Tango Tom (aka Tall Tom) in Argentina to every one except the ManMags so it is published for all to read

> From: TallTom2


> Sent: Wed,=2
> 011 Feb 2009 9:50:33 PM Eastern Standard Time
> Subject: Argentine Tango In Buenos Aires
>
> OKay
>
> Let me tell you dancers and former and future dancers about Argentine
> Tango
> in Argentina.
>
> First, we thought we were kindergartners in a PhD dance.
> We were wrong,
> We are preschoolers.
>
> They dance "close embrace" here, different from what Juan, Jean, and
> even
> Martin teach, I mean CLOSE embrace. Little room for the legs to do
> much
> maneuvering, you have to know what you are doing.
>
> Good news is at the Miliongas they don't usually show off much, they
> just
> caminar (tango walk) a lot. But before and after our classes the
> teachers
> practicing demonstrations are something ELSE.
>
> So let me give you a brief synopsis of our first three days:
>
> 1. A day of registration (students from Canada mostly, USA, Turkey,
> Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, France and some other
> places), then
> poetry, a reading of "The Imprint of Your Embrace" (and while I
> usually
> fall asleep in poetry readings, even when accompanied by a guitar as
> this was, I
> stayed awake, it was pretty good), followed by an impassioned talk by
> an
> Argentine tango-music expert about the history of the music through the
> decades. His preference was for the music that "caresses your soul"
> rather
> than that which is easy to dance to. His view is that tango is about
> passion and emoti
> on. He wants us to learn steps and technique
> only in order to forget it, so we can be paying attention to the music
> and
> move our feet and bodies automatically rather than thinking about
> them. He
> laments that tango dancers -- even in Argentina --are not sensitive
> enough. He said the golden era of tango was 1945 to 1955, when two
> million
> our of three million Buenos Aires residents would dance tango every
> weekend and there were many creative composers and bands. But then in
> 1955, Rock and Roll hit the scene and stole the kids, and a new regime
> came in
> that made people in Argentina afraid to gather together.
>
> 2. First day of lessons concentrated on tango walking explained
> through concepts and metaphors like Jean uses. You balance on one leg,
> "like a column." You gradually transfer weight, "like transferring
> water
> from one cup to another without spilling it" and others. I went to a
> Milonga that night for a couple of hours,while others stayed until 2 or
> 3 am,
> and was a little disappointed at the lack of traveling compared to,
> say, the
> Tango Room in Sherman Oaks. But the place had ambiance to
> spare, kind of like a Granada in Alhambra but three times bigger and
> filled not only with most of our teachers and students, but real live
> honest-to-goodness Argentines who loved to dance Argentine Tango. I
> danced
> twice with a Perth, Australia, woman who is so good=2
> 0that she and her
> dance
> partner teache beginners down there (for free because she loves it so
> much). I tried one dance called the Milonga (a fast dance predecessor
> to
> the Tango) with an advanced student from Germany who has been dancing
> Argentine
> Tango for 10 years. Despite my hours of preparation at home, I lost it
> all
> in the pressure of the moment and we both mutually and ageeably decided
> to call
> it quits mid-dance as we had different conceptions of what to do. Our
> teacher that day had taught us to dance 1 regularly with the beat, and
> then 2
> slowly with the melody, and 3 finally very quickly with the rhythm.
> Like
> Lou these days, she emphasized listening to and responding to the
> music.
> So Lou's advanced foxtrot of super slow (melody), slow (beat), and
> quick
> (rhythm) steps came in quite handy.
>
> 3. Second day of lessons taught a new way of coming from close
> embrace caminar to a crusada (crossed feet) and that sounds simple and
> to the
> teacher it was simple but not to us. Nor was the crucial concept of
> transferring the woman's weight from one side to the other by only
> a chest
> lead while staying still with the leader's own feet. Seems simple to
> those
> who know it and can do it, but to us beginners it is like climbing
> Mount
> Everest. Sometimes we wonder if David and Diana have it right about
> this
> dance being too tough. Our
> German friend told us that she has been
> enjoying dancing the tango for six years now, and that it just took her
> four
> years of frustration to get to the level of enjoyment. She said to
> hang in
> there.
>
> So tonight we had a very special dinner and ate in a trendy
> neighborhood at
> a Peruvian restaurant open only for two weeks.
>
> Beautiful courtyard setting with beautiful flowers and plants, and a
> full
> moon and beautiful clouds and good American music in the background
> while an Irish-Peruvian waiter who had worked and Lived in New York and
> spoke
> perfect English (something we desperately needed) lavished attention on
> us, as
> we were the only customers until about 9:50 pm. So we had the place to
> ourselves for an hour and a half and great food and service.
> Argentines
> don't even start coming till about 10, before that it is just tourists.
>
> So wish you were here
> So you could share these lessons with us
> And tell us
> "What did she just say to do? How did she do
> that? Does she expect us to do that?"
> Again, as the saying goes, wish you were here.
> Tom
> Well our Argentine trip is almost over.
>
> We mini treked over a beautiful glacier on crampons day before
> yesterday and were treated at the end by a small wooden table and chair
> on the edge of the glacier with scotch and (glacier)) water and
> chocolate argentine cookies for everyone.
>
> Next day we cruised amounng icebergs that had "calved" off the three or
> four glaciers that feed into Argentina's largest lake, Lago Argentino,
>
> Today we cruised again past the myriad of floating bergs to visit an
> Estancia (ranch) founded 100 years ago by an Englishman and his wife.
> If anyone needs space to build, come to Patagonia, as it has miles and
> miles of wide open spaces.
>
> Tomorrow we come back to Buenos Aires for a night (will try to talk
> Paula into an afternoon Milonga at the Bar Ideal) and will be home
> monday in time for Walk in Dance Out Monday night. Heard it has been
> raining so my tennis friends say I did not miss much. Great weather
> here. Only one day of rain when we were in BA.
>
> Tom
>
>