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Tango travel
September 30, 2006 - Video from milongas in Colorado
"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."
Japanese ProverbI have shot videos at 'Red Martini' milonga in Colorado Springs, Turnverine practica and Mercury Cafe ("Merc") milonga in Denver, edited the footage in my studio in Manitou Springs and uploaded videos to YouTube, somewhere in the digital ether. All this fun and games gave me an inspiration of make a ten minute short about tango. Coming soon...
Meanwhile, Wednesday milonga in Colorado Springs:
And Friday milonga at The Mercury Cafe in Denver:
Feb. 3, 2006 - Tango map - map of milongas around the world
From Ecsedy Áron:
Have you seen tangomap.com ?
It is a list of milonga venues for the entire world based on GoogleMap, however most data is for Europe at this moment. Only a few items are entered in the US and other parts of the world. I think it would be very handy if more organizers would enter their data there (it is connected with the www.tango.info database and new items can be entered at data.tango.info)
Basically the same idea as maps of apartments for rent and real estate.
Nov. 10, 2005 - Tango in Italy (Rome and Palermo)
Poster pointing the way to tango festival in Palermo, SicilyTango festival in Palermo, Sicily
Well, the festivals are usually organized to present workshops with traveling instructors, hence it should be expected that most of the attendees are those who come to take lessons and therefore more often than not are intermediate level dancers (beginners do not see any need to travel as yet). Compare to US there is more of unnecessary flair and less of rational thought. Hence my comment that officiency does not equal efficiency. Below are some cuff notes from the visit.
Day 1. Confident DJing. A and B level dancers. Atrocious floorcraft. Overall dancers are much younger than in the US. Dancers are from all over Italy, a small group is from Turkey.
Day 2. There is this guy with a lot of energy running circles around the floor with the same speed entire tanda. Tango music has structure and different levels of energy throughout the song. I guess it is not always obvious.
Day 3.
Waiting 20 minutes for milonga to start - officiency does not make efficiency. "Pelotudos" - such a descriptive word for bouncers (they employ professional bouncers in Italy).DJ pretty much sucked. He didn't play Calo and Tanturi at all choosing rather boring selections from Canaro and Pugliese. As it happens the last two were the orchestras I have attempted to dance to. His milongas where uninspiring either. Maybe because of that my energy was rather low. Also I have forgotten the crucial triple S maxim - "Start Simple, Stupid" and tried to lead some rather advanced stuff without building the trust with new followers first. And without feeling true inspiration for doing advanced things either (music once more). Advanced steps uninspired by music = disaster - three followers have excused themselves. Moral dropped, mojo lost, Amazon opportunity missed, suicidal thoughts.
Palermo - in a word, congestion. In two words - great coffee and congestion. In four words, coffee, congestion, dilapidated buildings, smell of freshly done laundry. Smells - the prevalent is laundry - this is hanging everywhere from windows and balconies, good cured meat, occasional stale fish and urine.
Accent in Cefalu (30 minute train ride from Palermo) - you want to hug and snuggle with this accent.
Palermo is where cars share sidewalks with people and streets.
Cefalu - genuinely nice people, Giulietta Mazina would be in her milieu in this town. Visit for beach and cute shops, medieval streets. Passeggio at 20.00 worth staying late in town. Haphazard architecture.
Food - US is probably the only country where grapes taste like apples and apples taste like styrofoam.
Palermo - A religious person should visit for the sites to make the sites functional and meaningful. Otherwise boredom inspiring awe of architecture displayed by fatigued tourists wielding assorted maps feigning interest, demonstrating book-guide infused day-long wisdom.
So how good is level of dancing in Rome?
I have been asked this question several times. As in many other well established communities there are some very good dancers (Marica is one of them, for example). There are also many not so great dancers. I think overall level is slightly higher than in Denver. I attribute it to two facts: 1. There are more milongas (at least one every week), 2. At one of more popular milongas, El Firulete, they show videos of real milongueros (not show dancers) during milongas - inspiring.There are many milongas in Rome and dancers choose to go to those they feel comfortable at. Via Serpenti and El Firulete are two milongas for those who prefer milonguero style.
If you are intermediate level open frame dancer the tea dance on Sunday is for you.
As often the case music can make or break the milonga. One of such break cases was Sunday tea dance at Tanguera. Organizer put CDs of Pugliese and sound-alikes and changed them once in 40 minutes to play three-four valses. The entire two hours I have waited for danceable music the same drivel was played. Result? A bunch of open frame dancers going through figures on the floor. Wall size mirror on one of the walls has not helped the matter at all.
Many followers in Italy focus mostly on footwork to exclusion of connection. It is possible to pay attention to both of course as Laura has demonstrated so aptly. What is this obsession with who are my instructors though. Who are instructiors of milongueros in Buenos Aires? There are no milongueros teaching in Colorado. Moreover my style has changed a lot during my three month stay in Buenos Aires without taking any lessons simply due to observation and "template effect" of dancing every night with many different followers there.
Tanghera is milonga where the host is the star of the evening - armed with microphone he just would not shut up even as the music plays. That grew old after first ten minutes. The better dancers at this milonga have the style of their own - it is milonguero, kind of, except the guy takes humongously wide steps.
It is very small tango world after all: bumped into an Italian guy whom I have seen dancing in Cordoba, Argentina, of all places! He mentioned that there was a girl from Norway at that milonga whom he also met in Buenos Aires last April.
Rome - after couple hours of street walking wandered into an open lecture about fossils in botanical garden attended by 30-40 avidly interested folks.
Rome - exceptionally photogenic city (see below).
Back to the USA. What strikes as you get off the plane is how relentlessly bland everyone looks (the same impression I got after BsAs too).
Poster pointing the way to tango festival in Palermo, Sicily
Rome Rome Cefalu Cefalu The best espresso I have ever had. And where to get the best espresso I have ever had in Palermo.
That's Harrison Ford pointing the way for the men in need but who is the girl? Suddenly. Around the corner in Palermo. Meet Federica Fellini. Cefalu 1 Cefalu 2 Cefalu 3 Also Cefalu
Oct. 14, 2005 - Tango trip to Italy (Rome and Palermo) - useful info
Palermo milongas: http://www.palermotango.it/pagine/english.htm and Sicilia Tango Festival: http://www.siciliatangofestival.net/english/index.html
Calendar of Rome milongas: http://it.calendar.yahoo.com/tangoromaserate
Online maps of Europe from Michelin: http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/dyn/controller/Maps and another online map of Rome.
Rent Bed & Breakfast anywhere in Italy: BB Planet Italy and Craig's List (Craig's List has even better listings for Buenos Aires)
Public transportation maps in Rome: http://www.atac.roma.it/linee/index.asp?COD=330&LNG=2 (type in origin and destination in two boxes - it will give you public means to get there).
Buy your intercity train tickets online: http://www.trenitalia.com/it/index.html (and on how to travel in Italy by train)
Weather in Italy: http://www.weather.com
Translate Italian pages in English: Google and Alta Vista.Recommended milongas in Rome (Fall 2005) (based on recommendations of four different people):
Tuesday
10.30-2.30 - Oficina Tangopolis (at 5 Via Cupa - ph. 06-30.89.41.52 / 339-14.67.003 / 06-70.14.517)
A milonga pretty bare but with a friendly atmosphereWednesday
9.30-1.30 - The Garden of Tango (at 7 Via degli Olimpionici- ph. 06-97.27.50.65 / 339-45.14.568)
RECOMMENDED, especially in the SummerThurday
9.30-1.30 - Gallery of the Snakes (at 32 Via dei Serpenti - ph. 06-48.72.212 / 339-23.46.185 / 338-74.40.845)
The only downtown milonga. A traditional milonga in the hearth of Rome. Almost everyone is dancing apillado.Friday
10.30-2.30 - Tanghèra (at 146 Via degli Angeli - ph. 06-24.30.09.64/ 333-81.50.608)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It's a milonga organized inside a sporting club. Felix Picherna from B.A: is DJ. It could be difficult to get there by taxi. Get bus 105 (day), 50 (night) from Termini.Saturday
9.30-1.30 - The Garden of Tango (at 7 Via degli Olimpionici- ph. 06-97.27.50.65 / 339-45.14.568)
RECOMMENDED, especially in the Summer. Il giardino del tango is more crowded, but Tangopolis looks great. Better dancers go to il giardino del tango, beginners like Tangopolis.Sunday
17.30 -22.30 - Tangobar (at 9 Via Macerata - ph. 06-70.30.11.01)
1st tango place in Rome. Tangobar is a beautiful place to drink a tea and dance a few tangos. Dancing could be a bit hard, because it is full of beginners of the local school.
22.30-2.30 - El firulete (at Via del Commercio - ph. 06-55.26.27.33 /339-71.02.917)
El firulete is organized at Alpheus disco. It is like in B.A. Wonderful music.
Monday
There is no Milonga on Monday.Note: The Garden of the Tango holds milongas every day of the week, except Monday
Get travel guides in the library and don't forget to email yourself copies of your docs.
Jan. 31, 2005 - Geography of tango festivals in Northern America.
Stephen Brown has compiled new list of tango festivals in Northern America. Below I have added couple he had missed.
If you have nothing better to do you can spend entire year hopping from one festival to another. This proliferation of festivals suggests to me that tango is still very young in the US. A day might come when there will be no need to travel to a specific place on a certain date to get to dance with good and different dancers. Then the tango will mature in this country too.
3rd Michigan Tangofest http://www.umich.edu/~umtango/events/ 8th Annual ValenTango http://www.claysdancestudio.com 8th Annual Weekend of Tango http://www.tampatango.com New Jersey Tango Extravaganza http://www.tangoextravaganza.com 4th Annual DC Tango Marathon http://www.le-tango.com/ Atlanta Tango Social http://www.atlantatangofestival.com/ Neo-Tango Festival http://www.tango-renaissance.com/ Toronto International Tango Festival http://www.tangofest.ca/ 5th Annual Memorial Day TangoFest http://www.tango.org/dance/ Tango Fantasy http://www.TangoFantasy.com Toronto International Tango Festival http://www.TorontoTangoFestival.com Boston Tango Festival http://www.bostontangofestival.com/ 8th Annual Nora's Tango Week http://www.tangoweek.com/ Montreal International Tango Festival http://www.festivaldetangodemontreal.qc.ca/ New York City Summer Tango Festival http://www.celebratetango.com/ 2nd Annual Seattle Summer TangoMagic http://www.claysdancestudio.com/ Planet Tango's New Orleans Tangofest http://www.planet-tango.com/ Meet in the Middle http://thelearningdepot.com/murrays-1/tango-festival.htm HollywoodTango Festival http://www.hollywoodtangofestival.com/ 6th Denver Labor Day Milonguero Fest http://www.tango.org/dance/ 9th Annual Portland TangoFest http://www.claysdancestudio.com/ 7th Annual Fandango de Tango http://www.learn2dance.com/
Aug. 9, 2005 - Meeting in the Middle of Mt Vernon, Missouri
I have promised Ney (NYC) to write a trip report for Meet in the Middle tango festival. I happen to be a man who attempts to keep his word. Here you go, Ney:
Some tango festivals sprawl across town (Portland, Denver), some take place entirely in one hotel (Atlanta) and then there is Meet in the Middle - a festival, which take place entirely within a single house.
Take a look at a map to find Mt Vernon, Missouri where people go to Meet in the Middle. Not a big place. I ventured out of the house on Saturday night to investigate attractions the town has to offer. The trip around main square with a church in the middle took roughly five minutes, plus 15 seconds to investigate Dalmatian hydrant in one corner. If it were not for the tango house the picture would be rather bleak in the vein of "The Last Picture Show" with appropriate sexual innuendo (a flock of teenage girls bring out folding chairs to chat at the same square's corner at night, while a bunch of boys horse around in the parking lot in front of them).
Given the settings one has to admire the audacity of Karen, the festival organizer, to conceive this event. Talk about dreaming an impossible dream (she could become a target for next Herzog documentary). Close to a hundred people drove to this event mostly from within four hour radius in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, but also one or two representatives from Chicago, Iowa, Texas, and Colorado (yours truly). Considering that simultaneously run and more show oriented festival in New Orleans (somewhat more interesting location) drew about 70 people last year this is quite an achievement.
This is the most visitor and budget friendly festival I have attended catered strictly to social dancers. Your $120 and will get you not only three days of classes, milongas and practicas, a show by instructors (four this time, lessons level beginner to advanced beginner), but also all the meals (obviously the choices outside the house are limited), a dinner to live tango music and if you bring an inflatable bed a place to sleep in (recommended to students only). Plus Karen threw in two visits by ice cream wagon to boot - a very, very nice touch indeed. If you do not wish to leave the house you do not have to and you really get to socialize with people. On the flip side three days in the same place even as curious as Karen's can make you somewhat claustrophobic.
You do get to socialize there. I have had fascinating conversation with tanguero who meditates for a living about tango as a form of shared meditation. A guy from a buckle of religious belt on irresistible draw of tango music, some mental juggling with a dancer from Chicago and more.
A girl at the festival asked me why did I come. Well to begin with I am a vagabond to some extent. And so I went because I had some time on my hands, I was curious about idea of a festival-in-a-house, to see that part of the country, people who dance tango there, to promote TangoSpring Milonguero Tours to Buenos Aires (of which I did rather dismal job) and to listen to Dr. Who audio book on my 12 hour drive there (overrated).
I have DJed at Saturday practicas. Playing music early in the morning presents a bit of a challenge since the senses are still frayed from the night before. I have opted for valses by Castillo and soft tangos by Fresedo and Canaro in the beginning to ease into the harsh realities of approaching day saving drama of Tanturi and boisterousness of D'Arienzo for later. Robert Hauk who unbeknownst to me happened to sleep in the room adjacent to the dance hall and, I think, had been awakened by the music gave thumbs up to this choice. For once I have nothing bad to write about the music at the practica. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well in the interest of full disclosure and in the hind sight I think Garcia tangos were a bit too complicated rhythmically to play in the beginning of practica.
The overall level of dancing was good - there were quite a few followers with five or more years of experience even though as usual some of them had open frame posture while dancing milonguero. I was a bit tired first due to long trip then due to uncomfortable bed but still enjoyed dancing most of the time. Pleasantly surprised by a follower from Kansas City who dances less than a year (way to go Korey).
I have heard that the show was outstanding too. I didn't go because I have quite simply collapsed after the dinner, had to take a nap.
To summarize: It's an interesting regional event. If you live within driving distance (twelve hours for me is pushing it a bit, your mileage may vary here) and have free time on your hands it's worth the visit even if to simply marvel the idea of tango festival in Mount Vernon, Missouri.
Fandango Tango 2004, Austin, TX
Texas, Iran, Finland, UkraineNov. 27, 2004 - Random observations from Fandango tango festival in Austin, TX
Romans built Colloseum. Texans, not to be left behind, built giant highway overpasses. I do not see any other reason but pure aesthetic for the grandiose scale especially considering that highway entries and exits are clearly hazardous (in Austin).
A t-shirt weather in Austin. The city is overgrown Madison except instead of a lake in the middle of downtown Colorado river runs through it. Palm trees, bamboo and runners are in abundance along the river. There are several excellent beaches. Unfortunately they are flooded this week. So hot tub in the hotel is the only dip-in option for me. I tried to find some funky cafes, in vain. Then again I have not explored University area all that well.
It's a smallish festival so far (Wednesday and Thursday) - there are as many people as at the usual well attended milonga at Merc in Denver (about hundred). Yet, some good dancers are in attendance, mostly from New Mexico, even though all regions of US are represented (Seattle, North and South CA, New York, Boston, North Carolina, Seattle, Portland, Miami, Arizona, a dozen or so dancers from Colorado). I expect more people will show up for Friday milonga. According to organizers about 150 have registered for the classes.
Indeed more people have attended the Friday milonga. Talking of which, table placement was most unfortunate - all bunched at one side of the floor. Nearly impossible to attempt cabeceo or simply to watch dancers from second or third row.
Music. Robin (NY) DJed at Thursday evening minimilonga and deservedly got applause from the dancers after he was done. Obviously he knows more than just alternative tango. The rest of DJing was unremarkable except for some reason all of DJs played some not overly danceable modern bands toward the end of milongas. For dancing? Hard core Pugliese in the beginning of one milonga? No cortinas on Wednesday? On Friday two people have DJed for two hours each. Why?
People wandering around lobby wondering if there is any space to practice steps. Practica time would be nice. Well, after I wrote this I have joined the wandering people, who happened to be from Dallas, at the hotel's bar where we had danced for uninterrupted two hours to our own tango CDs. Definitely a highlight of this particular festival.
Where else but at tango festival can one wander into a passionate discussion of close vs. open embrace, which touches on physicality of the dance, universal estrangement, masturbation and Plato. Delicious hour. Way to go Tango Leva.
There are some good looking dancers in Dallas. You could see thirteen of them at very well made Tango calendar by Candice White. I had similar idea for a tango calendar, she had actually done it. Inspired like me by "Calendar Girls".
About classes. You have to buy entire day worth of classes at this festival, cannot buy one class at the time. This goes completely against the grain of how I take classes - one or two per day or per entire festival (my feeble mind cannot hold more material than that). So I have not taken any. However it gets even worse than that. If you do not take classes on Thursday you cannot get into the evening mini-milonga. Considering that this is Thanksgiving and pretty much everything is closed, all you are left with is books, internet and TV for entire day. Not very friendly if you ask me. Fortunately they have changed this particular policy, but a few people did not know that, got quite pissed off.
The perennial question of floorcraft. It was adequate for the room. The large size of the room in other words was the saving grace of the craft. I noticed that the savvier of the dancers tended to stay in the safer, outside lane. I tried to make myself look savvy and danced in the outside lane too - this way you have to worry about getting bumped from one side only, the left one.
After classes are done the lobby of the hotel is invaded by people with laptops - it has free wireless hotspot. Some listen to soccer games straight from Buenos Aires. Others write to Tango-L.
If you are in Austin and have a car at your disposal drive 35 minute south to exit 191 and find small tourist trap called Gruene. Have a steak and watch sunset at the restaurant perched on top of high river bank, then go to one of the oldest dance halls in Texas and dance some tango to country music. That should make your stay in Austin much more memorable and certainly different.
Overall mixed feelings about this festival. On one hand it's always exciting to discover new and fun partners. On the other foot DJing, class schedule and floor layout clearly could be more inviting.
Off to Saturday, overnight milonga.
Nov. 29, 2004 - Saturday overnight milonga, Fandango tango, Austin, TX
The milonga should have been billed show with a bit of milonga. I had to drive back to Colorado on Sunday. That meant I needed some sleep. That in turn meant I had to leave milonga before 2 AM. Due to some evil DJing by Robin I had to stay till 2:30 - how can one leave when Sacale Punta by Donato is playing? I had to rush out the room after the song in case he decided to play Corazon de Oro next).
I do enjoy watching other people dance but prefer much more to dance myself. Instead, I had to watch for two hours some tango performances plus violin performance by eight year old prodigy plus neverending rumbling performance by host who happened to be in love with his head microphone. ? You can tell that I felt a bit cranky about having to leave without being worn out by dancing. It's good to have a 10-15 minutes performance break after several hours of dancing. This is what they do in BsAs an it makes sense. However when break drags for two hours it overwhelms the rest of the activity.
Clay pointed out that unlike Portland festival the show attracts many paying non-dancing spectators. Good for them and possibly good for tango marketing but what about me, who simply wants to explore tango geography by dancing with partners from around the country?
Sep. 6, 2005 - Two pics and couple thoughts about Labor Day tango festival in Denver
It was good festival for me. On one hand I got to dance with many people I have not danced with for months or even years. There is this nice feeling of mutual recognition, rediscovery when you get to dance with someone after long intermission. On the other hand at the very first milonga I had experienced severe desire to revisit Buenos Aires - there were several dancers who had the Buenos Aires quality. Well, all it takes is to find cheap tickets right now.
Tom's experiment with cabeceo at the festival has brought mixed results. He has seated all followers at one side of the room and leaders at the other. This separate seating arrangement has worked beautifully at Lo de Celia and still works very nicely at Maipu 444 and to some extent at Club Espanol in Buenos Aires. However seating there is arranged around the floor, not at the two adjacent sides of the floor. Also those locations are relatively small and so it is not that difficult to catch an eye across the room.
At the festival on the other hand the floor was that of the size at Salon Caning and three to four rows deep seating of followers on one side of the floor and leaders at the perpendicular side has led to a situation where during cortina a wall of leaders would bunch up in the corner trying to get that special follower to look at them and preventing those seated behind the wall from doing cabeceo. Oh well, at least everyone got off the floor during cortinas (in the beginning) and the desire to use cabeceo was quite evident.
Met somebody who knows Sergio Vanderkier, who is apparently not Vandekier at all (Saco or somesuch if memory serves me right).
Target stores have sent some representatives to Cheeseman Park to give away free apples and to take polaroids at the outdoor milonga. Thus I got into possession of these two pictures.
Aug. 19, 2005 - Cabeceo at a festivalTom plans to introduce cabeceo and traditional sitting arrangements at the upcoming Labor Day tango festival in Denver. I like cabeceo but I wonder how and if it will work out in the festival culture. After all it is not as simple as asking several DJs to play music in tandas.
When you come to Buenos Aires everyone knows how to do cabeceo and is doing it so picking up the etiquette is natural and relatively simple. In Denver we will have a situation where most of the people are not accustomed to look into each other eyes as an invitation to dance. I wonder if cabeceo works anywhere outside Buenos Aires.
From Tango-L feedback: apparently people use cabeceo in Italy (certainly not in Japan) and anywhere else where Brian Dunn travels for tango. I was less lucky in my travels even though I have visited most of the same places Brian did.
Well, it's an interesting and worthwhile experiment.
Sep. 7, 2004 - Labor Day tango festival in Denver – impressions three days and minus three pounds later
Impression #1: The lessons – the farce and the poetry.
Two brightest impressions (besides an amazing display of root charka by Robin):
- Two bickering leaders at “Doing nothing to Pugliese” lesson for ten minutes doing nothing but bumping into each other and locking horns over where the inner and where the outer line of dance is and (in roaring wisper) why the other one is such an imbecile because _he_ crossed that imaginary line. I personally have not taken sides and agreed with both. I wonder what their partners thought about these guys? Granted the step taught at the lesson can be wide and intrusive why not spread a bit more or walk to other part of the room altogether – it is just a class after all.
- New fantastic feeling of actually flying through the single axis turn. This was something I was looking forward to learn for some time now and Hsueh-tze has delivered in spite of all the poetry she spreads liberally throughout her lessons (yes, she is a poet and I remain obstinately unenthusiastic about poetry). It is hard to pick single axis turn just by watching others – the mechanics are significantly different from other steps. All I could do was admire the flair, but I would always loose my balance when I tried to do it myself. Now I have the privilege of doing it because she knows how to break it down to important elements. Thanks Hsueh-tze.
She tantalizingly pointed out that she knows at least twelve different single axis turns and I happen to believe her, but restrained myself from taking private anyway because my rule of thumb is “learn no more than two new steps in any given weekend, you’ll forget the rest”. Hsueh-tze demoed one of the additional turns per my request in one stealthy swoop, which looked uncunningly similar to a move from kung fu movie – quick, beautiful and entirely incomprehensible.Overall the classes I went to where not bad at all.
Robin Thomas and Jeniffer Bratt’s class on Doing nothing to Pugliese was hands down the most entertaining and covered not only the footwork, but also root chakra, follower embellishments, root chakra, fundamentals from the root chakra perspective and of course musicality (root chakra sublimated). One of the followers told me that I am great Pugliese dancer – dubious compliment if you think about it, because now I have to work on being good with hundreds remaining individual orchestras. Robin often uses connecting side steps around the follower. I don’t do it nearly as often – new perspective gained (there is another valuable lesson hidden somewhere here ).
Hsueh-tze’s lesson on “a” single axis turn, as she put it, was great as I have mentioned above. Meticulous and well paced. I have caught only the last ten minutes of her another, milonga lesson where I have learned that I can do one of my usual milonga steps backwards (also by going back) and weaving it a bit (new variation). I have added the weaving brush to my forward step and it does feel good especially with slow milongas. There must have been more in the hour I have missed.
Robert Hauk's and Barbara Durr's lesson for beginners certainly opened new horizons to me too. At some point during the lesson Robert solemnly informed the beginners not yet hardened by rigors of hours of back ocho exercises that he can tell if leader is any good by looking at his behind while he walks and proceeded with demonstration of essentially Travolta walk from Saturday Night Fever as far as butt is concerned.
While I have admired the nonchalant suavity of his butt movement I couldn’t help pondering if I ever be able to be a good dancer in Robert’s eyes, considering that I prefer to use muscles of my entire leg to maintain good balance instead of just buttocks. Then to my utter horror I have recalled that Cacho Dante seemed to be doing the same thing and when later on I shared my concerns with Jani he happily informed me that this is what all of them do in Buenos Aires. Wellllll, I have never analyzed the finer points of gyrating my own tush while I dance, maybe I still have a chance? Or better yet one can still be a good Argentine tango dancer without excessive suavity expressed via his butt? I’ll have to investigate this matter further during upcoming visit to Buenos Aires. By the way I should keep it to myself probably but Barbara happens to be a very good follower (I am talking from connection, not behind perspective).
Impression #2: The dancing – humiliation and humility
It happened again, a follower walked out on me after just two dances in the tanda. Quite a blow, since it does not happen all that often lately. As any average Joe I blame this occurrence on combination of conspiring forces: shoes, floor, afternoon nap, differing dance styles and of course lawyers. (By the way if one does not wish to ever dance with me again the easiest way to achieve this goal is to walk out on me after only two songs in the tanda. Human, only human.) To heal the humiliation I have decided to perform an exercise in humility for the rest of the festival and not to walk out on any not so great dancers if I were to dance with them. As a precaution I decided to dance with only those followers who I know for sure will enjoy the experience. By 4 AM on Monday morning the selection narrowed down to one follower and, boy, would I be a happy puppy dancing with her only if it were not for painful life experience she went through and shared with me. Only now do I understand what makes her such an amazing tango dancer. The sword is brittle.
The music. I have a simple question: “Where can I get Tango in Harlem, besides bribing Robin in some way?” The alternative milonga he DJed this time was absolutely fantabulous. The conventional milongas were also quite good. All DJs even played no more than three milongas in one tanda and played slow milongas mostly, a pleasant surprise. Less people came compare to Memorial day weekend, but overall quality was high especially from the dancers coming from New York.
Discovered another tango blog describing Denver festival. Directly from the Godfather of the Memphis Argentine Tango Society. Impressions from Labor Day festival.
Jun. 1, 2004 - Memorial Day tango festival in Denver. Some impressions with shuffle step to the left.
What a wonderful weekend this was for a tango dancer to be in Denver. So many absolutely fabulous dancers from all over the US and world. Once more I had a chance to confirm that tango is the most cross-cultural dance out there. I personally danced with Bosnian, Korean, Japanese (2), Egyptian, Spaniard, Italian, Peruvian, Russian and Chinese and of course many American followers. All were outstanding dancers. Had I experienced tango trance? You bet. At 6 a.m. Monday morning I was like a kid in a candy store wishing for couple more days of dancing with all of them (perhaps too much like a kid). Thanks to all of you - it was over much too soon.
As usual I took weekend workshops. And as usual Briggita Winkler has managed both to challenge and to entertain as she taught. I have learned new cute hook, which I am going to use - the more you dance the more you learn, and decided not to use another sequence she taught - not everything you learn you dance.
Among other classes Alex Krebs taught one hour milonga workshop. Here he said something I strongly disagree with. Basically that unlike Argentinean women, North American followers cannot do small shuffle step to the left (relative to the line of dance), because they are hardwired by instructors to go into back ochos after this lead. Once he had said that I had led my follower to do that particular shuffle step then to do shuffle step to the right then shuffle step to back ochos. She was North American. I had no problem leading shuffle steps in any direction with all the followers I have danced with at this festival. Perhaps problem is not with geography? At this point I decided to leave the milonga workshop and this is how I happened to learn the cute hook from Briggita's class, which run in parallel in the other room.
Overall - great weekend.
Oct. 25, 2004 - Portland festival tango blog entry
Neil from Houston, TX has not wasted time and posted Portland festival impressions in his blog. No one else wrote anything to Tango-L. More than 600 people went, only one has returned with impressions worth writing about?
Well, I asked for it. Oodles of impressions from the festival. And another [n]oodle. All coming from a single message by Karen from Portland. I prefer to read personalized impressions like Karen's - you can appreciate the poster too.
Jun. 15, 2005 - Quality of dancing, navigation and show festivals
Burak "El Turco" wrote on Tango-L:
"Imagine everybody does ocho cortado's or gyros in same way. Since if you learned how to dance close embrace the different ways of doing the same move is quite a bit limited. Therefore, you will see an uniformed dance floor. Which might be so satisfying some people, this makes me sad."
There is no reason for your sadness, cheer up, El Turco: in my dancing in BsAs I have not encountered two followers who would feel as if they are doing ocho cortado or giro in the same way (notice that I am not talking about sequence of their footsteps).
and
"They [opininated instructors or friends who suffered in BsAs milongas] don't want to see other styles in the same dance floor because they think other style dancers causes problem in Ronda formation."
Several obvious questions:
Would you like to elaborate why this desire to maintain ronda flow and therefore not to bump into other dancers is wrong? A follow up question: in this case who creates the conflict on the dance floor? Related line of questions: being an instructor do you have an opinion on this subject? If you do does it make you an "opinionated instructor" by any chance?
and
On festival division: If there is a market for people who wish to learn show tango the show festivals should be organized. To my knowledge there are quite a few show tango oriented festivals in this country already (the festival in Austin comes to mind). It would be useful for attendees if these festivals were clearly defined as such. Milonguero weekends in Denver are clearly defined as social tango oriented festivals. Hence show dancers know that they would experience conflict of style and do not come to these festivals. Hence the conflict of styles is avoided once more. Why even bring it up?
Dec. 5, 2004 - Sunday in New York, New York
New York
New YorkNew York is fascinating urban jungle where tunnels and bridges cross the path and engulf your car. Construction scaffolds adorn buildings with yellow cabs hunting for and spewing out the passengers down below. Simply driving through the city is fun around here.
New York is also a place where you can go to three different milongas on Sunday. And so I did.
"La Milonguita Ideal". $10. 6:30-8 pm (out of 5:30-9:30 pm). West 25th Street (between 6th & 7th Aves.). This was exactly how I have imagined a milonga in New York should look like. You get to a dark indescript high-rise covered with those construction scaffolds. Locked glass door has tiny piece of paper taped to it informing that there is tango on eleventh floor and another one instructing to use buzzer 17. Very much unadorned elevator takes you up. Door opens and suddenly tango is heard.
Pay $10 to an amicable Carribean (not tango) dancer and she will let you in a room decorated with heavy red curtains, with support column in the middle and sofas, armchairs and plain chairs along the walls. Three couples are dancing and doing it rather well to tell the truth.
At it's most crowded there were probably ten couples dancing at this milonga. Most are rather young and somewhat hip. Mostly good close and some open embrace dancers with one nuevo couple doing their stuff. Host cooks hot empanadas in a toaster oven and free and fruity wine cocktail is served. As far as free food goes this is the best tango place I have ever been to. Music wasn't as great. About one third of it was with Julio Sosa singing - rich voice, poor dance music. Fortunately my hunger and delicious empanadas kept me busy. Once the hunger was satiated I moved on to Esmeralda at Session 73. By the way, before I move, it’s a small tango world after all - met the not so clandestine BsAs New Yorker at this milonga.
"Esmeralda's" at Session 73. $10. 8:30-10 pm (out of 5-10 pm). Corner of 1st Ave and 73rd St. Session 73 is club/restaurant where curious pedestrians can and do observe tango through large windows. Two floors are similar to those in Porteno y Bailarin in BsAs except about two times smaller and have benches instead of tables along the floor. A bit tight considering how many beginners dance here. Good music with cortinas and some salsa. Older and sizable crowd. Forty or so dancers with 2/3 of them women. Fortunately some of the women can lead and not afraid to do so. Clever hostess doubles as a coat checker and enthusiastic promoter of restaurant's kitchen. Danced for half an hour and had an interesting tango conversation with New Yorker who have just returned from three week stay in BsAs. Good dancer. Unconsciously and unfortunately prefers V-frame. Danced also with pretty good dancer visiting from Finland.
"El Recodo" at Dancesport Dance Studio. $10. 10:40 pm-12:30 am (out of 9 pm-12:30 am). 1845 Broadway, 2nd floor at 61st Street. Usual dance studio with small "milonga tables" surrounding the floor. Met several people whom I know from tango festivals (Boston, New York, Texas and me), which makes this milonga the best-known Sunday milonga in New York City I guess. Mixed crowd in all senses. About 60 dancers. Not bad music but I got a bit worn out by this time.
And so, if you are good dancer, like cosy armchairs and hungry - go to La Miloguita Ideal. If you are older than fifty and a leader head for Esmeralda's. If you are a couple go to either of two. Otherwise El Recodo is an all accommodating choice on Sunday in New York, New York.
By the way on Sundays you can park for free on Streets (not Avenues) in NYC.
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.
August 28, 2006 - Tango in the news
Gazette, local newspaper, has covered tango scene in Colorado Springs.
Sep. 18, 2004 - Stopover in Miami. Milonga at Randy's studio
Randy is skillful dancer/instructor who actually enjoys dancing and being the star of a show. The most welcoming host I have encountered so far. Milonga is in his newly remodelled studio and was attended mostly by students from his rather sizable class. There were couple Argentineans and surprise (to me) karaoke by local perfformer uncanningly similar to Goyneche in his delivery. I thoroughly enjoyed connection with two followers. As usual there is a pinch of nostalgia when you think about those particular dances. Most dancers do tango in open or in pseudo-close embrace in spite of valiant and mostly vocal efforts by Randy to squash couples together. I would modify my approach to instruction instead.
The swimming suite was a success too.
The Tango HouseOct. 31, 2004 - Couple pics from Halloween milongas. The Tango House and Mercury Cafe.
I guess I'll have to get a costume next year. People certainly took the dressing up to heart in Denver. Fabulous costumes. I attempted to win free tickets for the next milonga at tango house in the least dressed up category and failed. Suffice to say that I can recall only five people who would qualify in that category at The Tango House, not surprisingly all are men (about half of the crowd at Mercury showed up without costumes). My favorites: at Merc - thunder cloud with rain and blinking lightning shooting through the cloud by Mary Kay - and she made it herself! (a weak spot for me) as well as that short dress (another weak spot for me) by Tara. At TTH: too many and all different too, however overall - the sultan by Chaz (great mask too) and Firebird by Mary Kay. Unfortunately I was able to take few pictures - batteries in my camera have died almost right away.
Rick, on the other hand had his batteries fully charged. Here are the pictures he has taken.
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