Looking West:
Looking down Ayacucho towards Corrientes:
Friday, February 27, 2009
An evening view
The other day, late, late in the twilight hours, this great view presented itself to me from the 10th floor balcony.
Looking West:
Looking down Ayacucho towards Corrientes:
Looking West:
Looking down Ayacucho towards Corrientes:
The day before I leave
So it has come to the last full day here in Buenos Aires for me (this time around :-). Dancing every day, studying and practicing for the last three weeks, and feeling the beat of the creative chaos of this great city under my feet everywhere (making sure that that beat is not softened too much by you-know-what, which you can occasionally find spread generously in front of you on the sidewalk as you innocently walk about).
So, after all of the fancy stuff, I must say that I still enjoyed the most dancing to the oldies like Donato. For example, last evening at El Beso (Lujos) I lucked out dancing the whole tanda of Donato (started with El Acomodo and finished with El Adios) with a very nice Polish lady, good dancer. Mmmmm... we were both in heaven and I just did not want it to stop.
There is something magical for me in that softly, slowly moving Donato's beat, it is both romantic and joyful even when the content is sad. So, when you both let go, when you surrender to the feeling of it, and move smoothly back and forth and around and up and down with the waves of that mesmerizing music, mmmmm... It's heaven when you truly feel one with your partner, both in body and in spirit.
At the end we both said "mmmm ... perhaps I'll see you again."
You know, this tango world is really quite small, albeit spread around. I often see familiar faces when I go from one milonga to another here. I see faces from other parts of the world which I might have seen years ago here or somewhere else. We all somehow perform this pilgrimage to the mecca of tango to recharge our batteries and return to our own corner of wilderness reinvigorated. Tango has that magic which hooks you and sweetly does not let go. Once you taste that candy you just want to keep it melting in you forever.
So, my dear Polish dancer, I hope to see you again somewhere, but in the meantime do spread your sweetness around generously, will you?
So, after all of the fancy stuff, I must say that I still enjoyed the most dancing to the oldies like Donato. For example, last evening at El Beso (Lujos) I lucked out dancing the whole tanda of Donato (started with El Acomodo and finished with El Adios) with a very nice Polish lady, good dancer. Mmmmm... we were both in heaven and I just did not want it to stop.
There is something magical for me in that softly, slowly moving Donato's beat, it is both romantic and joyful even when the content is sad. So, when you both let go, when you surrender to the feeling of it, and move smoothly back and forth and around and up and down with the waves of that mesmerizing music, mmmmm... It's heaven when you truly feel one with your partner, both in body and in spirit.
At the end we both said "mmmm ... perhaps I'll see you again."
You know, this tango world is really quite small, albeit spread around. I often see familiar faces when I go from one milonga to another here. I see faces from other parts of the world which I might have seen years ago here or somewhere else. We all somehow perform this pilgrimage to the mecca of tango to recharge our batteries and return to our own corner of wilderness reinvigorated. Tango has that magic which hooks you and sweetly does not let go. Once you taste that candy you just want to keep it melting in you forever.
So, my dear Polish dancer, I hope to see you again somewhere, but in the meantime do spread your sweetness around generously, will you?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
It is raining in Buenos Aires
It is Sunday. I was planning to walk to Recoleta/Palermo neigborhood, browse the Feria Artesanal and go to the Japanese Garden to visit with an old tree friend of mine and generally enjoy the day of leisure. But it has been raining almost steadily since last evening and it does not seem it will stop raining any time soon.So, no walks today.
Luckily, I am reading a good book (Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope"), I have a nice floor to practice some, can occasionally peek through the balcony door to see what goes on out there, listen to good music from my iPod and await early evening hours to hop into a taxi and go to Maipu 444 for some dancing. C'est la vie!
Practilonga (or not)
Word "practilonga" (some spell it "practi-longa") is widely accepted term (at least in the USA) used to describe a social event where a group of people dance and practice dancing tango (and milonga and tango vals). It is a word resulting from melting two words together -- "milonga" and "practica" -- both commonly used in the tango world coming from Spanish.
The "rules" of behavior at a practilonga are not as strict as at a "milonga" (strictly dancing) where one of the most important no-nos is to do any sort of coaching on the floor, where music is usually played in "tandas" (sets of 3-4 like songs with a short 30-40 second interlude), the flow of dancing is observed closely, and there is generally much lesser level of extraneous noise (chat and such).
But, unlike in a "practica" where the atmosphere is sometimes quite chaotic and almost anything goes as long as it has something to do with tango, of course, in a practilonga, those who practice are expected to be a bit more cognizant of those who want to just dance and to respect their choice to do so by limiting their experimentation and noise levels. In turn, those who just dance are expected to be tolerant of those who practice.
So, practilonga works for both worlds - dance and practice - although with somewhat lessened impact. However, a practilonga is particularly useful for the beginners. So far so good.
Recently, a distinguished member of the Argentine ex patriot community in North Florida objected to the use of the term itself, calling it atrocious, and wished it had not been used. A whole slew of responses was generated, some seriously in support of the objection, some humorously offering alternatives. Here's a sampling of alternative terms: fauxlonga, quasilonga, milotango ....
The "rules" of behavior at a practilonga are not as strict as at a "milonga" (strictly dancing) where one of the most important no-nos is to do any sort of coaching on the floor, where music is usually played in "tandas" (sets of 3-4 like songs with a short 30-40 second interlude), the flow of dancing is observed closely, and there is generally much lesser level of extraneous noise (chat and such).
But, unlike in a "practica" where the atmosphere is sometimes quite chaotic and almost anything goes as long as it has something to do with tango, of course, in a practilonga, those who practice are expected to be a bit more cognizant of those who want to just dance and to respect their choice to do so by limiting their experimentation and noise levels. In turn, those who just dance are expected to be tolerant of those who practice.
So, practilonga works for both worlds - dance and practice - although with somewhat lessened impact. However, a practilonga is particularly useful for the beginners. So far so good.
Recently, a distinguished member of the Argentine ex patriot community in North Florida objected to the use of the term itself, calling it atrocious, and wished it had not been used. A whole slew of responses was generated, some seriously in support of the objection, some humorously offering alternatives. Here's a sampling of alternative terms: fauxlonga, quasilonga, milotango ....
Friday, February 20, 2009
After the festival
I intended (as I did the last year) to write every day of the festival about the festival experiences, but (just like it happened the last year - I will never learn) the time was preciously divvied up on doing things rather than writing about doing things. Soooo...
In summary, the festival was great. Lots of good workshops and great socializing with dancers. I plan on returning the next year.
One thing stood out though. It took me a year to figure out at least one of the major goals of the festival. We had a score of mostly old-by-age milongueros, who are not necessarily teachers, accompanied by the teachers teach workshops. And what would usually happen was that a milonguero would show a particular sequence and the teacher would teach the technique involved in achieving whatever the milonguero was showing.
At first, I though that was sort of weird, since tango is not about sequences, as we know. But, then it dawned on me that each one of those old-timers developed something very special in their dance in an organic way - by and large they were not taught dancers, but rather they learned via a long process of dancing. And they mostly really could not teach what they were doing systematically since their dance was not in their brain but in their heart and in their body memory.
Then the expert teachers like Susana, Maria and others, would "deconstruct" what milongueros were doing, they would distill the essential elements of it and teach methodically.
So, as a result, we got the benefit of both the practitioners and the teachers. To me that is the genius of the idea behind the Encquentro Milonguero. I hope they continue the same way into the future.
In summary, the festival was great. Lots of good workshops and great socializing with dancers. I plan on returning the next year.
One thing stood out though. It took me a year to figure out at least one of the major goals of the festival. We had a score of mostly old-by-age milongueros, who are not necessarily teachers, accompanied by the teachers teach workshops. And what would usually happen was that a milonguero would show a particular sequence and the teacher would teach the technique involved in achieving whatever the milonguero was showing.
At first, I though that was sort of weird, since tango is not about sequences, as we know. But, then it dawned on me that each one of those old-timers developed something very special in their dance in an organic way - by and large they were not taught dancers, but rather they learned via a long process of dancing. And they mostly really could not teach what they were doing systematically since their dance was not in their brain but in their heart and in their body memory.
Then the expert teachers like Susana, Maria and others, would "deconstruct" what milongueros were doing, they would distill the essential elements of it and teach methodically.
So, as a result, we got the benefit of both the practitioners and the teachers. To me that is the genius of the idea behind the Encquentro Milonguero. I hope they continue the same way into the future.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
On the first day
It's Wednesday, the third day of Milongueando 2009 in Buenos Aires.
The first day, Monday, was the registration day plus the unforgettable Osvaldo Natucci talking about tango. Osvaldo is this amazingly animated guy, knowledgeable of tango, great DJ and a very special dancer - in my view, known for making loads of tiny steps in sort-of a running fashion.
Osvaldo's talk was superb as always. He loves the music, knows it, and talkes about it in a way that is truly contagious. You just can't help but being involved.
Last year I got his CD set (40 CDs which he uses for DJ-ing). The CDs are masterfully compiled, with the first 20 of a better quality than the second (I believe he did the "clen-up" as well). Highly recommended.
In the evening my friend and I went to Parakultural. Dancing was nice, the floor was crowded at times, but mostly allowed for nice dancing.
The demo dance that evening was totally amazing. The two young dancers, Daniel Tuero and Cecilia Riccinni, were beautiful as people, beautiful to watch, very expressive, technically precise, creative, musical, and were having fun. The choreographies were superb. Great performance. I especially liked their dancing A Everisto Carriego.
The first day, Monday, was the registration day plus the unforgettable Osvaldo Natucci talking about tango. Osvaldo is this amazingly animated guy, knowledgeable of tango, great DJ and a very special dancer - in my view, known for making loads of tiny steps in sort-of a running fashion.
Osvaldo's talk was superb as always. He loves the music, knows it, and talkes about it in a way that is truly contagious. You just can't help but being involved.
Last year I got his CD set (40 CDs which he uses for DJ-ing). The CDs are masterfully compiled, with the first 20 of a better quality than the second (I believe he did the "clen-up" as well). Highly recommended.
In the evening my friend and I went to Parakultural. Dancing was nice, the floor was crowded at times, but mostly allowed for nice dancing.
The demo dance that evening was totally amazing. The two young dancers, Daniel Tuero and Cecilia Riccinni, were beautiful as people, beautiful to watch, very expressive, technically precise, creative, musical, and were having fun. The choreographies were superb. Great performance. I especially liked their dancing A Everisto Carriego.
Friday, February 6, 2009
On my way
In about 30 minutes, my friend, Gordon, will (likely) pick me up, drive me to the Tallahassee Regional Airport to board the plane for Miami, followed by an overnight flight to Buenos Aires!
I am staying in a friend's apartment on Ayacucho y Lavalle, close to tango things happening. This is my fifth visit and it is almost like going home, at least to my tango home.
Another friend has already left Tallahassee a few hours ago and is traveling to Buenos Aires via New York. She arrives a few hours after I do. We share the apartment.
Will attend Milongueando 2009 followed by almost two weeks of "free lancing." Can't wait.
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