Amy and Jenkin Leong
Amy and Jenkin were the perfect combination of tango and life.
Every year at Nora’s Tango Week they took classes all day, were one of the first couples on the floor in the evening and among the last to leave each night.
Each step they danced included eighty+ years of life’s journey and fifty+ years of devotion to each other.
Amy was loved by all who knew her. Her kindness and generosity were extraordinary and widely known. For example, she baked fresh bread and cookies for Nora’s teachers and staff each year, even when she wasn’t feeling well.
For many years Amy and Jenkin attended classes, milongas, tango concerts and stage performances in the Bay area, all major festivals from coast to coast, and visited Buenos Aires six times! In the documentary, “El Ultimo Bandoneon” they are featured briefly in a major salon scene.
In May 2011, Hosts of La Gran Milonga de los Mendoza, Nancy and David Mendoza, presented Amy and Jenkin with a beautiful bouquet in honor of their long-standing and heartfelt support of the Argentine Tango community in and beyond the SF Bay Area. In her tribute to them, Nancy expressed the sentiments of everyone, saying she hoped we could all dance as long, and with as much love for each other, as Amy and Jenkin had.
One evening when they arrived at a Bay Area milonga and were getting out of the car, a police officer stopped by and asked where they were going at that late hour. They were parked in the handicapped zone, Amy was carrying her cane, and replied cheerfully, “We’re going Argentine tango dancing!”
Their devotion to tango and zest for life raised the meaning of “inspirational” to a whole new level. Amy, and Jenkin’s, gifts to friends and to the global community, were the beauty, depth and strength of their magical blending of life, love and tango.
Additional source: Nancy Stevens Mendoza.
Polly's Tango Talk 