The GIFT and Publishing THIS WRITING

Helen and Mary want to give me a gift, but the gift arrived when they arrived. I GOT IT. What a pleasure to watch them- faces of joy  that come naturally when someone understands the music, the dance, and the life here in this amazing city. They GOT IT.
During our lesson with Carlos Copello yesterday at La Viruta, he asked what is the tango. There were many responses: feeling music, connection, movement etc. All the standard responses. Mike leaned over and whispered in my ear, "The heart of the dance is the Argentine people." He GOT IT!
This has been a truly perfect time here for us. If I can figure out how to put this blog into a little book, it will be a gift for my partner in life and my partner in the dance. TANGO.....Y NADA MAS!

Another LIST See us on Facebook NEPA Tang0 in the TENT

Summer of 2014  Here is ONE MORE list so we can look back at a wonderful, almost rain free summer.
   Argentine Tango every Sunday
   June-September 5:30-8:30
   Many couples joined in: Wednesday Couples Practicas
We started with a fund raiser at The Cooperage in Honesdale.
May 18  The movie, The Tango Lesson, followed by a lesson with Vince and Anna Gallo.
June 1   Tent OPENED- Joe Krenetsky walked us through the vals.
June 8    Jon Tariq "Feel the Music"
June 15 "Milonga Moves" with Carl and Elizabeth
JULY 6   "World Champions- Eliana y Carlos Arias from Colombia"
JULY 20 "Andy Kaye- Tango in his Smooth Style"
AUGUST 8 " Our DRAWING, tango, SOCIAL" with Ted Michalowski
AUGUST 10 "Andy Kaye- Turns in Tight Places"
AUGUST 25 "Frank Como- Starting the Beginners"
SEPTEMBER 13 "ANOTHER Ted Michalowski DRAWING SOCIAL"
SEPTEMBER 14 "Johana Copes and Joaquin Besga  Salon Tango"  with a sweet guitar by Jay Stevesky on Saturday and Sunday.
SEPTEMBER 21 "ANDY KAYE- Finding the Pause in the MUSIC"
SEPTEMBER 28 "Anton Gazenbeek-Person brings ADORNOS"
NOVEMBER 16 "Milonga at BLU WASABI in Clarks Summit for 26.
   Thank you ALL for "showing up" and for the delicious FOOD.
    After all this, here we are in Buenos Aires to find our tango.























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Twice Through- Carlos Copello's Interview

FROM the interview  "CARLOS COPELLO Tengo una pregunta para vos"  Watch this over and over on YouTube.
This one is too good to miss- an hour  + of some amusing tango history. One day I will track down all the great dancers or friends he mentions and find clips of their movements. Forgive incorrect spellings.
PERA(PERITO), EL TURCO JOSE, EL NEGRO MANSILLA, POTROLEO,
ORLANDO(COCO) DIAZ, ALBERTO MORAN, OSCAR LARROCA,
PORTALEA(EL NEGRO), MIGUEL BALMACEDA, ANTONIO TODARO,
PEPITO AVALLENEDA (PEPE), RAUL BRAVO,
 FINO(FINITO),FRANCISQUITO,MILONGUITA, LAMPAZO, MARIANO MORES
.....and the women   MILENA PLEBS, TITA MERELLO, CARMENCITA CALDERON.
              Next a few of his quotes:
"My life is a milonga"
"Before it was about quality, now it's about quantity."
"If you wanted to learn, you had to watch." "Just watch."
"It's about feeling peaceful and satisfied."
"Real tango is for a few chosen ones."
"It's like you lose track of something."
"Embrace your tango."
"Each of us has a style."
"Tango changed my life."
"Tango gives you pleasure. It just delivers you to the dance floor."
"Everyone should dance his own style."
          Mike and I will dance with him again on Saturday- ahhhh!
           

Next Time I Post, BUT Today.

Next time I post I will make a list of all the activity and surprises at our (Facebook) NEPA Tang0 in the TENT last summer. Frank Como kept showing up every Sunday from Waverly, NY.- 1 1/2 hours NW with his crew of dedicated followers. We also added in 2 "Drawing Socials" with Ted Michalowski and a group of new friends- coaxed them all to try a little embrace and walking to DiSarli.
So here we are, 4 months in the cocoon of tango.
Getting in the taxi at EZE last Monday, I sighed, I AM HOME. Getting off the plane in the USA I always say, I am back.
Our lovely tango school, EAT, at the Galerias had closed in August and I wondered what we would do for a quick lesson on a whim, usually a daily whim. Mike, on Wednesday, said lets just walk up there. My thoughts were-NO-not to look at the depressingly closed door.
SURPRISE!
Claude Murga was jumping around in the welcoming, repainted school, so thrilled to be the director of the new Nuevo EAT= NEAT on Facebook. New lighting, new air conditioners and everything SO clean. It opened this week with some of our favorite teachers on the building schedule. Now we dance close to home, and always in our thoughts

Mike and I studied with Gabriel Misse in 2006 at our first festival in BsAs and we studied with him again in NYC in 2013.

I like this quote from the NY Times- August 12, 2013

Gabriel Missé and Analía Centurión performing at Dardo Galletto Studios.

By ALASTAIR MACAULAY

Yes, tango is inherently dramatic and scintillatingly musical, but its whole emphasis can be distorted by rendering it theatrical or exhibitionistic.

At a recent master class in Vail, Mr. Missé ended by stressing that, when you have mastered the principles of tango, you fill it with your own expression.

DRAFT of another Poem

What Comes Down OUR Calle Florida
Yeah, Yeah all the tour books say a million pedestrians stroll these 16 blocks every day.
Beware the ladrones!
Shoppers, vendors, tourists all purposefully moving along at different  paces.
Moving past our building where our tiny apartment gives me a glimpse of the street, a glimpse when I hang off the narrow balcony and stretch a long neck to the left. 
If  the wind blows from the east, luring words drift upward, "cambio, cambio, cambio" or "tango show, lady" or "leather factory, lady" as they echo through soft street music.
But other happenings along Calle Florida stun me into silence.
There was butterfly week. Up they came from south to north,
Tiny orange flutterers tinted with yellow, day after day
Zooming up past the 11^th floor and out of sight
On a mission to somewhere, I think.
More butterflies than the determined window shoppers. Why don’t you look up at these fragile beauties, I wonder    
And the clouds.
The puffy ones float by from west to east
White figures against deep blue where I search for tango dancers or other kinds of mating rituals    
Oops, there goes a spouting whale- moving backwards next to a toadstool forest
My bed in the window where the street sounds are muted from Cordoba is a candy store.
The southern cross stares down at me from this window bed, but I doubt if the pedestrians along the street below look above to find its silent beauty
How can life become that busy?
Karen Lucey    April 2014

KHALIL GIBRAN- posted by Amanda Gris

Cierta vez una bailarina con sus músicos había arribado a la corte del Príncipe de Birkasha. Y, admitida en la corte, bailó ante el príncipe al son del laúd, de la flauta, de las tablas y tambores, y de la cítara.
Bailó la danza de las estrellas y la danza del espacio, y por último la danza de las flores al viento. Luego se detuvo ante el Príncipe e inclinándose, le hizo una reverencia.
El príncipe emocionado le pidió se acercara y le dijo:
" Bella mujer, hija de la gracia... y del encanto, de donde viene tu arte? Como dominas tú la tierra y el aire en tus pasos y el agua y el fuego con tu ritmo y tu cadencia?"
La bailarina se inclinó de nuevo ante el Príncipe y le contestó:
"Su alteza, no estoy segura como responder su pregunta, pero sí sé que el alma del filósofo vive en su cabeza,
el alma del poeta en su corazón, que el alma del cantor vibra en su garganta.
Pero que en cambio, el alma de la bailarina, vive en todo su cuerpo"
Khalil Gibran


Once, a dancer with her ​​musicians had arrived at the court of the Prince of Birkasha. And, she, admitted in court, before the prince, danced to the sound of the lute, flute, drums and tables, and zither.
  She danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and finally the dance of flowers in the wind. Then she stopped and bowed to the Prince- he bowed.
  The prince asked her to approach excited and said:
  "Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? Like you dominate the earth and the air in your footsteps and water and fire with your rhythm and cadence?"
  The dancer bowed again before the Prince and replied:
  "Your Highness, I am not sure how to answer your question, but I do know that the soul of the philosopher lives in his head,
  the poet's soul in his heart, the soul of the singer vibrates in his throat.
 But instead, the soul of the dancer, lives in his whole body "
  Khalil Gibran