Hot potato or cold stone?

I was dancing with this woman for the first time. She was humming with this sound of excitement in my right ear, which I am sure you all know what it sounds like, shortly into the song. Her embrace was reasonably giving. The whole dance experience was relatively pleasant throughout the song, or so I thought...

Soon as the music stopped, she pushed away from my embrace, like I was a hot potato...

And it happened three times (one tanda)!

???????????????????

"Poema"

different styles on the same floor.

Tango is a...

lifelong journey, not a short sprint. What's the rush?

Enjoy it...

Selfishness

An old Chinese proverb: "The heaven punishes those who aren't selfish." There is nothing wrong about putting oneself first. One's own selfishness, however, shouldn't do damage to the common interests of others. In this case, a lot of others.

If one is smart enough or business savvy, one should know that tango business isn't a business that will make one rich. There aren't enough customers out there to make it a big business. There are what, less than 100, 000 dancers in the world? At most, it is a multi million dollar business. Split among all these people involved in the business, there isn't enough to make a few millionaires. If one doesn't have the passion, what's the point of being in this business? If one has this passion about tango, then one's intention will not hurt a great deal of people's common interest.

The following letter comes from a respectful person in NY tango community: Mr Richard Lipkin.

Dear NY Tangueros,

As many of you know by now, Michael Foster is running a milonga in an area of Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport that for many years has been used by Tango Porteno as its rain location. I am, by this letter, explaining why I have decided to take the unprecedented step of removing his listing from the New York Tango Calendar.

If you do not know Michael Foster, you can familiarize yourself by reading his own words:
http://www.newyorkt ango.org/ ohtango.pdf
His terms for dancing on Pier 17:
http://www.newyorkt ango.org/ taa/11.html

During the past winter, Michael approached the Seaport Museum that controls Pier 16, the restaurant Skippers on Pier 16, and General Growth Properties the organization that runs Pier 17. In each case he represented himself as the person to deal with concerning tango on the piers. Michael has never had any role in running Tango Porteno although he has taught a few lessons in the past.

This attempted hijacking of what is arguably New York's premier tango event cannot be allowed to succeed. Unfortunately damage has already been done. Although the Seaport Museum refused to deal with Michael, I believe the attention he drew to Tango Porteno has resulted in our being obliged, as a condition of continued dancing on Pier 16, to pay a floor fee or rent. Unless an alternative source of funding is found, this cost must be passed on to you the dancers in the form of a "donation" or admission charge. We are working with Skippers to lessen this but passing the hats will no longer suffice.

If too many people will not pay this donation, currently estimated at $5, the dancing will be over on Pier 16.

Sincerely,
Richard Lipkin

Although I've danced tango just over two years, and last year was my first year attending Tango Porteno, I instantly loved it. This is an event that has been going on for the past nine years during summertime. Always free, until now... I don't mind paying for the donation or any reasonable amount of entrance fee to support the event. That's not the point.

The point is that the spirit of celebrating tango is tarnished now that a donation or entrance is mandatory to keep this event going. All because of a single person's ego and personal interest. That's is the worst and most despicable kind of selfishness.

Music and Musicality

I always have very good musicality even when I was a beginner, or so people told me. In the hindsight, I was just dancing to the beat. There was no difference to me between Piazolla and Di Sarli. I could dance them all. I even danced a nice tango to ballroom music with my former partner during the pre-performance rehearsal about one year ago, which prompted the teacher whom invited us nodded approvingly. What's the difference, music is music, step to music, easy! At the time the only orchestra that I couldn't handle was Pugliese. I went nuts while dancing the end of Pugliese pieces. I couldn't control myself. The music controlled me, I chased the music with steps.

It was not until I danced on the crowded milonga floors in BA, that I started feeling the music. The small space forced me to pay more attention to the music because there was no space to dance every beat. Most of the time I had to stretch the movement to a few beats. And later I found out that I could sometimes dance to the weak beats as well, even pause in the middle of the music. Then another door opened up: playing with the music.

I started collecting and listening tango music right before my first trip as a preparation. Brought back a suitcase of seventy some cds from my first trip and forty some the second one. Right now, I have close to 7000 tracks in my Itune library, all of them traditional tango music. The joy is endless just listening to the same song played by different orchestras.

It was when I started reading the lyrics that I found another dimension in the music: the feeling in the lyrics and the music. As in Una Emocion by Tanturi con Campos, the proud feeling makes me straighten my back and dance with stronger energy. When I danced Trenzas by Miguel Calo con Raul Iriarte one morning, I felt this feeling of missing a lost love. The girl who I danced with, the moment she was in my embrace, she felt it. And I felt the instant surrender in her and the little shivering from her body. At the end of the song, we kept our embrace for a few more seconds.

Then I realize that when I more and more appreciate the music, my dance gets better and better. Music is the catalyst and the inspiration. A man's style develops by the way he interprets the music, not by the way he dances. Observe. Most of the steps and movements are similar between different styles: Salon or Milonguero, Nuevo or Traditional. That's why I like to watch Chico dancing, even though I am traditional guy myself. Human bodies move in an organic way. How a man expresses the music with his body and leads makes the difference between the mediocre and the excellent.

It was not until I understood how to interpret the music and how to dance my feeling through the music that I knew I have good musicality.

Tango is simple.

Tango is no high art. Tango is no myth. Tango is no higher calling to enlighten human being.

Tango is between two persons who are seeking pleasure in each other's company. Simple.

Their latest performance

to "Niebla Del Riachuelo" by Fresedo Con Roberto Ray, a orchestra that they are rarely seen performed to. Enjoy: