ARRIVAL in Buenos Aires

We like to use VIP Car for their excellent service from EZE to our corner in downtown- the exciting corner of Paraguay y Calle Florida. The drivers are always young men, clean cut in white shirts and black pants, always courteous. The drivers speak very little English, so I usually get a chance to practice my limited Spanish. How is the weather? etc.
Today Mike sat in front to stretch his legs after the 12 hour flight. ( the new knees were not the problem I thought!) Today the driver had very acceptable English. He hadn't been to the States, but spoke rapidly and used tenses much better than I will ever use the impossibe Spanish ones. Mike tried to speak to him in Spanish- he didn't understand a word and it became funnier and funnier as the 45 minutes zipped by. Finally I opened my big mouth and yelled from the back seat, "He speaks English!" Duh!
 God, are we tired and punchy, but so happy to be in the balmy sunny days of Argentina.
And for Mike....I am so delighted to be in BA again. Peace has come over me like a blanket. Estoy tan encantado de estar en Buenos Aires otra vez. La paz se ha apoderado de mí como una manta.

LOOKING BACK at our 6th SEASON

You can find us on Facebook  -NEPA Tang0 in the Tent
This season, our 6th started with Anne and Will Francois providing transportation for Carlos Duarte from BA and NYC on June 3rd.. A fine lesson- back to basics.
"Back to Basics" was the theme for every lesson this summer.
Every Sunday we had tango with a crowd- always 20 and usually more- maybe double.
Because we never ask, it's an adventure every week.

We closed in October on the 7th with Sid Grant minus the dog Zoro.
 Looking backwards- here is a recap of a wonderful summer in FACTORYVILLE PA.

SID GRANT- RETURNS- KEEP the dance FLOWING!

Sunday, October 7

STANLEY VOTRUBA and CYRENA DRUSINE- CLOSE EMBRACE and ADDING ADORNOS

Sunday, September 30,

ANDY KAYE'S LESSON- MUSICALLITY and the PAUSE

Sunday, September 23

***CARLOS DUARTE de CHE returns***

Sunday, September 2
Mike has 2 new knees this week- 7 days old, but he still made it to the tango tent.
Milonga Lesson with Jon Tariq and Della!!!!
Sunday, August 19

TANGO with JUNIOR CERVILA & NATALIA ROYO

Sunday, August 5

Cathie Julius & Terry Bauch- Tango in the TENT

Sunday, July 15

SID GRANT in the TANGO TENT

Sunday, July 1

Dynamic Cruzadas with Carl and Elizabeth

Sunday, June 17

TENT opens this SUNDAY with CARLOS DUARTE

Sunday, June 3

TANGO at SECOND FRIDAY ART WALK Clarks Summit PA Friday, June 8, 2012 at 7:00pm

 

Am I now THE BOOK THIEF?

"When you dance tango you must give everything.
      If you can't do that, do not dance."
      -Ricardo Vidort


"El Tango te Espera."  
    -Anibal Troilo

Mike found the above quotes this week,  but the excerpt from Erich Fromm's book "The Sane Society" is what we talk about and think about in our lives.

    "Even if man has knowledge, even if he performs his work well, if he is decent, honest, and has no worries with regard to his material needs- he is not and cannot be satisfied.
     "He must act out with his body what he thinks out with his brain."
     "If man expresses his grasp of the world by his senses, he creates art and ritual, he creates song, dance, drama, painting, sculpture. I shall use "collective art" meaning the same as ritual; it means to respond to the world in a meaningful, skilled, productive, active, shared way.

6th SEASON for our TENT

Last night at Farley's Mike and I had that rare, rare, rare  tango that I wait for. We had already shut the music down when 3, a bit tipsy, couples wandered in and begged to "Please" see one tango. I reattached the power, hooked the Ipod back in and picked La Morocha for our tired legs and feet. This was it. Just about once or twice in a very long stretch of tandas the perfect tango hits us both at the same time. LOST in the music, aware of nothing but the music. Nada mas, but total absorption in the beat and  the mournful sound that makes the tango what it is. I often wonder if the young dancers, who are our patient teachers and now our friends experience the unexplainable feeling from that strange relationship-  intense connection with another, a bandoneon and notes on a page of 4/4 time.
You know, this tango tent of ours is a labor of love and commitment. Today, only 8 days since we've been back from 2 months in Buenos Aires, the tent is up, floor down, rug ready to be cleaned, everything else is cleaned and almost ready to go for our opening on June 3rd with Carlos Duarte de Che. Only the designated silk flower washer called in sick, but Mary Ethel accomplished the flower job and her vacuuming. 12-3. A not so great lunch and conversation about the Coptic Society and now we nap before Angela Lansbury tomorrow. Gouri on Monday. Every day is a treasure.

New Post

Tango is tangled in my head. I need to post more to sort out what I need to know.
This month Mike and I have heard, "SLOW it down, keep the embrace and the connection at almost every lesson."
To A:  Keep your shoulders level- the right shoulder is YOURS. Keep B in front of you at all times.
To C:  Get that left arm out and in front. Don't change the embrace or use the arm to turn. Turn from the back.
To D:  Watch movies of yourself dancing the tango. Caress the floor. Dance into the floor and stop leading.
To E: Stop the "show tango" and dance more forward, side and back without the hip sway.
To F: Slow it down, feel the music and wait for the man to change your weight.
To G  : Give the woman the time to get on her axis and then take the next step.
To H  : Keep the chest tilted up and always lead with the chest ( the indication) before you invite the woman to step.
             To all:  EVERY Step is a TANGO. FEEL the music first, and dance the SILENCE with a breath or a slight motion of the torso.
                Now if only I could LEARN some of this great advice.

Finally- I've Settled Into MY OWN STYLE

I think Daniela Arcuri started changing my dance with work on my embrace. Before Daniela I tended to collapse my left side during the tango. Little by little with great care and help from so many patient teachers, I think my tango is as Argentine as it can be for my age, beginner level of dance and no dance experience.
The dance feels slower, more grounded and the music is my guide.
This is all thanks to Johana Copes, Cecilia Gonzalez, Gustavo Diaz, Eduardo Saucedo, Marisa Quiroga, Oliver Kolker, Silvina Valz, the Gaunas, Alberto Paz, Valerie Hart, Carina Mele, Junior Cervila, Natalia Royo, Cathie Julius,  Donna Coccodrilli, Sid Grant, Eliana Sanchez, Maria Angeles Rodriguez, Augusto Balizano, Bettina Vainer, Pablo V and CHICHE.
At different times each of these fabulous teachers nudged me forward into my own style.
I want to list the names so I never forget how each, of these professionals, many of them now friends, worked with me and made me realize I could persevere and learn the dance as it is danced in Argentina.
And the bad ones? It's a bit comical and so sad to watch what passes for Argentine Tango here and in Buenos Aires so my solution is not to think about it and definitely not to watch.

Dancing Makes you SMARTER

Mike found another one.

http://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm


One of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind. There was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.

Reading - 35% reduced risk of dementia

Bicycling and swimming - 0%

Doing crossword puzzles at least four days a week - 47%

Playing golf - 0%

Dancing frequently - 76%.


That was the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical

Getting the Music Right- a GOOD ORDER for Learning Musicality

                     * A Few of My Favorites *
1. Francisco Canaro- clear and simple beat, slow
     *Cuartito Azul                                  *Gloria
2. Miquel Calo-         clear and simple beat, slow
     *Al Compas del Corazon                  * A La Gran Muneca
3. Carlos DiSarli-       clear and simple beat- you can add a vocal dimension
      * Nido Gaucho                                *La Capilla Blanca
4. Juan D'Arienzo-     (the rhythm king)   hear and learn to move to the 2x4 rhythms
     * Pampa                                           * El Flete
5. Anibal Troilo-         subtle rhythms or add the vocals of  Fransisco Fiorentino

6. Ricardo Tanturi-    subtle rhythms or add the vocals of Alberto Castillo

7. Alfredo De Angelis-solid music between smoothness of DiSarli and the drama of Pugliese

8. Osvaldo Pugliese-  challenging rhythms in his later years, but wonderfully compelling

9.  Rodolfo Biagi.-       2x4 rhythms with striking elements of his own.

                        PS      Don't forget to DANCE the side step.

From TANGO-E-VITA

Now that Mike is taking the musicality to a new and much more serious level he has been searching the internet for a connection to the mysteries of the beat. The following 3 entries are not from me, but from TANGO-E-VIDA.

FIRST ENTRY:
The concept of leading and following in tango is radically different then in predictable dances. The woman follows by "feeling" her partner's chest-changes. Inside the dance-hold which is a spiral, the partners feel the circular movements. The more the other is sensitive towards you, the more the experience will be intensified. The tanguero's movements which must be clear and simple, giving one step-direction at the time, and he should go about it with a quiet and relaxed manner, and he has to be relaxed to be fast. The movement power is generated from the lower abdomen and legs. Upper body strength and muscle-tonus can extent the elastic guiding, especially when the tanguera is doing a boleo. There is no pushing or pulling by the man and he also must listen and respond to the way the lady moves. She has the abilities and capacities to sabotage, to delay and to dislocate the effect of leading. This gives the man a dynamic dimension of uncertainty, which is a good test for his frustration level. This is the addictive thing, for both.

ENTRY 2:
 The woman gives the freedom to the man to express herself by forming the dance, he is responsible for giving to her a safe, structured space in which she can express herself freely according to his playing and she can play back. The goal is a pleasant dance experience that gives memories.

ENTRY 3:
In Argentine tango, the act of stepping is philosophy, physically walking a fluent stream of energy, continuously flowing and graceful in shape. But beauty is more than being graceful, if tango is erotic, it is manipulative and violent too. A passion needs unpredictable surprises and breathless rhythmic accumulations, as in Mozart. It deepens the contact and gives an energy-kick, physically. This can be seen in the stepping. The tango rhythm is based on the 2x4, 2 strong beats on 4:

1 2 3 4
A way to make this 1-2 -mark visible in the act of stepping is ...

on 1 : lifting the knee and the heel of the foot, and slowly starting moving = expanding like a bandoneón.

on 2 : stretching the leg, fast like a clasp-knife, and putting the foot down like a knife-thrust, a thrusting flash, a strong stab to the heart, una puñalada with an Argentinian Facón.

As stabbing happens fast, quick, the duration of the marking moment is extremely much shorter than the earlier lifting of the knee, the extending. That contrast gives a striking tension, a noticeable suspense.

It looks like:

_______1_______ ... /2\ _______3_______ ... /4\

etc...

It sounds like La Yumba ...

In dancing, as in knife-fighting and boxing, it is nice to know that the flexibility of the body increases when the feet are in a more open \ /-position rather than close together, stiff.

http://users.telenet.be/Tango-E-Vita/go2_bestanden/Tango-E-Vita.htm Tango-Evita

DiSarli, Pugliese, D'Arienzo

Salon-Style Tango- Our dance.. It takes practice to understand it, find it and keep it.
   Salon-style tango is typically danced to the most strongly accented beat of tango music played in 4x4 time, such as DiSarli. Those who dance salon-style tango to Juan D'Arienzo or Rodolfo Biagi typically ignore the strong "ric-tic-tic" rhythm that characterizes the music. Salon-style tango requires that dancers exercise respect for the line of dance.

Ric-Tic-Tic Rhythm

Ric-tic-tic is onomatopoeia for the staccato rhythms that are prominent in the music of Juan D'Arienzo, Rodolfo Biagi, and some other golden-era orchestras. With Biagi on the piano, D'Arienzo's orchestra debuted in the 1930s with the ric-tic-tic rhythm. Although some describe music with the ric-tic-tic rhythm as 2x4, the characteristic rhythm of this music is actually created through a variation in accented beats that yields an alternation of single-time and double-time rhythms. For example, the music might be played one and two and, one and two and, one and two and, one and two and (where boldface represents the accented beats), and the dancers might respond slow, slow; quick, quick, slow; slow, slow; quick, quick, slow. One might express the chararacteristic stacatto rhythm of this music as one, two; ric, tic, tic; one, two; ric, tic, tic.



Some tangos contain more complex rhythms and longer phrases of double-time staccato accents. Juan D'Arienzo's "El Flete" contains a rhythmic figure of one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and. For the dancer adhering strictly to the accents, that rhythmic figure becomes the demanding and rapid fire slow, pause, slow, pause; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause; slow, slow, slow, slow; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause. For a dancer taking the music at half speed, the rhythmic figure becomes the familiar slow, pause, slow, pause; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause; slow, slow, slow, slow; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause (where boldface represents the beats used for dancing).