WEIGHT! WAIT!

Mike maybe  thinks he is still in the Melrose Games at Madison Square Garden. I often wear his silver medal close to my heart and think about that time over 60 years ago when he won that stunning piece of silver. But this dance is not a race. When Alberto Paz said, "Go, Mike go!" I first thought he was being kind, but NO he's watching a dance that looks like a marathon. Now we are learning to slow it down and keep it in a small space.
Back to basics we go again.
1. S-l-o-w it down. Lento. Take 2 beats or more for each step.
2. Every step is a tango, Pause momentarily, breathe, settle into the standing leg. wait for me to collect and then mark the next step before you go forward or wherever. Know where I am and then when my feet are collected  I'm ready for the next step.
3. Keep the back straight. Remember the exercise on the wall.
4. Be more decisive with the lead.

The cunitas- step to my center and lead me back to your center. Turning them looks great, but not more than 3.
Gustavo wants Mike to practice a traspie after the side step- before the next forward step.

What is different about our tango?. Something inside keeps moving at all times. My focus is on my standing leg. Our embrace is more comfortable. Our weight is grounded. Mostly I'm lost in the music and pushing into the step.
Now I am not TRYING to tango. But I know I'd never win a silver medal or any medal for my so called Argentine Tango.

Augusto Whispers Again- but not to ME.

A tall, quite striking man showed up on Friday in our afternoon class at the Galerias. He is elegant and walks to the beat. He shows off his long lanky legs and quick pivots. His sense of musicality makes me stare. I stepped away from Mike for a moment to watch. He holds the step until the last moment- waiting, waiting and moves slowly or rapidly to the music. I am engrossed and watching from his waist down to the floor when I hear the whisper of Augusto, "But it's not the tango."   "What?", I think. Sr. Lanky Legs is missing the essence of the dance. He's missing the marca and subtle lead with his chest and back- the push into the step from his center isn't there. This is a lesson to me to watch the upper body and the torso. Augusto says the closer the embrace the more torsion is needed from the chest- interesting.  Now to try to make it all happen without a thought.

Augusto Whispers

We slip into as many lessons with Augusto Balizano as we can. He has such a variety of classes- levels of dancers,  sometimes mostly men, sometimes mostly women and tonight we were blessed with a lesson for only 3.
When I dance with Augusto I get a whisper 1/2 way through each dance.

The First Week: Think only of my supporting leg only and wait.
Last Week:         Think of my back as if I'm reclining in a chair- open my chest but also open my back  and settle into the chair. Mike is "holding the baby". While all this occurs keep the hip back and in. OH GOD!
Tonight:              Resist the step, allow the free leg to feel like it belongs to a rag doll - now, wait until the last moment of the lead and music to move.

His patience shows in his eyes. How lucky we were to have our friend from PA join in a lesson with us this week.

The TABLE

Our ankles are sore from all the pivoting with Eliana Sanchez- starting with 1/4 pivots, then 180's and finally 270's- usually mine is a 260. We do this over and over for balance, control and centering our bodies.
Back to the sore ankles. Still in search of a folding table there isn't one to be had in the local stores. Everyone says to head to Avenida Belgrano, where we bought our 2 chair and little tables last year. Mike is tired. I am tired. Our friend is coming form PA and we need to sit 3 at a table. My idea is to look at the local Ebay - Mercado Libre and have a table delivered. The search turns up a table that LOOKS just right. It's pine, it's a little big, but I think we can squeeze it in the living room. Many emails and phone calls later we have a delivery date set. This is all done by phone and email.
 Mike says, "I think you should SEE it before you buy it."
 Me, as always a little stubborn and thinking of our tired legs, says, " I think it will work out just fine." Long story short. The doorbell rings and in comes this HEAVY HEAVY table that's too big and very hard to open and close. Thank God it folds up and fits behind our couch. If someone reads it and wants a table. It's yours! bring a truck.

From Perri and his blog

Perri can be read at: kayakhombre.blogspot.com
Here's a part of his post from November 2011.

"After reading a few of her posts on foreigners acting like sluts at milongas in Buenos Aires, and all the promiscuity going on down there, I had a renewed sense of self-worth. To read how much of a tourist trap the tango scene in Argentina has become, I felt better about my situation and all the times I have forced myself to act in a manner my children would not be ashamed of.




I probably feel ‘lost’ because I’m single and I’m poor. I should be happy because I’ve got two healthy daughters in great colleges and I’m healthy as well, but it is difficult not to wish I was rich and in a relationship with a great woman. C’est la vie! Life is always greener on the other side.


Which brings me back to the writer of the tango-spam blog. I think she is not happy and sounds kind of lost. She’s healthy and living in her dream city, hoping to meet Mr. Right. One thing I got on her is, I know how good we’ve got it here. She is just now finding out that she lives in a society where she will always be just an object of sexual desire and the dance she loves so much has become so commercial it is hard for her to find it in its true form."

My comment- Perri, travel to the deep south.  The tango awaits you.

Diego- My barber

After a leisurely breakfast we strolled west on Alvear to see if my favorite barber could give me just a "little" trim. Also we were on a side trip to find a folding table for our living room. Anyway, Diego gathered me in for hugs and kisses. His round face smiles from ear ro ear.
Diego starts the trim and I make the BIG mistake. practicing my spanish I tell him he is an artista. Of course this makes his grin wider and his scissors faster and faster. The trim becomes a cut and the cut gets shorter and shorter. "oh no", I think. The complement was a backfire. Now I have hair sticking up and unmanageable, but...... well, everything here is a drama and an adventure. In 3 weeks I'll look like my "chemo" is over and maybe I'll be ready for another trim with hugs included. We saved the table search for another day.

Written 3 YEARS AGO in Buenos Aires

15 days of lessons- then Johana Copes


All the figures run together in a blur and the worst part of this is that I HATE figures.

Johana was so kind to take Mike and I into a separate room at the Museum of Tango and work with us on basic walking for an hour.The floor was slippery , newly waxed, and I kept sliding nervously off my axis.

Julio wet a towel and put it in the corner where we could plant our feet every few minutes. My dancing has NEVER been worse and Mike was no better. All the skating lessons we had before our pairs competition didn’t help -the slippery floor worked under us like a sheet of ice. The 2 ½ years of hard work since we started with Johana in November of 06 fell away into awkward nonfeeling tango- the tango I hate. The more I thought about what she was thinking the worse it got. Side srep, short step, l-o-o-o-ng step. The V. Reach back, push back. Finally the last dance and we were free to stare at beautiful Antonella. Mike held her for a picture then we went to the street and better days ahead. Giving up the skating was easy. After this lesson I think giving up the tango might be the best choice for my old bones.

On a Different NOTE

Junior Cervila's thinking:
It could only be a coincidence but Tango and Freud's psychoanalytic
theories were born at the same time.
Ever since 'Libido' has been the force of human sexual energy.
Freud described the Super-ego (what is taught to us by our parents and
society at large), the ego (our personality) and the It ( our instictive
unconscious forces).
He initially thought that there were two basic forces motivating the human
psyches. One erotic and the other non-erotic.
he later came to revise his view when it became clear to him that it was
impossible to maintain that distintion.
He was finally was convinced that sexual drive was the main force motivating
human behavior and action.
Sex is then what moves us, not only us; it moves animals and plants as well.
We are here to grow, have sex and reproduce.

The individual comes and goes, the species remains.
Tango for me is the sublimation of that view, there is an encounter, an
embrace, a dance of passion and love, a sublime orgastic force that is
expressed by the dance, the end of the music and the encounter.
Another tango and another experience, for ever and ever, birth, love and
death.
Have nice tangos everybody. The people that can live with their own
sexuality
and those asexuals.

Junior

http://www.latindancecarnival.com/

Gayle Gibbons Madeira

Looking through Sid Grant's Facebook page I found this quote from his partner- winners of 2011 National Salon Tango Championship


Artists Statement


I believe that painting and dance flow from the same source and the viewer is a participant in the choreography of my paintings. The fragility of life fascinates me and through the creation of extreme close-up portraits I search for intimacy and connections.
 - Gayle Gibbons Madeira

SIDNEY GRANT!!!!!!!

Why would I spend my day dusting cobwebs out of the downstairs dance room, planting yellow flowers, hanging a hammock, dressing a mannequin and dressing an enormous plastic elephant, buying mini Milkbones? Also worrying about the food, the music, the extra pounds- all this- when I know the 2011 National Salon Tango Champion does not wear white gloves.
SIDNEY GRANT.

The Magic Kiss

Eduardo Saucedo, a bear of an instructor, has almost dropped me to my knees with what I now call the "Eduardo Kiss". The kiss starts on the cheek and stays there as it deepens into another place down inside. It's what Eduardo explains is the feel of the perfect tango. That tango happens along when the mood is just right or the music is just right. Mike and I experience the Eduardo tango when we least expect it and look at each other and say maybe we should quit right now. If you experience the "Eduardo Kiss", pass it on. If you experience that intensity in a tango remember it forever.

Walter- Tango Tent Opening -34+ turned out to dance!

Walter comes early, never says a word, digs in and prepares food, helps Mike with the drinks and ice.
Walter stays to the end, visits and cleans up the mess- puts the food away. Often he hauls in the chairs and rugs. Mat and Suzanne do the same. What would we ever do without these wonderful support friends who just show up and help us.
Our opening was JOYOUS! New faces and the tango was alive with Mike's selection of music. Strong beat.  There is a tango addict in the making- WAB could that be you?
When will I ever get to dance with Mike again? New faces need to get a start somewhere. HELP!

A Month Off

Haven't posted for a month. Our tango tent opens tomorrow- Sunday June, 5th.
The list of outdoor projects was long. Mike and I dug in and worked almost every day. I can't believe at 76 he could spread 4 tons of gravel.
Finally we hired a lawn service to mow/weedwack.
People popped in to help. Mike Andrews and Vince Gallo with the tent raising.
Vince Gallo came back to put down the floor. Walter Paduck painted the new chairs. The support to get this monster going keeps US going.
Tomorrow at 5:30- rain or shine- we DANCE!

Stolen again!!!!

Learn from Gavito and Marcela. He doesn't just know where she is. He feels exactly how she is. Physically. Emotionally. Her history. The cries of her ancestors. This is the apotheosis of tango.

Another GEM from a Gavito Interview- SOME EXCERPTS

"By the way, as a professional dancer, I always make the distinction between social tango, and the tango performed on stage. One has nothing to do with the other. Stage tango is done to sell tickets, while social tango is dancing for your own enjoyment. That's why I've never understood the "ganchos" (hooks) and kicks in social tango. I always make it clear to students that I don't teach
ganchos. I would only do it if you want to become professional and you want to learn a specific choreography from me; then ganchos. I would only do it if you want to become professional and you want to learn a specific choreography from me; then I will do that, I will teach ganchos. But not in social tango. I feel strongly about that."

 Before we go any further I would like to mention my teachers, I made a promise to always mention them: contrary to many tango dancers, I didn't
have dance teachers, I had tango teachers. One was Julián Centeya, he was a poet and he was my best teacher. If you listen to the tango "Café Domínguez," the one who is talking at the beginning is Julián. He was my best teacher because he taught me tango from the inside. The other teacher I would like to mention is Miguel Caló. I worked with him and his orchestra in Buenos Aires around 1963. He would say "listen to the music, now listen to the voice of Raúl Berón, dance the voice, just the voice, now dance the piano". He directed me like I was another musician in the orchestra. He made me understand how to listen to the music and what I should listen to. These were my two tango teachers."

Mike and I are working with Vince Brust- studying the musicality in Cafe Dominguez. It's a beauty. Violins, verse and chorus in the sweetest style.

Again from Carlos Gavito
"Today, when people dance tango you can see every dancer rush to do steps. There should never be a rush to do a step, we should enjoy it while we are doing it and make it last, dwell on it. I often say this, when I dance tango, I enjoy so much the step I'm doing on that moment, that I want to make it last. The same as when we were kids and we would get five pennies to get an ice cream; we would lick it slowly, trying to make the most out of it because we knew that when the ice cream is gone there's no more! So I don't see the rush to finish one step and go into the next one. I think it's much more interesting to do one, stop, without really stopping but more like a pause and just do nothing for a while, enjoying the moment and then go on to do something else. I think most people rush because they don't know how to do nothing and that's the most difficult.
.....And that is also something that people should understand: the relation between you and your partner is not personal. What is personal between the two of you is that you are both trying to caress the music with your feet.

Some girls get fed up with following, and they want to dance like a man because they say it's more entertaining. But I say you don't have enough time in your lifetime to learn how to follow well. So I would recommend to these girls to really learn how to follow."

R: What makes a good tango dancer?
CG: A good tango dancer is one who listens to the music.
R: Is that the only criteria?
CG: Yes. We dance the music, not the steps. Anybody who pretends to dance well never thinks about the step he's going to do, what he cares about is that he follows the music. You see, we are painters, we paint the music with our feet. Musicians play an instrument and use their fingers, their hands. Dancers use their toes.

.....the way I dance is the way I teach, and I teach simplicity. Sometimes, a step can look very easy and simple, but when people try to recreate it, they can't, because simplicity is not always easy.

R: It’s easier to dance fast than dance slowly...
CG: Right. I sometimes see that the person who dances fast is actually trying to hide mistakes. The dancer who dances slowly does it because he's a hundred percent sure that what he's doing is perfect.
R: Who would you want to model your dancing after?

CG: The answer is not so much who but what. My model would be the way a cat moves. When a cat moves, you see his paws, and every single muscle. He moves slowly but he's always ready to jump, you can't catch it. I like that when it moves slowly, there's a rhythm to his slow motion, it's something beautiful to admire, and I think all dancers should try to imitate it.
R: What is your favorite tango?
CG: It's tough to answer since I've been dancing for so long. There was a time when it was "Quejas de Bandoneón," another time "Chiqué", "La Ultima Cita", and also "Yunta de Oro". I'm very much in love with Pugliese's music especially "Pata Ancha".
One of my favorite tangos is Café Domínguez because at the beginning you can hear the voice of my "godfather" Julián Centeya. I also love the tangos of Miguel Caló, each one of them. I love the voice of Raúl Berón, also Alberto Podestá. I love Pugliese and Ricardo Tanturi. But I'm not a big fan of Biagi or Canaro. These are not my kind of tango. Biagi is from the 60's, and I don't like the rhythm, it's too sharp on the beat. I prefer the music that goes away from the beat, that is softer, smoother, even looser. I don't like strong marks or accent on the music. I prefer tangos that are more like a dream, like flying.

And from me: I always thought skiing gave a feeling close to flying- the wind, the speed the steady rhythmic motion. But tango, after the Julian Centeya words and the beat of Cafe Dominguez begins IS flying.

Maybe I Should Call This MIKE'S BLOG

Mike sends me these little finds in emails when he can't sleep at night.
    From a Gavito quote:                             
"The essence of tango isn't in the steps, but in the pauses."

      Dragan finds information everywhere!

Actually, Gavito was a cultivated man, and he loved music. I think that he may have adapted this from a well-known quotation from a famous pianist…I don’t recall his name, but I think you can find it online. (A quick “Google” search proved Dragan correct. The classical pianist was the Viennese maestro Artur Schnabel, and the quotation,
      “The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses
        between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides,”
according to Wikipedia, quoted from the Chicago Daily News, June 11, 1958). It is really about musicality. Musicality resides both in the mind, and in the body. But where do we find this musicality in the dance? For me, I dance to the woman first, and not the music. People shouldn’t need the music. You step, you make a pause. The pause can be 1/100th of a second, a 10th of a second, or 10 seconds, but there is a pause, and it should be felt by the woman. This pause gives time for the woman to feel what you have done, and lets the leader feel what she would like next. The woman can influence this pause. She can ask for this pause by altering the intensity of the embrace, or by beginning an embellishment, depending on the level of her skill. My preference is when they suggest the change by using the length of the step or intensity of the movement, sometimes by changing the intensity of the rotation around the man, with more spiraling.

Now, back from our 11th trip to Buenos Aires I am dancing to the music only and into the floor.  Putting the technique AWAY. This should give me a summer of happiness in the dance for our 5th "tango tent" season.

Again from Milonguero Mike

From the book "The Meaning of Tango" by Christine Denniston

"...mastering the tango is more like learning a language than a routine."




The Meaning of Tango: The Story of the Argentinian Dance



Christine Denniston is a former theater director who has been teaching the tango for more than 20 years and was the first non-Argentinian to teach the dance in Buenos Aires.

Augusto Balizano / Junior Cervila and Natalia Royo

Augusto tells me something new to think about.
"The pivot is a step. Dance the pivot"
 Augusto always stresses the marca and next the direction before the step. Remember he says- every step is a dance in itself.  Soon we'll be back in PA and again I don't feel the dance as a natural part of my being.  NOW unlearn everything I've learned, feel the music and DANCE.
Maybe next year, or maybe never.

My pivots, this week, are more "into" the floor. More passionate. Maybe?

My body still feels heavy when I dance. Vince Brust and Carina Mele tell me over and over to be lighter when I dance. MOVE! All of it is impossible.
Augusto tells me that the man needs to feel my weight. Lighten it make it heavier???

Taking the Intermediate/advanced lessons the last few weeks with Junior Cervila and Natalia Royo has been a real eye opener. We can JUST handle it all.
Faster pivots, giros and complicated footwork. After the 1 1/2 hours of all this Mike does it well and Junior smiles at us from across the room. When you get a smile at 76 and a nod of approval it just makes the day, but my wrist still hurts from the "great" dancer in the class who tried to unlock my foot from the cruzada by cranking my wrist to the left.  Junior had to stop the so called "advanced dancer" and teach him how to unhook the woman's cross with the left shoulder opening to the back. The poor  nonmilonguero looked like he was in a gymnastic contest with his partner lifted over his head. And that's tango?

ZAPATOS ZAPATOS- Stolen from a blogger -Linda Frear-

Check before the adventure- stores are always changing.
Aurora Lubiz shoes fit my foot perfectly. I'm convinced that I can't buy shoes for tango unless I try on the right one- my larger foot, walk in it a bit. Next put on the left, walk in both. Need lots of flex for me and always a 7.5cm heel with an open back. Having the larger right foot makes the open back an imperative. Too much dreaded lymph in my larger right leg!!!

 Aurora Lubiz is only there two days a week, so you will have to contact her if you want to see her shoes. Tuesday and Saturday 2:00- 6:00.

Looking over the list, I see stores I checked out but didn’t purchase shoes at and others I didn’t know about.

ABASTO:
Susana Artesanal - Anchorena 537 -- 4865-3713

http://www.shoes-susanaartesanal.com/ HIGH QUALITY AND ALL LEATHER- even the heels.

Mala Yunta - Anchorena 563 -- 4867-2457 malayunta04@ciudad.com.ar

GretaFlora - Anchorena 575 -- 4776-6807/cell 15-4991-8428- GORGEOUS. I need a size larger than the usual 37 for a closed back. No 1/2 sizes in most stores.

http://www.gretaflora.com/- GO TO PALERMO. The other shoes has very limited tango shoe models.


Lolo Gerard - Anchorena 607 - 4962-3860 www.lologerard.com

Madreselva -- Corrientes 3190 -- 6311-4466

www.madreselvazapatos.com.ar

Tango8 -- Anchorena 602 -- 4864-0471 http://www.tango8.com/

BALVENERA:
Susana Artesanal - Riobamba 448 - 4953-6874

www.shoes-susanaartesanal.com

Neo Tango -- Sarmiento 1938 - 4951-8694 www.neotangoshoes.com

Tango Leike -- Sarmiento 1947 - http://www.tangoleike.com/

CABALLITO:
Candela -- Bravard 1194 by appt. only 4854-0990

COLEGIALES:
Delia Gardel -- Virrey Loreto 3124 -- 4552-9661 deliadegardel@yahoo.com.ar

PALERMO VIEJO:
Fattomano - Guatamala 4464 - 4832-3156 http://www.fattomano./

RETIRO:
Comme il Faut - Arenales 1239 #3M -- 4815-5690 commeilfaut@netizen.com.ar JUST TO LOOK IS WORTH THE TRIP.

SAN NICOLAS (downtown):
Centro Artesanal del Tango - Suipacha 256 -- 4326-5377

Darcos - Suipacha 259- 4326-0232 http://www.darcostango.com/ My first pair came from Darcos and I still where them after 5 years. Plastic heels though.


Flabella - Suipacha 263 - 4322-6036 www.flabella.com

Scarpe Mahara - Suipacha 332 -- 4328-3528 scarpemahara@hotmail.com

Bailarin Porteno - Suipacha 251 - 4390-4067 bailarintango@yahoo.com.ar

Tango Brujo - Esmeralda 754 - 4325-8264 http://www.tangobrujo.com/- She has moved to San Telmo and it is now VB SHOES on Indepencia 389. EXCELLENT QUALITY.


Mirtha Paulo - Esmeralda 461 - 4328-5970 mirthapaulo@hotmail.com

Victorio - Montevideo 224 - 4375-0237 www.victoriotangoshoes.com.ar

Alanis -- Av. R. Saenz Pena 936 (Diagonal Norte) --

alanistangoshoes@yahoo.com.ar

SAN TELMO:
Delie shoes -- Piedras 843 - 4300-8521 http://www.delieshoes.com.ar/ HIGH QUALITY LEATHER- even the heels.


Aurora Lubiz -- Carlos Calvo 960 P.B. 3 -- 15-5699-3537

www.auroralubizropa.com.ar

Artesanos para el Tango -- Av. San Juan 410 -- 4300-9845

Artesanias Ar-Sil -- Avenida Juan Garay 908 - Tel.4362-3936

ar_sil_leo@yahoo.com.ar - They make the shoes to fit your feet. My husband had a problem as the size was reversed and he could never wear the 2 custom made models.

Still (and forever) Struggling with the BASICS

Back we are for the Lady's Program and whatever else unfolds here in Buenos Aires for the next 6 weeks. The space at Tango Porteno was spacious with room for more than 25 of us. It was so much fun seeing old friends- Amalia, Ivana and Johana plus the cool translator from Boston, Joe Zina. Joe thinks he was invited to translate because Johana may have thought he was Josephina???
New things I've added to my long list of tango technique to work on:
From Johana Copes.
This one is important and because she taught with a translator I finally understand this concept.
    In the back step when I push onto the free leg the weight goes back to where my heel is placed even though I'll step onto my metatarsal. Mike and I practiced this at the EAT at the Galerias later in the evening and I love the feeling. Go with the body.
Also she emphasized keeping the distance the same from the man on the left arm and the torso during the entire dance.
From Augosto Balizano?
     Don't keep my body light. Mike needs to feel my weight. Don't move the left hand all over the place on his back while I dance.
Today we experience Maria Nieves- Mike is coming as an asistante.
The only thing I'm better at this trip is keeping notes a little more organized and cooking beans in the 3 qt bean pot we hauled from PA with pounds and pounds of heirloom beans in tow.
One more unrelated item.
 Read Moby Dick. How did that book escape me when I was told to read it in high school and when I immediately put it on the "never read" list with the others I was "instructed" to read. By suggesting this to my huge array of blog fans am I repeating this for others who never read what they are asked to read? I am posting this without reviewing the post.

A Quote from Debbie Novitz from her blog.

In his interview in the magazine La Milonga Claudio Segovia the man who made Tango Argentino reality says "Tango can be done with a 1000 figures, but the pure beauty, is tango danced smoothly without any figures.  It cannot be compared to anything."  This is the thing that most foreigners and many new dancers do not understand.  They think that show tango is tango.

I am packing this away in my thoughts while we are packing our bags for a little "not-show-tango" in BsAS next week. Again we said," Only Carry-on bags this time"  Again we have a mound as big as Moby Dick- a bean pot, 8 jars of peanut butter, silk plants, etc. etc., to haul 5000 miles and put in a space the size of a dolphin.

Back to Gavito

The secret of tango is in this moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible: to dance silence.
CARLOS GAVITO



Mike is dancing the "silence". He takes his favorite Gavito steps and repeats each sequence 3 times. Not something for the dance floor or milonga, but an exercise for us in pausing, balance and keeping the axis until he is ready to move again. I love the 3 videos, the names of the moves and  I watch my favorites over and over. This month we practice Gavito before we pack for another 6 weeks on Calle Florida where the real tango awaits.

First Friday at Farley's in Scranton

This was fun. Mr Young- new knees and all- tried the tango. Made my night.
The Saturday Scranton Time gave us a little publicity. Farley's!!!!!!
Saturday we sat down to watch The Ultimate Bandoneon. One sentence sticks in my mind.
"Every step is a tango"

Another place to EXPLORE- GB SHAW?????

Mike finds tango in unimaginable places:

Masterpiece Theatre: The Best of Friends(1991) NR


Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw possessed strong friendships with Benedictine nun Laurentia McLachlan and museum curator Sydney Cockerell. This live stage show reveals the interesting debates and conversations they shared through the years. With letters and intimate discussions, this amazing group of friends talked about everything from the existence of God and the publishing of books to the intricacies of tango dancing.

Genre:

British TV, Dramas Based on Real Life

Watching the 1958 movie"St Louis Blues"

Tango stikes again.
We watched this last night on the big screen and when Nat King Cole sang the theme song I said, Mike, we could tango to this. It sounds so like a tango.
Mike did a little internet search after dinner and found this. We laughed.

"Writing about the first time St Louis Blues was played (1914), Handy notes that "The one-step and other dances had been done to the tempo of Memphis Blues...When St Louis Blues was written the tango was in vogue. I tricked the dancers by arranging a tango introduction, breaking abruptly into a low-down blues. My eyes swept the floor anxiously, then suddenly I saw lightning strike. The dancers seemed electrified. Something within them came suddenly to life. An instinct that wanted so much to live, to fling its arms to spread joy, took them by the heels."

A Gem from the TANGO and CHAOS website found by Mike

For me, there are only three things in tango that are worth putting under a microscope: Cadence, Posture, and Step. You can’t examine them too closely, and you can’t practice them too much.




I’ve watched this clip a lot of times, so I’d like to make a couple of comments. You may notice that Ismael is dancing simply—at least on the surface. Like most milongueros, he knows dozens of steps and figures, but he doesn’t use them. In fact, I don’t even see a real giro or a corrida. If I had to give names to anything the dancers do in this film, all I could say is that I see one pause, and I think Ismael's partner does half an ocho. That’s about it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot here. Notice how Ismael waits for the music, and builds his energy for the first step. And about 20 seconds into the video, when Laurenz puts in a short riff with the piano, Ismael takes his partner around, right with the pianist's fingers as they run up the five keys. As you watch it, think about all of the technical aspects of tango we’ve discussed—things like posture, step, balance, connection, and compás.

Here are a couple of things I use to decide how well someone is dancing. Generally speaking, good tango dancers will express the compás from the waist down (with the feet), and the melody and sentiment of the music from the waist up. One way to watch this video is to hold up your hand and block your view of either the upper or lower half of the couple. Isolating the lower half (although in this clip the feet are hard to see) will give you a good idea of how Ismael uses the compás. The upper half is very interesting here, and it should give you an insight into how he expresses the sentiment of the music. You should notice how the bodies flow together around the floor. This is especially important for a woman, because by isolating the part of the video that shows how Ismael’s upper body connects to his partner, a woman can get a good idea of what it feels like to dance with him just by watching this video.