until he raised his family and retired from the Air Force as a Colonel to start studying with Nora. Soon, Bob spent weekend after weekend driving from his home in Chico to dance at Milongas from Sacramento to San Jose. Bob also made numerous trips to Buenos Aires and wrote a stage play about Tango.

I will always remember Bob standing at the door of the ballroom at the Emeryville Holiday Inn, greeting everyone with that broad, but shy smile of his. Bob was always smiling at Tango Week. And I know why, because he shared a secret with David and me at Tango Week 2003.

Bob didn't produce Tango Week for the money or the glory. He did it for this: Before each Tango Week Milonga, after the decorating crew departed and the band tuned up, Bob would take his partner and dance one Tango - in the Grand Ballroom, dancing to live music with no other couple to disturb that special moment. Then Bob would unlock the doors, and welcome in the rest of us with his beaming smile.

My heart goes out to all of us Tangueras, who will never dance with Bob again; to Nora, who along with Ed, will have to carry on without Bob's broad smile and sage advice; and to Bob's wife and family, whom he loved even more than the Tango.

I just wish we had time for one more Tango, Bob.

Nancy Stevens Mendoza & David Mendoza

 

Donations and more information...

To learn more about Bob and his amazing career, read the loving obituary created by his son, Johnny Moretti at http://www.operationplayground.org/bob_moretti.

 

In lieu of flowers, Bob left a special request for donations to be made to an organization that his son, Johnny Moretti, established to raise funds for the development of children's playgrounds along the tsunami-torn shoreline of Thailand.  A website has been set up to receive donations at www.operationplayground.org.  For more information about the organization, go to http://www.operationplayground.org/donate.html

 

 

Bob y Glora Dancing Solo.