Bailar

This is a quotation from the great (and late) maestro Jose "El Turco" Brahemcha. One of the wisest things I have read in ages...

BAILAR NO ES HACER UNA FIGURA TRAS OTRA... EL BAILE ES LO QUE HACEMOS ENTRE FIGURA Y FIGURA...

To dance is not to make figure after figure... The dance is what we do in between figures...

Music in la cancha

Yesterday I went to see River Plate playing against Godoy Cruz, from Mendoza. I really don't want to get into football banter, but River play really badly and need to get real to get to their deserved status. Anyway, the way how I got dragged into this game was unexpected. A friend from work phoned me when I was CD shopping in Florida "Vamos ver River", "When", I asked,. "En 1 hora!"... So, there you go, I had to get to the other side of Buenos Aires and hope the bus didn't crash.
My post, really, begins in the bus journey. The bus was full of River supporters, fully armed with drums, djambes and lots of chants. And they were singing their hearts out, while in the bus. One thing that I noticed was that throughout their chants, the drummer did exquisite changes in rhythm. Time, half-time, contra-time (transpié), back to time, pause and again... After a few weeks of classes with the Disparis I got a bit neurotic about rhythm of tracks so this was a complete revelation to me.
And it maybe explains why Argentines get tango so quickly. A lot of things that people in the UK have to really make an effort to understand (or even hear) is second nature to Argentines. A teacher of mine (not from UK) told me she didn't like to teach in the UK because she had the notion that people "didn't get it". They wanted perfect technique, fancy steps and sequences but never endured to really understand what they supposedly were dancing, the rhythm, the music, the dance beyond the need to show the rest of the people in the milonga how good one is.

damned tourists

I am sick of hearing "oh, tourists are a curse, oh tourists spoil the tango in Buenos Aires".

For a start, not all tourists are the same. I have been in Buenos Aires for some time now and I have been hit in dancefloor by Argentines more than I hit someone else. So don't come around telling that tourists are a curse.

Tango won't finish without tourism, it won't be spoiled by tourism, but tango, to flourish, needs tourism (please, if you are going to refute this sentence do it with arguments, not just the same old line "you're a tourist, what do you know about it"). I was speaking with someone that works in tourism for the last 30 years and was told that salóns like Canning had little over 15 people when the economic recession and swine flu attacked together.

The other day I went to have a class with the great Jorge Dispari and Marita "La Turca". There were 5 of us in the whole class. 4 of us were tourists, the other was a great friend of the family and goes to classes everyday. This is not Pablo and Dana or Frumboli's class, this is the most traditional of teachers who refuses to teach figures and only teaches walking. 4 "tourists" versus 1 local. And I find that the ratio, though not so steep, is always like this, even in milongas. Yesterday in Sunderland there were at least 50 "tourists" in a milonga with 200 people. I was only hit once in the milonga. Strangely enough, it was an old milonguero (who promptly apologised!). A good milonga, definitely yes. Would it survive without tourists (definitely yes). Would it be the same, no, it would lose quite a lot.

Respect tourists, they help tango flourish.

dreaming of tango

I'm working in a hospital in Buenos Aires. Everytime there is a ward round we go to the intensive care unit to check how our patients are doing. On the way out, in a bay almost hidden by a corridor I always listen to fuzzy sounds of tango. The other day I ventured to see who was there. I saw a man, in his 70s, intubated and sound asleep, a small radio tuned into 92.5FM pouring tango and nothing else. I asked the nurse who this man was. She told me that he had been in coma for some time now and that his family had brought him the little radio so that he would be listening tango while he was sleeping. They said that if he was listening to tango, he would probably be dancing all the time in his dreams.

The kiss of the witch

Yesterday was a sunny day and we spent it walking in the posh gardens of Plaza Italia, Botanics and so on. We also paid a visit to club eros. Don't get fooled by the name, it's a exquisite tavern with serves nice food at unbelievable cheap prices (considering we're in Buenos Aires poshest zone) and which has a football ring attached to it. After that (and a failed attempt to go to the Jardin Japonés) we set home to get ready for the night. In the middle we bumped into a demonstration of thousands of people near Avenida de Mayo and almost got mob-crushed in the subte. Enough?

We then set off to Los Dispari classes. Today's class was musicality and Jorge was adamant that we should pay respect to the people who wrote the track, the same respect that the interpreter's had when they performed it. I'm not so sure that music interpretation must be that strict but it was a jewel to learn even more about phrasing, how to discover double times when they are not so obvious and then to pause. The whole class without a figure. I loved it!
Then, La milonga de la Bruja, en Tanguería El Beso. We got there late, and busy as the day had been we did not have time to reserve a table. Big mistake. We were put waiting in a queue between the dancefloor and the bar, getting angry looks from people who were sat down and wasting wonderful tandas of my favourite artists. The organiser told us we didn't have a table and I thought, why did you let us in? Finally a table was free and we could sit down. And what was turning out to be a disaster night became a heaven of tango, if we discount the two stabs of heel I had within one tango. I had wonderful tandas, trying to dodge out from people dancing against the line of dance, tables and rushed waiters with full trays. It may sound not that good but it was one of the best times I have had since I arrived in here.
One word for the floor ar El Beso - the best ever.

El Pial (La Baldosa)

Yesterday I went to La Baldosa and had to ditch my favourite ever singer performing live, Podestá, in Canning. Why am I bothering to write about La Baldosa? Number 1, it's a really nice place, with a good dancefloor and enough tables to sit everybody. 2, It has a genuine feeling to it. There are tourists, for sure, but you see less of those who take 5 minutes to do the 400 giros in the same place, stalling the ronda. 3, the DJing was excellent. He played one of my favourite Canaro tracks which I have only found played once, in Nijmegen - S.O.S. 4th, Sexteto milonguero, what a band! Not one that will copy cat great maestros but one that will make their own style using the general tracks. Ever since El Arranque, a breathe of fresh air!

I love cabeceo

Incidentally, I have been having discussions about cabeceo with a couple of friends on facebook. Yesterday made me love this even more.

I live in San Telmo at the moment. In the first week of my tenancy I went mainly to milongas in Palermo. But I am not here (just) doing tourism, I am working and I have to wake up early (very early) in the morning. So, finishing at 4am in the morning to wake up at 7am is not an option, or at least one I should be doing as many times as I did in the first week. So this week I decided to go to San Telmo's milongas and yesterday, wednesday, I went to Maldita milonga, literally 3 minutes from my door, in Peru 571.

Got there a bit late and Orchesta Típica El Afronte were on full steam playing on stage. Wow, what a sound! I looked for a place to seat, there weren't many left but there was a few chairs near the DJ. I sat and thought how was I going to ask to dance. The room was pretty dark and the place around the tables was pitch black. Tried to cabeceo for half an hour, obviously it didn't work. Then got my energy together and went to ask a lady on the table across "No estoy bailando" she answered to my request. I then magically got the looks from a tanguera near the bar and cabaceoed her to a set of milonga tandas, too bad she couldn't dance milonga... Then again to cabeceo for a lengthy tanda and no success. Went over to ask another follower to which she replied "Perdon, solo bailo con mi pareja!". At this point we had cabeceo 1- inviting directly 0. I then went near the stage and stared at a person who I saw dancing with more than one person... Success, double success as she was also a nice dancer. The night finished with yet another let down, a miserable "estoy cansada" after a direct invitation. Final result cabeceo 2 - direct invitation -0.

During the night I saw a few women refusing dances to men that gather their courage and went over to ask for a dance. They weren't bad leaders as I saw them dancing with other people. And my point is, cabeceo avoids all this crap of being refused in front of eveyone else.

I'm not sure if I am going to Maldita milonga (or for that sake, Bendita milonga) again... I found the space very awkward to get social dances... I left the venue as frustrated as I ever got since I arrived. Not good for karma. Not good.

The future of tango

Yesterday I was paying for my shopping in the supermarket when the cashier turned to me and said, "el precio está errado". I didn't get what he was saying at the beginning but I then found out that since they had printed the price on the label the table prices had gone up. I didn't bother to argue over half a peso but it shows what many are fearing. With an estimated inflation of 35% in the end of the year (meat is 24% more expensive now than 4 months ago), prices change every week. What does this have to do with tango?

Tango as we know it, a growing world-wide ever present dance, is relatively new. It was in the nineties that the first tango schools started outside Argentina but mainly it was in the 21st century that the boom, well... Boomed!

Buenos Aires (BsAs) has always welcomed this sudden growth. Even the most traditionally fanatics (and anti tango globalisation) welcome the pesos of the tango tourists. Hypocrite but the money tastes good. So, the last ten years saw an unprecedented growth in tourists flying to BsAs in expensivc flights but rebating those costs in cheap classes, milongas and steaks. All in all, by the end of the two weeks, the trip wasn't all that expensive, because life in Argentina evened out the price of the prohibitive flights...

What's happening now is that prices are getting out of control. The average price for a milonga is AR$20 (about £4 or $6) and although it may sound cheap to you, two years ago the average price would be AR$5. Many locals can't afford to go regularly to milongas anymore, let alone having classes. So, many milongas in BsAs are turning into collection of tourists who ventured into the tango mecca. This makes that promise of floors with nice rondas, no clashes and fantastic dances become a bit of a scam. Some floors here are worse than Europe or States.

I was recently talking with a few milongueros (the true ones) and they told me that they could not see BsAs holding on to its status for very long. Maestros are lured away for most of the year to Europe and USA where they earn fortunes (I heard some "stars" charge £2000 for a performance) and the old milongueros run away from tourists like the devil from the cross. Tourists dance with tourists, just like at home... So what's the point? Good level of dancing? You're starting to get that in Europe and, I believe, the States, as well as South Korea, China, Taiwan and so on... Will those start to be more attractive than a transatlantic flight to the mecca? Some people I know don't bother with BsAs anymore. Maybe more will follow. I think we are in a turning moment, BsAs will never be the same.

My Canning injection

Monday, a mere 12 hours after I arrived in BsAs, I spent no less than 7 hours in Canning, mixed between classes with Javier and Andrea and milonga Parakultural. On tuesday another 7 hours of Canning. This is actually more time than I spent sleeping since I arrived, mind you.

Canning is a very special place. Huge room with a square dancefloor, nice soundsystem, nice people and usually, nice DJs...

The classes with Javier and Andrea were very nice. They focused on the essentials, as I like, and they seased the opportunity to make some people "wake up and smell the coffee". Tango is very nice and complicated, addictive and self fulfilling but one shan't forget that tango is a dance from Buenos Aires and that it makes most sense in the spirit of Buenos Aires. I think JyA were not very bothered with styles (neo, salon, fantasia) but rather with the attitude. They were blunt and I think they may have offended some people. I am used to surgeons' comments so I am immune to offensive comments...

The milongas were both busy, bustling and with a lot of good dancers. I started with a few cringy dances (I hadn't danced in such a crowded floor since El Corte in November) but they gradually got better and by the end of tuesday some people were asking me for repeat tandas... I saw a lot of tourists and less locals than I would have wished for. Entries to the milongas have sky-rocketted recently and with entrances of 20 pesos (£4) the locals can't afford it, especially when the future looks grim - the inflation rate in Argentina for this year is predicted to be 35%!

The performance by Javier and Andrea was very good. Apart from a number where they tried to go a bit over the top, the dancing was clean, fluid and sharp. So sharp that Andrea stabbed herself in the shin at the end of the last dance and walked off with a blood stained leg...

By the end of the second day Canning was like a dreamy place where tango happened. And it is all that and more.

The flight from hell

To be honest, it all started with a bad feeling to it. Right in the beginning of the journey, things started to going bad. And it didn't get any better when I got to London to know that they were doing services in the Picadilly line, the one that goes to Heathrow. Having gone into a centra line train which broke down half the way through the course was also not good. And definitely, realising that the train I was on was going to every single terminal in Heathrow but mine felt a bit like persecution. Or so I thought.
In the airport, it all went suspiciously well. Too well. I got a row of 3 seats just for myself and could stretch my legs throuhgout the whole flight. Sweet.
Got to São Paulo. This is São Paulo international, the second biggest city in the world. Surely the 200m of corridor with one coffee shop and a half-open pub aren't all I have to pleasure myself with for the next 10 hours. Where is the bookshop, the WHS Smith equivalent, the ice cream shop? Not here. I have to endure 10 hours of Listening to some Brazilian women asking if I want international phone cards...
Then my flight got delayed. 3 hours. When I got to the airplane I could not believe it. I was tired, dirty and irritable. Longing for a bed.
On my arrival to Ezeiza things got better. My suitcases were waiting for me on the conveyor belt and my transport to town was waiting for me. Omar Boggio, father of the tango DJ Damian Boggio. Highly recommended, a jewel of a person.
While we were drinving from the airporto to San Telmo something happened. And this was when All these familiar names from tango music, Boedo, Corrientes, 9 de Julio, Villa Urquiza, Mataderos, Villa Crespo, Rawson... It was like it all was making sense, the lyrics now were clearer...
Got home went to bed. Tomorrow surely would be another day.

Performing Gender - Tango in the milongas of BsAs

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2006. I arrive on a Monday morning. Monday night finds me in Parakultural. Scene one - I enter the hall full of tables with white linen and familiar music, astonished by the near theatricality in people's gestures. Scene two - I am sat at a table with an American girl, I order a beer that turns out to be huge. After that, a tap in my shoulder, my first invitation for a dance. And then another and then another. From the corner of my eye I think I see Rosita Quiroga, transparent, elegantly marking the beat with her heal.
***
Three years later, I remember the dizzy excitement of dancing and the cultural shock by the machismo of the culture I experienced in the milongas. I came from a tango culture where dancing with a man didn't necessarily have a sexual connotation. Back to the Mecca of tango I found a gender performativity that reduced the tango dance into three minutes of courting, a mere chance for the macho personality to be reinforced. The etiquette had nothing to do with all that. I liked being asked by cabeceo gestures and being returned to me seat. It was the ridiculous behaviour and remarks of those who danced with me that made it obvious that in BsAs there is a strong echo of a sexism in the tango culture. It was obvious that the fact that I was not Argentinian and not accompanied by a man, made the "symptoms" of machismo much stronger.

Apparently I am not the only one who felt that way. Adriana Pegorer published a virtual presentation entitled 'Performing Gender: Tango in the Milongas of Buenos Aires' where there is a first attempt to point out the sexist character of tango behaviour.
You can view it here and here

I don't know what would be my experience if I stayed in Buenos Aires for longer. If people got to know me maybe they would start treating me like a person, instead of like the object to verify their manliness.

I must say that my experience in classes, such as classes in Tango Brujo and la mariposita, were very different, as there were young people from all over the world who showed an honest interest to learn along with other students. There I found a genuinely enthusiastic and youthful attitude where gender seemed to play no role.

Is the influence of tango tourism changing the machismo of Argentinian culture, as my first experience suggests? I need to go back and see.

Privileged

Sometimes I come here and moan about how tango is difficult, how I can't get my walk to look as good as I want it to be, how you should put the weight on the left foot instead of the right or how bad it is when I can't dance for a week because there is nothing on...
I have recently started a junior rotation in a physical rehabilitation ward. Most people there are well over their 70s, they're very fragile and most are bed bound. The other day, when talking to a patient, she was confessing how depressed she was because she knew that her knee problem wouldn't allow her to dance again... When she said this I felt bad. I felt that my complaints were so futile, so out of nothing, after all, what's a week without dancing because I went on vacations compared to this lady's problem?
I feel privileged I have two legs and I have access to tango once every often, though not as much as I would like... I feel privileged that despite financial constraints I can afford to have classes with fantastic teachers who broaden my tango dictionary to limits I never knew existed. I feel privileged that I had the opportunity to know you all via this blog and that I learnt so much from you!
So, if you're reading this carefully you know what's coming...
I'm stopping here my part on tangologue. It's not that I don't have anything to say or that I don't want to say it but I feel that it's time to stop and concentrate on my dance.
Thank you for all your comments and advices, they really made me think about what I wrote and what you wrote. Your comments are and were always the soul of this blog!

Happy dancing!

leader and follower - flimsy terms!

To lead I shall follow my follower! Sounds good to me!

Credit crunch

Damn the credit crunch! The bar where I used to organise monthly milonga has just succumbed to the lack of money (not) going around. It's a huge blow, everyone really liked the bar and if we except the floor, it was perfect!
Also, for those of you who live in the UK, tango is going to get more expensive! The pound has lost a lot of value in relation to the euro and to the dollar. As the Argentine Peso currency is indexed to the dollar that means that a pound will buy much less than it did 6 months ago. Expect rises in imported cds, shoes and even tuition from Argentina!
On the other hand, the credit crunch has made some milongas cheaper - an example of deflation in tango!

Voices of wisdom

"My advice is - walk, walk with your toe first and always in the music, walk and practise to be yourself and not a copy of anybody else!"

Ricardo Vidort, 2004

Food and tango! Yummy!

Last sunday I went to Aveiro, a town in Portugal dubbed the Portuguese Venice. It's not nearly as grand as Venice but it has it's share of canals and the funny little boats, moliceiros, which were used to harvest a kind of seaweed that was used for medical purposes.
I went to meet fellow tangologuers RuiySandra, they had organised a dinner at a tapas place, spoke to the owner and asked if they could have an informal milonga. "Fine", he said, "fine", we said.
First, the food. We had tapas, a mix of Portuguese and Spanish ones and drank sangria. It was all very good until someone had to start dancing - we were all quite heavy. But on the other hand it was easy. The atmosphere was very informal between everyone who came around, and the first ones started dancing (it had to be me!) everyone danced the whole night away to a variety of different styles that went through all the tango eras. The service was also very nice and prompt.
I love informal milongas. Especially when they come with good food. Food, drink, tango and friends, sounds good to me!

Berón OR colouring outside the lines

If you are into tango you have to know Raul Berón. No, he is not the fella that gave that workshop in your town a year ago, he is someone that you encounter pretty much any milonga you go. And you know what? I'm pretty sure you have danced with him.
So, by this time, whether you are very confused or you know that Raúl Berón was one of the golden age finest voices. His sweet tenor voice always trembled with emotion and laced with the music perfectly.
Some people have told me that they don't like him because he didn't sing on time with the instruments. But I think he does it on purpose, like those people that colour outside the lines on purpose. His voice prolongs and antecipates the instruments and their emotions, and involves them in a silky flow that just makes Raúl Berón one of the most beautiful voices tango has ever heard.

Here it is a demonstration of Berón's beautiful voice!
Update - check also the same track played by orquesta El Arranque, with Ariel Ardit

Milonga de la Luz - lessons we should learn (I)

Milonga de la Luz was a milonga that tried to address what tango dancers really wanted. The best way that the organisers found to do this (I know some of them read this blog) was to organise a questionnaire. The Edinburgh tango community responded and the results were very interesting. In this post I'm going to address what people value in their partners.
According to this survey most people valued the sensitivity and responsiveness of the partner. Tangueros also valued posture, embrace and musicality. On the other hand repertoire of steps and physical attractiveness were poorly regarded. Interestingly, physical attractiveness was not what tangueros sought but physical appearance (grooming) was rated quite highly! That means that you don't have to be beautiful to thrive in your tango community but you have to be clean!
So, if you're reading this, don't be frustrated if you don't know many "routines" (the word gives me shivers). Work on your embrace and posture, try to understand the music and the connection with your partner and don't forget to use a deodorant and make an effort to shave. You'll be the one to dance with!

Stalking Julio and Corina

La Planchadora was a blogger who sadly became inactive. We both shared many interests as she seemed to write what went in my head. One of those interests was Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa. She had a series of posts "stalking" their videos and I intend to continue the stalking.
Here Julio and Corina just send me to maniac depressive mood. It's not a choreography, they're just taking as it goes. I see it, is SO simple, I get euphoric, I try it, I can't do it, I get depressed. It may happen the same to you if you try it but, hey, better die knowing what's going around than live in ignorance!

Tango cliques

You've seen it, you've been there. The little groups of people that dance only with each other and with nobody else, worse than a facebook group that only accepts members after the owner's approval. To this one, you have to be invited!

There are two types of cliques in tango.

The beginner clique, which is made exclusively of people from the same class that dance together because they're too scared of dancing with someone who they have not seen in class or because they can only dance with people that can return a similar mistake as the one they have just done.

The advanced clique, which is made of people that have reach such a high status that they can't see anything when they look down. That is also called tango snobbism.

But, I kind of was part of a clique! I didn't really think about it but a few years ago I would dance in milongas with the same people milonga after milonga. I really enjoyed dancing with these people and by the time I danced with them, there was little time to dance with anybody else! And some of them would take offense if I didn't invite them to dance! Is there a difference between dancing with people you like and being part of a clique? Yes, on the former you look forward to dance with other people on the later you avoid anyone that does not have the golden membership card.

The true is that, cliques are kind of uncool. It gives the image to other people that you can't be bothered to get out of your comfort zone, whether it is because you don't want to look bad when dancing with a beginner (if you are an advanced dancer) or because you don't want to look bad when next to an advanced (if you are a beginner). The whole thing about levels in tango is that more advanced people should help less advanced, that's how tango during the golden generation exploded and that's how we should keep it. A tanda in a milonga can make a hell of a difference!

PS - if you liked this post you may want to check our Johanna's post on the same subject, it's worth reading!