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August 2004
Aug. 31, 2004 - Tango, Ukraine and cheese
My Spanish has improved quite a bit, so I decided to check the lyrics of Gitana Rusa - lately I have listened to it quite a bit and begun to grasp some of the words. To my immense delight this is what I read at TodoTango:
«I have something amazing for you, that I shall deliver to you in Buenos Aires», Juan Carlos Cáceres told me on the phone, from Paris. Some days later he displayed before me, on a table at the Tortoni, five yellowish music sheets, written in black ink. It was a tango, dated on August 10, 1940 at the small Ukranian town named Umañ, halfway between Kyiv and Odesa. The texts were in Russian. It had as title, "Tus ojos" (Your Eyes), and a dedication "to dear Celia". Its music belonged to a certain Saverio Sadán, and on the last page there is a long lyric signed by D. M. Glinberg. But those notes handwritten by someone unknown do not result strange at all. They are those of a tango which reached great accclaim in Argentina after 1942 and was the greatest hit by the orchestra of the bandoneon player Juan Sánchez Gorio and his singer, the Uruguayan Luis Mendoza: "Gitana rusa".
Me being Ukrainian, no wonder I felt so drawn to the melody of this tango! Now I need to find out why do others like it. It was mistake to translate it however: "Las balalaicas buscaron música en tus trenzas, y los cosacos cantaron a tu soledad" - Balalaikas searched for music in your braids and cossaks sung to your loneliness. ??? Sometimes ignorance is bliss...
Aug. 30, 2004 - Spanish, the tools
Most of tangos are sung in Spanish (I have also heard tangos sung in Russian and German), people in Buenos Aires speak Spanish - one need to understand the language.
The tools:
Alta Vista - translate to and from Spanish on the web, free
Pimsleur Spanish Audio Course at Recorded Books - learn Spanish while you drive your car, 30 minutes per day for three-four months, $90 for renting the entire course. It does work I am finishing Part III.
Franklin Spanish/English Dictionary, electronic - much lighter than printed dictionary of the same content and about the same price. I bought mine at eBay for $35 new.Preparation for the trip to Buenos Aires is in full swing - spent afternoon reading fascinating Buenos Aires blog by Trisha Sng. A bit of useful info, interesting personality and one good laugh:
I had mentioned intellectual Buenos Aires was a bookstore paradise. The choice of good Spanish books was incredible. If I could read decent Spanish, I would have stuffed myself silly, devoured the books long ago. But I couldn't.
The choice of English books here was not too bad, frankly, compared to, say, Moscow. But one thing very obvious in the bookstores I found in Russia, Brazil and now, Argentina, was the sheer number of classics available.
Does the non-English-as-first-language population seriously believe we read 'Bleak House' for leisure? The huge variety of classics (and extremely cheap too) for sale seemed to perpetuate a myth that we could quote Shakespeare in our everyday conversations ("Is this a butter knife I see before me? Come, let me clutch thee.")...
The butter knife line is stroke of genius. Incidentally there are two Buenos Aires tango stories by Cherie Magnus from LA at the BootsnAll site: story 1 and story 2
Aug. 28, 2004 - On quality of dancing
Michael from Houston wrote on Tango-L:
In my humble opinion, fantasia, or stage dancing is strictly that, a work undertaken to entertain an audience. Open tango may be fun for some, but that's all, and is still used to impress those around you. Salon is fun, and more appropriate socially, but still generally danced by those searching for new moves, fancier steps; almost an "athletic" direction to improvement. And while maybe not quite as much to impress the crowd, still, there is that impression that they're trying to impress themselves. Tango Milonguero is for nobody but me and my partner, and the improvement that I search for is almost spiritual in quality. When me and my partner can exist on the floor oblivious to all else but the communion of our love for tango, and the synchronicity of our awareness. When we can both exist in a state where the music tells us what to do, and the embrace becomes not hands or arms, or even chests, but heart and body. When you get right down to it, as I learn more and more, tango becomes less and less about dancing, and more and more about feeling. I wish I could adequately describe this feeling, but I don't think anyone can.
So, Sergio, when you write that <<<<<<<<< What I find difficult to understand is the fact that some groups that have plenty of room available to dance decide to restrict their dancing style to Milonguero, close embrace, ONLY because that is the way it is done in the crowded milongas of B.A.>>>>>>>>>we milongueros know that we are not restricting ourselves. We look at the dance floor and wonder why everybody else is restricting themselves from enjoying what we experience.
Beautifully spoken.
Aug. 27, 2004 - More on dance arithmetic
Carlos Rojas from Portland, Oregon added these words of wisdom on Tango-L:
"...a teacher, and I don't remember who, give me that greatest advice, "listen to the music, and just feel it, the numbers (music timing) will come to you and your partner"
I couldn't agree more.
Aug. 26, 2004 - The awful truth
I have to admit I am terrible at dance arithmetic - cannot count at all. I went to Hsueh-tze lesson yesterday expecting some new challenging material. Challenging it was indeed. Complete disaster is better description. She was teaching how to walk vals on 1-23, 12-3 etc. Now I have no problem whatsoever dancing on double-time beats. In fact I enjoy dancing this way. But when it comes to stepping on specific beats (1-23 for example) I simply cannot count/find them. I wonder if it is me only and there are some advanced dancers who when they dance do count. Say they think: “I am going to walk next phrase on 1-23 and the one afterwards on 12-3”. If they do count why do they do that? I simply improvise/overlay the steps to the beats on the spot as beats come in response to the melody, my partner, the floor, how well I slept last night etc. What’s the point to counting?
Needless to say milongueros in Buenos Aires do not count. However there could be some kind of higher purpose for the students, I guess. It's just that the purpose of counting eludes me and in general feels like a gimmick. When I teach the double time beats I do a small demo and then ask students to find their own beats because we all hear music differently (both among us people and between different takes).
Aug. 25, 2004 - Practica at Denver Turnverine
I was thinking about the trip so much lately that I caught tango bug. To cure it I decided to travel all the way to Denver for a practica, possible lessson with Hsueh-tze and an off-chance of dancing with two of my favorite dancers (the chance wasn't off). Hsueh-tze is substituting Tom for couple weeks. Warm up to her class included two nice balance excercises - static, I prefer walking balance excercises but I think I'll include those two in my class warm up too. The lesson was on interweaving - going in and out of back ochos from crossfeet walk. The group was mostly intermediate and beginner level and I know how to walk cross feet so I decided to save $15 and went upstairs to practica proper.
Practica. They do have nice arrangement for pratica in Denver. The room is divided in two areas one for practice and one for milonga. Before practice started Scott and Nina were using the two areas for their group lessons.
Scott was teaching the rotating instructor class for beginners - they rotate the instructor once a month at the practica in Denver. I think this is great promotional tool, which introduces potential students to many different teaching and dancing styles.
Nina's lesson for followers looked downright eerie: eight girls with their hands against the wall doing neverending static back and front ochos with small hooks and boleos as an adornment for about one hour. No music. No lead (obvioussly). I got tired just writing about it, but hey, I don't have to do those when I dance (I do occasional progressive front ochos).
Community dance - tango lottery. In the middle of the practica all leaders line up to the right, all followers to the left in the room. The first leader in the line picks the first follower in the follower's line, they dance from one end of the room to another and return to the end of the line. This goes on for duration of two songs. When I was 17 I have calculated the odds of winning a lottery, since then on I prefer to ask a girl for a dance when I think both of us might enjoy it. Good community building excercise though.
After Hsueh-tze has finished the lesson downstairs she came to the practica upstairs and I took a lottery of dancing with her. She is nice as an instructor, nice as a dancer and nice as a person. That's three-nice in the row but she is nice. The first dance could have been better - I have managed to loose balance couple times, tried to lead a volcada, quite unsuccessfully and as a result my embrace was quite rough. And she told me so in a very nice manner. She thinks also that my sacadas are a bit rough. Since not everyone thinks this way and I like them I think I'll stick with the way I do them for a while. The third dance with her was good. I think I'll go to Merc tonight for more advanced group lesson with her. Because she is nice.
Aug. 24, 2004 - Tango in the Park milonga
Well, it was good milonga actually. We had five and a half couples, which is average for Colorado Springs. My attempt to attract people from Japan, Switzerland and other outlying areas (Denver and Boulder) to attend by appending countdown to my postings to Tango-L has failed. Regardless, the mood was congenial, the music was great (have to give myself a pat on the back) and I enjoyed dancing with everyone. Tango in Colorado Springs is alive, we had couple promising beginners, some long gone stalwarts have shown up and more I am sure will come. Ten days till Labor Day tango festival in Denver.
Aug. 23, 2004 - More on tango lyrics
Sergio Vandekier defined common topics in tango lyrics at Tango-L:
Love, the loss of youth, depression
Tango
Dance and dancers
Bandoneon
The neighborhood
Carnival
Advise and wisdom
Childhood
Mother
Women
Men, manhood and compadritos
Bad life
Bar, drinks and drinking.
Gambling
Horse races
The harbor and the sea... the usual, basically.
Aug. 20, 2004 - On tango lyrics
Charles wrote at Tango-L thus:
Rose wrote:
"Jorge Nel once asked me while we were listening to a tango, "do you know what he is singing about?" and when I said no he told me "you will never dance tango until you understand the lyrics" I think that he is correct. "
Well, that's a nice notion but I wouldn't lose sleep over it or worry about not totally grasping tango. Not to mention that it is a little condescending. Knowing the lyrics definitely adds another dimension to it but I don't agree that you will never master tango if you don't know them. In fact you might be disappointed when you found out that some are pretty ordinary or even silly. Not all are about romance or the intense tango connection between two people. Some are pretty corny; others are profound; some are about your mother; some are about your buddies hanging out on the street. Many have great lyrics like "A Media Luz" or "Sonar Y Nada Mas" but not all of them by any means. Also remember that many never had lyrics until after the fact since they were mostly for dancing at first. "El Choclo" didn't have lyrics nor did "La Cumparsita" until someone later added them. So that great song you heard may not have had any words at all when it was originally composed and been a great song to dance to so now that it has words, why should you have to know what they mean to really feel it?
Funny, I had talked to D. a while ago and used the same arguments except in the assumptive tone. By the way the map of Buenos Aires milongas I have mentioned before has a list of tangos with good lyrics. "A Media Luz" and "Sonar Y Nada Mas" are listed.
The trip to Buenos Aires gets more and more defined. I have the tickets (with one day stop over in Miami for a swim at South Beach, milonga and overnight salsa to get conditioned to night lifestyle), booked hotel Marbella (budget), walking distance to four milongas and have the list of good milongas for each day of the week (two-three per day, based on advise of four different people). Still need to book some private classes (I am thinking about milonga classes specifically) in addition to obligatory group lessons to get to know people to dance with at milongas (I'll just show up for those). Club El Beso seems to be the place for the classes - La Academia and walking distance from the hotel. Their email is elbesotango@yahoo.com.ar.
Aug. 17, 2004 - Tango CD recommendations
Stephen Brown has recommended on Tango-L the following CDs as an introduction to tango music. Where was he when I have just started to grapple with tango Music?
I also like Grabaciones Olvidadas. Half of the CD is Ricardo Malerba (Gitana Rusa!) another half is Jose Garcia (Farolito de papel!).
- Juan D'Arienzo -- Instrumental Vol. 1 (Solo Tango) - this CD has more of D'Arienzo's classic instrumentals than any other
- Carlos Di Sarli -- Instrumental Vol.1 (Solo Tango) - probably the best available CD of Di Sarli's instrumental tangos
- Anibal Troilo -- Instrumental (Tango Argentino BMG-RCA) - his early rhythmic instrumental classics
- Troilo/Fiorentino (Solo Tango BMG-RCA) - Troilo with the great vocalist Francisco Fiorentino
- Osvaldo Pugliese -- Ausencia (EMI Odeon) - an outstanding collection with many of Pugliese's best recordings
- Miguel Calo -- Al Compás del Corazon (EMI Reliquias) - great valses, milongas and tangos with the great vocalist Raul Beron
- Ricardo Tanturi/Alberto Castillo -- El Tango es el Tango (Tango Argentino BMG-RCA) - the Tanturi/Castillo CD with the most classic tangos
- Carlos Di Sarli -- Porten~o y Bailarin (Tango Argentino BMG-RCA) - with vocalist Jorge Duran
- Angel D'Agostino y Angel Vargas -- Tangos de Los Angeles vol. 2 (Tango Argentino BMG-RCA)
- Rodolfo Biagi -- Solos de la Orquesta (EMI Reliquias)
- Alfredo DeAngelis -- From Argentina to the World (EMI) - mostly his instrumental classics
Aug. 17, 2004 - On good manners and being hypocritical
Michael from Tango Bellingham has blamed organizers of milongas and quoted Heinlein on good manners at Tango-L thus:
Elemer Dubrovay wrote:
"Actually I think that they are still beginners and in place of practicing steps in the social milongas they should learn to follow the music, the line of dance and a good navigation."
I blame the organizers of the milongas as much as the dancers themselves. The organizers are afraid of offending someone and thus losing $$) if they try to enforce etiquette.
And the alledged "advanced" dancers are so lost in their narcissism that they can't even envision that they are doing anything inappropriate. As I said a few weeks back, it's the cult of "Nobody tells me what to do!"
Heinlein said it best:
"Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the sophisticated deplore these formalities as 'empty,' 'meaningless,' or 'dishonest,' and scorn to use them. No matter how 'pure' their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best."
--
Michael
Tango BellinghamA better quote would be the following one from Nietzsche. It would address the misplaced timidity of the organizers of milonga instead of misplaced priorities of "advanced" dancers. The tale of naked king and outspoken child also comes to mind.
Thus spake Zarathustra (from: http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Nietzsche/Zarathustra/zarathustra62.html)
...When however the kings approached to him, he said half-aloud, like one speaking only to himself: "Strange! Strange! How doth this harmonise? Two kings do I see--and only one ass!"
Thereupon the two kings made a halt; they smiled and looked towards the spot whence the voice proceeded, and afterwards looked into each other`s faces. "Such things do we also think among ourselves," said the king on the right, "but we do not utter them."
The king on the left, however, shrugged his shoulders and answered: "That may perhaps be a goat-herd. Or an anchorite who hath lived too long among rocks and trees. For no society at all spoileth also good manners."
"Good manners?" replied angrily and bitterly the other king: "what then do we run out of the way of? Is it not `good manners`? Our `good society`?
Better, verily, to live among anchorites and goat-herds, than with our gilded, false, over-rouged populace--though it call itself `good society.`
--Though it call itself `nobility.` But there all is false and foul, above all the blood--thanks to old evil diseases and worse curers.
The best and dearest to me at present is still a sound peasant, coarse, artful, obstinate and enduring: that is at present the noblest type.
The peasant is at present the best; and the peasant type should be master! But it is the kingdom of the populace--I no longer allow anything to be imposed upon me. The populace, however--that meaneth, hodgepodge.
Good manners! Everything is false and foul with us. No one knoweth any longer how to reverence: it is THAT precisely that we run away from. They are fulsome obtrusive dogs; they gild palm-leaves.
This loathing choketh me, that we kings ourselves have become false, draped and disguised with the old faded pomp of our ancestors, show-pieces for the stupidest, the craftiest, and whosoever at present trafficketh for power.
We ARE NOT the first men--and have nevertheless to STAND FOR them: of this imposture have we at last become weary and disgusted.
Aug. 16, 2004 - Planning trip to Buenos Aires
I have been writing to Tango-L mailing list quite a bit lately, so I decided to write a tango blog. The scope could be a bit broader and I would not annoy the rest of the list with irrelevant random comments. And when is the best day to start writing if not today - I have just bought tickets for my first visit to Buenos Aires! After all if one is serious about this dance he has to commit to pilgrimage to the roots. Besides I just got my passport, have not made any solid plans for upcoming vacation in September and feel strong urge to get out of the country to experience different cultures. My command of Spanish advances by leaps and bounds - I've got to test it.
There is oodles of info on Buenos Aires on the web and beyond. Here are some useful links:
Buy map of Buenos Aires milongas here - very useful map, buy it before you make any reservations - it let's you decide where exactly to stay. $10 well spent. Apparently you can get similar map in BA for free. In addition to this map get another one from National Geographic (Destination Map) - it shows hotels and attractions (including small buildings) and has scale on the map.
Dancing in Buenos Aires by Jenny DeBouzek - personal overview of milongas, I will use Jenny's recommendations as a guide, she likes milonguero style too.
Tango Journals by Alex Krebs - milongas and instructors, an entertaining read
Notes from underground - another fascinating read on tango culture in BA from Rick McGarrey, somewhat wordy and certainly censored
On social etiquette at BsAs milongas from El Firulete: Girl Talk and Esta Solita?
Tango postcard by Bibi Wong - includes many pictures of BA and milongas
Collection of BA travel stories from BootsNAll website - there are some tango inspired diaries too #1 and #2
Practical personal info on travelling to BA
BA info - all kind of cultural info
Interactive map of Buenos Aires (Flash)
Milongas, shows and tango classes in BA - mostly addresses and phone numbers
Interactive map of milongas in BA (Flash) and useful BA info
MapQuest has map of Buenos Aires tooAug. 12, 2004 - On ability to mature
Michael Ditkoff, Grateful in Washington, DC has cautioned:
"I'd be very careful about using the language "emotional part is much harder to learn." I don't think you can learn the emotional part. "
I don't think anyone can teach it. One can learn it though: the process is called maturing. You are right, not everyone is capable or is in appropriate circumstances to go through this process.
Aug. 12, 2004 - How long does it take to learn tango
There are two parts to the dance: 1. technical and 2. emotional (the "deep-throated "!Amame!"" from the excellent article in Albuquerque Tribune ).
The first part.
a) steps can be learned fairly quickly (months or as we have learned in some cases less than a month)
b) doing steps with the music (musicality is rather technical in my opinion) can be learned fairly quickly (months if you listen to the music every day)The second, emotional part is much harder to learn. It is this part where life-long learning of tango comes from. One has to be mature enough to not be afraid to be vulnerable. One has to have enough depth (usually coming from life experience) to have something to share. That's why when I taught my daughter to tango I told her that she will need to wait at least ten-fifteen more years until she can truly enjoy the dance (and even this I was able to tell her because I know that she has the potential to empathize).
If one has the second part in her/him, then learning the steps/musicality can be relatively easy. Learning to express existing emotions via steps will take a bit longer, but I think my initial estimates are about right (one year for men, six months for women).
By the way all of the above applies to close embrace only; one cannot "!Amame!" in open embrace.
Aug. 11, 2004 - Community building ideas
Michael Figart II presented this theory:
"I have a theory that the Denver/Boulder communities are so strong because they had a central, non-aligned organization in place before they really had any regular teachers, whereas Houston has had these competing teachers for years before Tango Houston came along. So it's gonna take some time, but it's getting better, slowly."
I have different theory on this. I think that Denver tango scene is strong because there was one (now more than one) main nonpartizan venue (Mercury Cafe) for people to come and dance. I think you confirm my theory with your Houston example:
"One of Houston's best events (not sponsored by Tango Houston) is the recent development of the "All Houston Milonga", an idea advanced and promoted by Robert Schoenberg, whereby each teacher, in rotation, every 3-4 months, sponsors an elegant milonga, and this event is promoted and attended by all the teachers, and their students. It has proven remarkably successful!"
Aug. 6, 2004 - On conversation of movement, good women leaders and empathy
Frank G. Williams wrote:
It's so disappointing to mark steps that give the follower latitude to interpret a lovely song and then... she totally ignores the opportunity. In the 'conversation of movement' she not only misses your straight line, she doesn't know you're listening for a come-back.
Lois Donnay wrote:
I see many more women who are good leaders than men who are good followers.
[There could be many reasons for this including the one below - OK]I wrote:
"Connection" part of tango is much harder to learn. Understanding how your partner perceives the dance and complementing / enhancing his/her tango... Not everyone is able to reach this level of connection ... because not everyone is capable to empathize. It is well known that most women empathize much easier than men. Maybe that is why it takes men longer to become a good social dancer.
--------------------------------------------------------
I think we are writing about the same thing.
Aug. 4, 2004 - Learning the connection
Oleh (me) wrote in the usual confusing manner:
2. it takes more than technique to become good dancer musicality (as Robert Hauk correctly pointed out in his message) and in my opinion more important perception/responsiveness/ability to communicate and to add to the dance based on that ability to communicate are harder to learn but possible (not for everyone) with correct mindset, instruction and sensitive partner.
What I tried to say is that "connection" part of tango is much harder to learn. Understanding how your partner perceives the dance and complementing / enhancing his/her tango. When both partners are able to relate on this level then the connection is amplified and becomes the proverbial "tango trance".
Not everyone is able to reach this level of connection (and performance dancers do not need it at all and therefore would have trouble teaching it, I think) because not everyone is capable to empathize. It is well known that most women empathize much easier than men. Maybe that is why it takes men longer to become a good social dancer according to numerous quoted estimates. Of course there is a matter of learning to lead the steps too (as opposed to connect), but I am not talking about mechanics here.
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