It has been known for me to receive a comment or two about my stamina on the dance floor. It’s been observed that I’m at every milonga, always there from start to finish, and spend way more time dancing than sitting.

This contrasts with saner people, who do things like choose between afternoon and evening milongas; arrive late; leave early; or pace themselves during each milonga. You know, smart things. I do not do any smart things during a tango event …

To be fair, I did try on Sunday night at the Feast. Because the event was smaller than usual (and I really appreciated the space on the floor), I felt like I’d pretty much completed my dance card by the end of the afternoon session. I turned up on the Sunday evening with the intention of mostly socialising, and just doing a bit of dancing here and there.

That lasted an hour. After that, thanks to a non-stop stream of delicious music, I couldn’t stay off the dance floor.

I’ve frequently been asked where I find the energy for this madness, and it’s not actually that I have an infinite supply of the stuff. I’m usually feeling it by the end of the afternoon milonga on day three, and could easily go to bed instead of heading out to the evening milonga.

But I drag myself out, and the simple explanation is that it’s FOMO. More specifically, retrospective FOMO.

Take the Feast, for example. Because it starts on a Thursday evening, I typically spend much of Friday thinking it’s Saturday, and it’s always a delightful surprise when I realise my error. At that point, it feels like there’s an almost endless supply of tandas stretching way into the future.

But then, without warning, it’s the last hour of Sunday night.

The thing is, I know this time will arrive, and I know that if I don’t take full advantage of every moment until it does, I’ll regret it when normal life resumes afterwards. That knowledge is what gives me the stamina.

If it makes you feel any better, I essentially spend the following week clinically dead. I work because I have more tango festivals to pay for, but that’s from home, and I aim for no more than five hours a day. I also try to minimise my evening commitments, and set aside pretty much the entirety of the following weekend for quality time with my sofa.

So yeah, I’m entirely human. Just very, very afraid of the fact that tango festivals always end.

Photo: Jerry Lebens. Dancing with Romaine Millington at the Sheffield Tango Festival.