Friday, March 20, 2009

After Milongueando 2009

It's been a month since Milongueando 2009 ended. It was a great gathering of tango lovers from around the world with those who personally witnessed its progress in the last .. oh, 40, 50, or 60 years. And it took me a year (since Milongueando 2008) to finally figure out the essential value of the gathering. I speculated about it, given the schedule of events, but only after having spoken with the two convenors, Maria Plazaola and Susana Miller, it became clear and confirmed. (My friend Shoko and I conducted video interviews with the two and will soon publish ot for all to see.)

This year, among other maestros we had Tete (and Silvia), Abel Peralta, Juan Manuel Suarez, Roberto Segarra, and Pedro Sanchez - all long time tango dancers and milongueros. Most of them with their own specific "style." And, while they were not necessarily teachers, they danced, their style evolved by dancing for decades and were in classes accompanied with teachers who could and did decompose some important aspect of the milonguero dancing in order to share it, make it accessible to us.

This was a genius concept. I hope Susana and Maria continue with it.