Dancing with beginners

I remember a few years ago, when I imagined the day that I would be able to invite the best dancers to dance with me. And that day arrived much quicker than I thought! In fact, what i thought it was an event only to be achieved on my "advanced graduation" (whatever that is) it was kind of a non-existent myth. I was only a beginner but it felt so different to dance with my teacher that I was wondering if it was myself leading her. My rustique techniques fitted absolutely well, I became more confident and those dances taught me more than many whole milongas.
And because of that, I think it's only fair to make sure you dance with beginners on a regular basis. To bring them up, teach them, show them what all these tango secrets are all about, give them a taste on what's to come with their dancing. Tango padawan has a very nice post about this, which I totally subscribe. But I find it difficult that some more advanced people in the world of tango never bother to come down of their pedestral to dance with the common people. I have noticed that in most communities is like this. The advanced people in the usual table and all the rest of the crowd dreaming on...
I know that tango is to taught in classes and milongas but you can teach a lot to someone in a milonga without saying a word or uttering an explanation. Just show them the way, so that they can do that in a few years time.

3 2 tango

Nancy and Damian were in the last weekend at the I Edinburgh International Tango Festival. I was told by a few tangologuers that they did a very nice performance. But no other performance beats this one. Not because it's Di Sarli on piano and not because it's my tango crush singing (for those who don't yet know it's Podestá) but because there are actually three people dancing. And no cheezyness!

Dynamic fun

A few posts back, when supantheress was talking about dynamic fun, I had (other than my attempts to do everytime I dance) a few tango clips in my mind. Murat and Michelle's clip of Re Fa Si at the MIT milonga is a great example that tango CAN and SHOULD be fun and dynamic.

What do you think of it?

Taxi driver

I stood before this video trying to absorb as much as I could. It's not a pretty video of Geraldine, it's not an interview to Zotto... Is simply the real tango shown by a taxi driver from BsAs. The backdoor milongas, the bar, the intrinsic tango that lives under the skin of these people... We have to look for it, dance it, go to classes, get better, be nerdy and learn all the music titles and orchestras... But these people live with it. They always had!



Morreré en Buenos Aires, en la madrugada, a la hora que mueren los que saben murrir. - Fantastic!

Tango is alive in the midlands!

The midlands are the bit of land in England that are, as it says on the tin, in the middle. North of London and south of Manchester/Liverpool and Yorkshire. It has the second biggest city in the UK, Birmingham and a cluster of important cities such as Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. But despite a rsident population of over 10 million people, the tango population was minute, and there was the idea that the midlands were a pretty sterile land, in terms of tango.

But the winds have changed! There are lots of events with professional teachers going on. If you're a tangologuer from the midlands you may want to check this out, it may interest you!

8th June - A Sunday of Argentine Tango organised by Birmingham University Tango
with Marcelo Almirón and Maria Solero (Bs As)

14th June - one day of workshops in Market Harborough
with Octavian Janner (London)

20th-22nd June - Tango Spa - Warwickshire Tango Festival v1.0, organised by TangoWarwick
with Jenny Frances and Ricardo Oria (Edinburgh/BsAs)

7th - 13th July - Birmingham Univeristy Tango organises "Austria Summer Tango training camp"

26th-27th July - El 13 - Tango Salon weekend Villa Urquiza style organised by Tango in Brum (Birmingham)
with Roberto Bolletin and Mariana Bocallate (Italy)

Who dares to say that tango in the midlands is not alive?

Would you?

Mariana Flores and Eduardo Capussi are visiting the UK for the first time as part of the London Tango Festival. They are a quite odd couple - theatrical, fun and out of borders - Johanna even suggested where they may have got an influence from in her seminal blog.
Now, the question that I ask you is. After having seen this clip would you be swayed to do a workshop with them?

Grounded

The sun is shining outside but I am grounded in my room. I took the weekend for tango and now I have to catch up with revision. But being grounded is not always bad. Juana Sepulveda, Chico's most recent partner, just proves that point in this (or in fact in any other) video. The "floating" skirty dress helps but it is just amazing how she seems to float in the air and yet at the same time drill the balls of the feet in the floor like if she wants to make a hole in it.
Let's be honest, Chicho helps (quite a lot). When talking to another tanguero (a Chichophiliac) the other day he told me he didn't like Juana because she is nothing like Eugenia Parilla. Well, number 1 Eugenia is Eugenia and number 2, Chicho and her danced for a long time together! Give Juana some time!

PS - It's really nice to see Chicho dancing D'Arienzo. It adds another dimension to the music. From a genius, I couldn't expect less!