São Pedro de Muel, of my favourite placesI have danced in many places. Indoors, outdoors, in dodgy backrooms of dodgy bars, grand salloons of faded Halls, grand sallons of Great Theatres but I think none of them comes close to dancing in Firbush.
Firbush "marina" - Photograph by Christina Chung
A room... 
with a view!
I have recommended here in this blog the tango site Tango and Chaos. I still recommend it but as with everything, you have to read it with a pinch of salt. Rick McGarrey is one of those people that still lives on the golden era. He understands tango very well, and the website is a good resource for some theoretical notions of tango. You may think this is boring, but if you are serious about tango you can't just dance it. You have to live tango, meaning, you have to know its history, its major composers and the way how they play tango so that you can adapt your dance to the music.
Rick dismisses everything that is not strictly milonguero, in fact, he says that everyone that doesn't dance the way he does doesn't dance tango. I don't mind people saying "Well, I only dance this way because it's the way I like it". It's very different than "True tango is only the way I like it". The former is something like "I acknowledge that tango has various phases and has been evolving but I prefer the traditional" whereas the latter is "Tango must be like it was in the 40's, everything else is bullshit". Dogmas shouldn't exist in tango.
Anyway, just to prove my point, in one of the chapters about dance Rick picks a reknowned nuevo tanguero to make fun of him and try to sell his fundamentalism. I suggest you have a look at the chapter. He tries to take the VERY VALID point that tango salón is to be danced within certain limits, that we should respect other people in the dance floor and we shouldn't dance like we do in a demo. This is all fine. Then, he shows us the clip and says:
"Then Gustavo Naviera and his partner Giselle are shown dancing stage tango. You can see right away that he picks up his feet, kicks, and moves his left arm around more than the milongueros. He and Giselle also separate and do large leg swings and poses. Unlike the milongueros, they move their bodies around, and dance apart from each other. It's a more physically active and demonstrative way of dancing because it's designed to entertain an audience: Stage tango."
Now, I am confused. In my very humble opinion, when I am dancing socially, nobody screams my name to come into stage and generally people don't come into stage with an orderly fashion. Rick seems to have forgotten that this clip is actually a GROUP DEMO and NOT A MILONGA! And for as much as GyG move around they bump into nobody. AND, as far as I can see, i don't think that GyG are unpredictable, I think they are trying to make the most of their space.
Fundamentalism and radicalism have this little drawback, life (and tango) are not black and white. They will never be. If you stick to black or white you'll just be looking to a very little spectrum of things.
I will still be advising people to read Tango and Chaos thoroughly. It's the best online resource if you really want to understand tango dynamics, history and lyrics/styles. But as I hinted previously (with the help of some fabulous comments) sheeps never go anywhere.
If there is something that I am fussy about it's shoes. I can't buy shoes that I absolutely don't fall in love with, I just can't wear them. Everytime I have to buy shoes I know what expects me - long days watching every window in the quest for the perfect fit.
With tango shoes, is the same. Not that I have bought many, I haven't, but mine have started to deteorate so much that they are not working anymore. No grip, they are starting to fall to bits and they have developed a groovy but not so fashionable air conditioned system.
So, let's surf the net in look for the perfect fit. I look, look, look and, as if they came from heaven I find the PERFECT SHOES. They might look horrible to you but I never said that I had good taste! ;o)
Very excited, I email the company and they give me quote. £110 ($225)!!! They are more expensive than Comme Il Fauts!!! It seems that they have a fantastic and innovative sole that allows to be changed for different pavements... Is there anybody that can help me with this? Does it really work?
«The artist creates unconsciously, spontaneously. Pichucho, Di Sarli, De Caro, Salgán and even Piazzolla, created their oeuvre and none of them labeled himself as a vanguardist. They achieved that but were unaware of it. They show what they discovered, what they know, what flows naturally from them and nothing more. This is not avant-garde but a testimony of those that are gifted. The avant-garde is a label. The important musicians composed their oeuvre because they had a sacred fire inside them».
Carlos Garcia (1914-2006), founder and leader of the Orchesta del Tango de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires in Café de Los Maestros
So, as far as I see it, neotango (and not alternative tango) is today's innovation. Just like in the early 1920's tango that De Caro tried to do (the melodical tango that gave rise to the music of Laurenz, Fresedo and Di Sarli). At the time everyone called him mad. Now, everyone calls him a genious.
Wow! I am speechless. Stunned with the last two hours. If you want to know what I mean, buy the film "Café de los Maestros". There is one big disappointment. It's only 90 minutes long. It could last forever.
La Tanguera did it again! After a taxonomic analysis of the tangueros and tangueras types in the milonga, she comes up with a funny, witty but very accurate description of the evolution of a tanguero. An anthropological masterpiece. Read it. It's compulsive. It's great!
TangoWorld promises to rock the UK tango scene. It's a great idea from Leandro Palou, and will certainly help to bring together the booming tango community in the UK. Back when I started doing tango there were only a handful of tango clubs in the UK, namely Edinburgh, London, Cambridge and Bristol. Now it seems that every little town has got one.
The other reason why I really liked and supported the idea of this magazine is that it brings us lots of nice stuff such as lyrics from favourite tango tracks (translated), interviews with the major figures of tango and a Q&A section by Jennifer Bratt.
After all, what I have described as Passive Leading, which created a bit of a stir has got other name, Follower's voice. If the semantics haven't worked will the content do?
